Setting the Bar on Student Expectations: Why is it a struggle every day in the classroom?

Before the pandemic, being a teacher was met with a sense of respect and support. There were administrative and parent disagreements, but for the most part, we all were on the same side…the side of what’s best for the student. In March of 2019, all that changed. 

Students were kept home, behind computer screens, with teachers trying desperately to keep some sort of normalcy intact. We tried establishing and maintaining a new normal, one in which we were told to Grade with Grace and Remember what the students are going through.  We were told to not be harsh but teach with love and understanding… but what was occurring was students turning off their cameras during the lesson, not showing up for class at all, falling asleep, or just disappearing from our rosters. But we were not to give them the grade they made, but a grade reflecting the pain and suffering that was occurring throughout our entire nation. 

That worked to a point, but when the next school year began, students were given the option to return to school face to face or stay home and attend online. Many chose to stay home because it had become fun to act like you were involved in school but secretly sleeping or doing nothing, still making a grade of grace. Many teachers became tired of allowing students to slip by; allowing students to barely pass or just earn that 50 for doing nothing. 

Why did our student expectations have to change due to a crisis in our world? 

Yes, the pandemic presented challenges for all of us, but for students, it became an opportunity to have a summer-like environment for almost six to eight months, instead of the normal two and a half months. Video games were the entertainment of the time, replacing extracurricular activities and after school clubs/organizations. But the worse was felt in not the teacher’s, but the parents’ and administrators’ expectations for the students and the level of excellence we valued going into the pandemic. 

This began a wave of despair for teachers everywhere, as we were faced with being the mean teacher or the teacher who doesn’t understand the hardships students were facing. We did! We loved and sympathized, but we still valued the opportunity of gaining an education, and we still kept our expectations high. It has been a struggle to be understood as That Teacher: the one who pushes his/her students to turn in assignments on time, to do homework and turn it in, to attend class on a regular basis, to stay engaged and to remain an active participant every single day. 

This year especially has been even harder, as now parents are still using the pandemic as a way to give the students something to lean on to make it through… an excuse for unfinished work or bad behavior. 

And administrators are heard routinely asking the question to teachers, “What are you doing to make the students learning more engaging?” The question is never directed to the student and what he/she is bringing and adding to the classroom environment or what he/she is NOT bringing. At the same time, the workload has been tripled for teachers, adding more on to the ever-increasing challenges we are met with day in and day out. Veteran teachers continue to try and inspire new teachers that our hard work and our expectations for success will work in the end, but sadly even veteran teachers are giving up and walking away from a profession that we love passionately. 

We began teaching to make a difference; not to just give a grade without any of the work, without any ownership of earning that grade, or the pride that goes along with it. 

What can teachers do?

Teachers, continue to stay firm with your high expectations, stay strong in the face of bad behavior, because in our time of confusion, we are the stronghold, the rock for our students. We have to make our classroom a safe zone where students are expected to follow rules, respect each other, and more importantly respect what he/she has to offer to our educational system.

In the words of motivational speaker, Josh Shipp discussing a lap bar on a roller coaster, “You push it, and you prod it, and you test it, hoping, confirming it will hold. That teen in your life is doing the exact same thing.” Our students want to learn and they want to be held to a higher standard. They want the consistency that we bring to our classrooms, and they want to push us to push them…even if they do not reflect this. This is the only way to regain the dignity of our educational system, and make our classrooms and schools a place of importance and excellence again.

I believe we can!