3/28/23: On Our Expectations …

Here we go!

​Helpful Stuff

The “Pygmalion effect” is when a teacher’s expectation causes student performance to rise to that expectation.

It’s based on psychological research by Robert Rosenthal during the 1960s.

Even though we can go back and forth with what was flawed in this study or if later research shows different results, I think we all have experience in this sort of self-fulfilling prophecy: if we expect better from our students they will do better.

Let’s keep this in the forefront of our mind as we lead and teach this week!

​Recommendations

As the school year begins to wind down, you may be looking for fun activities that also promote student learning and strengthen critical thinking skills.

I created this activity to provide a fun way for students to think critically and logically but also to increase classroom engagement—because who doesn’t love a good argument?

Students battle it out in mock courtroom criminal trials and cases where the evidence is slanted towards the prosecution, so they really have to think & reason hard to get their defendant to be found innocent.

Here’s a Youtube video explaining how the activity works and the cases involved!

You can read about this lesson and activity in more detail on this blog post here, download a free preview here, or buy the activity on TPT here!

A Little Inspiration

Check out this compelling video:  Alan Watts: “What If Money Was No Object?”

In this video, Alan Watts explains:

“When we finally got down to something, which the individual says he really wants to do, I will say to him, you do that and forget the money, because, if you say that getting the money is the most important thing, you will spend your life completely wasting your time. You’ll be doing things you don’t like doing in order to go on living, that is to go on doing things you don’t like doing, which is stupid. Better to have a short life that is full of what you like doing than a long life spent in a miserable way.”

This video is a valuable for reflection to us as adults as it is to our students.

I have used this video as a writing prompt for all of my English classes from grade 6 all the way up to my high school seniors.

It has never once disappointed me because it really gets a discussion going on what happiness is, what their goals are in life, and what they would like to do after graduation.

The reflection alone is worth 1 million times the time spent watching the four-minute video.

As always, please forward this to any teacher that could benefit from this message and help spread the love!

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Keep changing the world,
Charlie with Shining Scholar Education
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