Expectations for Students

When I was in Columbus, Ohio, for a meeting, I had the opportunity to visit the Franklin Park Conservatory. While visiting the “Blooms and Butterflies” exhibit, I was reminded of the beauty of butterflies. I also remembered how much students are like butterflies. Just as butterflies are not in their final state when they are born or when they become caterpillars or even when they form a chrysalis, so our students are not in their final state when we are teaching them.

Think about that for a minute. Where are the students you teach? Are they newborn? Are they caterpillars? Or are they inside a chrysalis? What does that mean to you? If you think about your students as butterflies in the making, how does that change the way you view them? One of the most difficult things for teachers to do is to keep our expectations high, especially when our students’ actions make us think less of them. There were days my students challenged me to come up with any positive thoughts about them, but those were the days they needed me most. I saw a comment one time on a bulletin board: Students need the most love when they least deserve it. I found that my students needed me to believe they were butterflies when they were most acting like worms! 

photo by rollingroscoe