M-2 High Expectations


Teachers set high expectations for learning and believe all students are capable of achieving success.

What does this look like in our schools and classrooms?

  • Be specific in what you expect students to know and be able to do
  • Encourage students to meet expectations for a particular task
  • Develop and post I Can... statements, combined with a "You can" mentality
  • Offer learning contracts and individualized agendas (to-do lists)
  • Build trust and hope among students and celebrate successes
  • Focus on growth mindset phrases and activities that allow for risk-taking
  • Implement rigorous instruction and curriculum
  • Be consistent with classroom management and set expectations that show that you know everyone can learn
  • Acknowledge each child’s successes and offer praise when established standards are met
  • Use progress monitoring, rubrics, and self-evaluation to share expectations and measure growth/progress
  • Question ALL students with higher-level thinking stems, probing questions, and student-led discussion
  • Allow for student ownership of setting individualized learning goals, monitoring their own progress (i.e. data trackers), and development of evidence of achievement
  • Use digital portfolios to demonstrate student skills and progress
  • Create rubrics with clear expectations for each level of performance
  • Focus on creation, not consumption
  • Start strong and maintain focus to challenge students daily

Exemplar Lessons & Strategies


How Can Technology Support this M-Powerment Strategy?

Mastery Connect
Formative Assessment & Data tracking
  • Have students track their progress toward goals
  • Identify learning targets that need more work
  • Focus on growth and progress toward mastery
masteryconnect.com

Google Sheets
Spreadsheets and graphing tool for progress monitoring
  • Have students create personal data trackers to connect effort and success
  • Use graphs and reflection components to encourage student ownership
sheets.google.com

Weebly
Safe, Secure Parent & Student Communication via Text
  • Students create websites to document their work process
  • Create digital portfolios that show growth in skills / learning over time

weebly.com


For Future Reading, Exploration, & Learning

Educational Articles

Check out these additional research-based articles and books related to this M-Powerment Strategy. 

 https://sites.google.com/a/mgsd.k12.nc.us/mgsd-big-refresh/system/app/pages/search?scope=search-site&q=M-1Self-Paced PD

To explore more about this strategy, check out some of the sessions that have been offered at previous Summer Institutes related to this strategy. Each one contains lots of strategies you can implement and resources you can use to improve your practice.

Instructional Coach-Created Resources

Newsletters and contests created by our Instructional Coaches and School Library Media Coordinators have lots of resources and ideas you can implement. Here are a few that relate to this strategy.