What are the Expectations?

   Setting expectations, I think, is sometimes a difficult thing, especially when explaining them to students. My school has become increasingly diverse over the years with students moving in from other states and local districts, due to the number of apartment complexes that have been built near our school. Because of this, our principal had us read Fair Isn't Always Equal by Rick Wormeli. If you haven't read it, it is an interesting book to read, and I must say there were several parts that I really had trouble "seeing it" the author's way. 

   The book is all about differentiating in the classroom, which is why I have found setting expectations a challenge because not all students receive the same expectations (in my opinion at least). For example, when I assign a piece of writing that has to be taken into final production, like many teachers, I receive several amazing papers and some not-so-good ones. This is where the differentating has to come in, because I have to move my expectations around for each student. This is easier once I have gotten to know my students and their abilities. I have to think of how they have grown and compare their work to prior writings, which usually helps me to determine whether they met my expectations or not.

   I am for differentiating and everything, my problem is that the state assessments do not differentiate. Therefore, my student who typically does not-so-good work, may have improved with his writing from what I saw in class, but if he were graded by the state he would score at average, or just below. I have other opinions about the assessments that I will not go into, but all seem to circle back to the fact that teachers are suggested to teach/assess students a certain way, while the "testing that matters" is assessed another. I constantly feel like things I am told contradict each other, and I feel like I am always trying to do both (if that makes sense at all).

   More positively speaking, our school has established a more direct list of writing expectations that are posted in every classroom. Some of the expectations are that students are to write their first and last name on their work, words that should be capitalized are capitalized (first letter, proper nouns), appropriate ending punctuation, all answers are written with the restating of the question in complete sentences, and no usage of texting language. If the students do not follow the expectations when they turn in an assignment, they have it returned to them to make corrections, or points are taken off (if it is a repeat offender). We did not start using this until December, and hope to start the year off with the explanation of our school's writing expectations. I really hope it helps!