outras leituras

High Expectations and Differentiation Equal Academic Success.Henry Ford, the Founder of the Ford Motor Company, once said, “Whether you thinkyou can or think you can’t- you are right.” This also applies to teacher expectationstoward student success. Teacher beliefs tend to create a self-fulfilling prophecy: teacherswill get the outcomes that they expect from their students.Consciously or unconsciously, teachers often act differently toward students based onthe assumptions they have about the individual learner’s capabilities. Jerry Bamburg,professor and director of the Center of Effective Schools at the University of Washington,notes that teachers tend to use more verifying non-verbal mannerisms like smiling,creating eye contact, and positive body language toward students who they believe arehigh-level achievers, and less verifying mannerisms toward students who they believe arelow-level learners (Bamburg, 1994).Studies show that the lack of high expectations tends to go hand-in-hand with lowachieving classrooms (Cotton, 2001). In these classrooms, teachers generally view theirstudents as limited in their ability to learn, and this view tends to create an atmosphere offailure. Adversely, research also shows that when teachers increase their expectations ofstudent success, academic gains are made. (Good, 1987).Texto Integral