Does everyone out there know the book "PYGMALION IN THE CLASSROOM" -
documentation about expectations.  This was a required reading when
preparing to be a teacher.  Lucille Cuttler

-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov]On Behalf Of
robinschwarz1 at aol.com
Sent: Thursday, March 09, 2006 11:06 PM
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] a lament


Virginia -- that movie was "Stand and Deliver"-- one of my all-time
favorite movies--and a mostly-true story, too-- and yes--this teacher
had very high standards for the Spanish speaking students and made sure
they got the support and instruction they needed to fill in the gaps
they had in trying to meet his expectations.  It is such an inspiring
movie.   It also gives clear pictures of challenges  many ELL/CLD
learners' face both in school and out-- taking care of siblings while
parents work, parents who don't understand American school demands,
kids who must themselves work, peer pressure, teachers who do not
understand them etc.    Robin

-----Original Message-----
From: Virginia Tardaewether <tarv at chemeketa.edu>
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Sent: Thu, 9 Mar 2006 09:47:42 -0800
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] a lament

There have been studies on parental expectations too: if you expect
your child
to graduate, he or she will.  This reminds me of that movie about the
math
teacher in LA, can't remember the name of it, but his students
completed higher
math course and passed tests, but the administration didn't believe the
results.
I think standards, from many angles, are vastly important.
va

Virginia Tardaewether
Chemeketa Community College
4000 Lancaster Drive NE
Salem, OR  97305
503-399-6147


When new life appears, just as a budding plant rises from the ground,
the heart
aspires to new growth and is filled with hope. Use life to renew
oneself.
Voices of the Heart



-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov]On Behalf Of
robinschwarz1 at aol.com
Sent: Monday, March 06, 2006 6:13 PM
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] a lament


Well why not look at a study from Kentucky about the effect of teacher
expectations on high school students.  No lying involved.   In this
study, two teachers were prepared in exactly the same way to do a new
program ( I believe it was in science).  The idea of the study was to
see if the program helped the students, but to the surprise of the
researchers the two classes achieved quite different results.  The only
factor that could be identified that influenced the results was teacher
expectation--the students of the teacher who was sure her students
could do this new, challenging work did very well, while the students
of the other teacher, who was sure the students would not get it, did
relatively poorly.  This is not news.  This is what is known as a self-
fulfilling prophecy.

Studies were done in the 70's on the effect of labeling students on
teachers' expectations of the students.  Needless to say, the
expectations shifted drastically down when students were identified as
special needs in any way.

Recent ( January) visits to several K-12 schools confirmed that this
attitude is alive and well among a lot of teachers and sped teachers.
Robin Schwarz

-----Original Message-----
From: AWilder106 at aol.com
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Sent: Fri, 24 Feb 2006 17:31:25 EST
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] a lament

Hi Iris,

I can't remember the name of the first researcher who did  a study on
low/high teacher expectations and their self-fulling prophecy, but I do
remember the study.  The resaercher got his data by lying to the
teacher about the ability of her students.  (Maybe more than one
teacher, I can't remember now.)

When I read that I kind of stopped cold.  Toally unethical, of course.

It was the idea of lying to the teacher that I found so shocking.  What
can I say;  I was very young.

Andrea.

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