Teacher's expectations can dramatically affect students' achievement by Karen Boyes (21 February 2007) Teachers expectations can

dramatically affect students' achie ement! "ll it ta#es is really belie in$! Teachers can create better student results by %ust belie in$ in them! This is e en truer &ith underachie ers! 'f a teacher is told that her students are bri$ht( the teacher &ill be more supporti e( teach more difficult material( allo& more time to ans&er )uestions and pro ide more thou$htful and useful feedbac# to the students! 'n turn( the students recei in$ this attention &ill perform to this le el! They actually score hi$her on educational tests( e en if they are not *bri$ht'( simply because the teacher belie es in them! This also applies in re erse! 'f a teacher belie es his students are under+achie ers( he &ill be much less articulate( less li#ely to try to understand the students point of ie& and expect a poorer )uality of &or# and standards! "$ain students in this en ironment &ill meet the lo&er expectations! This uni)uely human phenomenon is the ,y$malion -ffect! 't is a persistently held belief in another person and such a belief becomes a reality! 't is a self+fulfillin$ prophecy! .our first impressions are lastin$ impressions! /a e a $o at this exercise from Tauber( 1007! 1rite do&n the descripti e statements that come to mind &hen you read the about the follo&in$ six people &ho &ill be in your class next year!!!

a teena$e $irl from a family that has stron$ reli$ious ie&s2 a si$nificantly o er&ei$ht year fi e $irl2 a year one student from an affluent family &ho is any only child2 a intermediate student &hose t&o older siblin$s you had in your class se eral years a$o( each of &hom &ere troublema#ers2 an "sian boy &ho is the son of a respected uni ersity math professor2 a teena$e boy &ho is thin( almost frail( and ery uncoordinated for his a$e!

'n spite of your best efforts to resist predictions re$ardin$ these students and their academic and3or beha ioural future( did you catch yourself formin$ expectations + e en fleetin$ly4 'f your ans&er is yes( then the self+fulfillin$ prophecy is probably set in motion! 5nce a belief is set in motion and a student is labelled *troublema#er(' or *non+academic' the chances are increased that your treatment of this student &ill( in effect act out the self+fulfillin$ prophecy! 5f course( you could label a student as *cooperati e(' *a scholar(' or a *self starter' and increase the chances that your treatment of him &ill con ey these expectations and( in turn( contribute to the student li in$ up to this expectation! /ere is another example! 'f a student in your class scores si$nificantly better on a test( than you &ould ha e predicted( &ould loo# first at alternati e reasons before admittin$ you had pre+%ud$ed this student's ability4 1ould you be tempted to re mar# the test or thin# about &ho &as sittin$ close to that student durin$ the test and compare ans&ers for si$ns of cheatin$4 "s author 1 1a$ner claims 6The ultimate function of a prophecy is not to tell the future( but to ma#e it!6 Then e ery time a teacher si7es up or do&n a student they are influencin$ the student's future beha iour and achie ement! Decile 1 vs decile 10 'f you teach in a lo&er decile school ' ha e a )uestion for you! ,lease thin# seriously about your ans&er! 1ould you teach the same &ay you do no& + if you &or#ed in a decile 10 school4 1ould

you put more or less effort into your plannin$4 1ould you expect more or less from the students4 1ould you $i e more specific criteria4 'f you honestly ans&ered you &ould chan$e the &ay you teach + then &hy not start no& and teach your students li#e they &ill be the mo ers and sha#ers of the &orld! -xpect hi$h results and you mi$ht %ust $et them! - ery child has an indi idual brain topo$raphy! The &ay they learn is as indi idual as each fin$erprint! There is no dumb and smart! 8ust different &ays of learnin$! "re you caterin$ for these &ithin your classroom4 "t the 9entre For :esearch 5n -ducation( ;i ersity and -xcellence( researchers ha e found a clear lin# bet&een students' achie ement and the instructional con ersation! Their findin$s sho& hi$hly effecti e teachers ensure students tal# more than the teacher( they $uide con ersation to include students ie&s( %ud$ements( and rationales usin$ text e idence and other substanti e support and these teachers assist student's learnin$ by )uestionin$( restatin$( praisin$ and encoura$in$! 9hec# your personal use of lan$ua$e! ;o you use the lan$ua$e of *thin#in$' or dumb do&n your lan$ua$e so as not to o er&helm your students4 /ere are some examples from "rt 9osta's &or#! <otice the difference in the t&o sentences= 6>et's loo# at these t&o pictures6 6>et's 95?,":- these t&o pictures6 61hat do you thin# &ill happen &hen!!!46 61hat do you ,:-;'9T &ill happen &hen!!!46 6>et's &or# this problem6 6>et's "<">.@- this problem6 6/o& do you #no& that's true46 61hat -A';-<9- do you ha e to support that46 "re you treatin$ your students li#e the are intelli$ent or li#e they &ill not amount to much4 'f you $o throu$h your current curriculum documents you'll find &ords such as2 analyse( apply( classify( compare( contrast( elaborate( predict( reason( erify( summarise and simplify! Bsin$ these &ords &ith your students on a daily basis &ill increase their ability to thin# and problem sol e! :eflect on your o&n assumptions and labels you ha e $i en students &ithin your classroom! .our expectations can and &ill affect the outcomes of your students! References: Boyes K! 9reatin$ "n -ffecti e >earnin$ -n ironment Tauber :! @elf+Fulfillin$ ,rophecy :osenthal :! ,y$malion 'n The 9lassroom 1a$ner 1! The 9ity 5f ?an