Student Contributor: K. Scherbarth
Reviewing expectations is a tool that helps you confirm students know what is expected of them, reminds the students what they should be focusing on, and allows the students to take ownership and responsibly of other own actions. It is simply just reviewing what expectations are before an activity or group work assignment. It helps students be on task during the task and maximize time for student learning.
This tool is the practice of reviewing expectations before an activity, task, or group work. When students review expectations before a task, it allows them to reset and remember what is expected of them. Many times when students are getting off task, they just need a gentle reminder to steer them in the right direction to maximize time for their learning. When this is done beforehand, students don’t waste time getting distracted or off-topic quite nearly as much. I asked students before many different tasks, what they think the expectations are for this time and let them share their ideas. I affirmed the correct ones and made sure they knew what the expectations were. This helped immensely with keeping students talking at a certain volume, reminding students what specifically they were doing, and how they were to communicate.
I chose to place this tool in the preventative phase because you would practice this before a task or activity to prevent misbehavior that would go on during their learning time. This could be seen as possibly supportive because it can be used multiple times throughout the day during instruction but is aimed toward the following task, therefore it falls under more of a preventative phase of management tool. This fits truly for any theory of influence, it just depends on how you use it. For a more student-directed- collaborative teacher, you would review expectations by asking your students what they think the expectations are for a certain task. Allow them to review expectations through participation in the class to share and this way gives them students voice and self-managing qualities. If you are more of a teacher-directed teacher, it would fit best to review the expectations by listing them and telling the students what the expectations are.
More Information –
Tool Source: I remember discussing this helpful tool during class.
https://rb.gy/qvsghn
I embedded this tool in a small group with five 3rd grade students in a rural area. I notice in small groups, students have an established procedure for expectations and often are not reminded of them. Since we are in spring, I believed it was a good time to review expectations for small groups because students are having a hard time following directions. This tool was easy to prepare and teach because these expectations are not new to students, just a reminder. I was successful at this tool because I have been consistent with it because in every small group lesson I have run sense, I always start it with reviewing expectations. After reviewing expectations, students knew their role in today’s small group and what was expected of them to be successful. I think an adjustment that could be added to this tool is including that a characteristic of an effective teacher is reviewing expectations before every activity or lesson.
The first time I tried this tool was on a class of around 14 first graders from a rural community, and I have since used it for all grades (K-6) in the same school. This tool is easy to use, but it does take some getting used to. I think when you first start using it it’s a constant reminder to review expectations with the students before you send them off on their own or do any activity really. I think something that makes this such a successful tool is that it is so versatile and works for EVERYTHING! Students understand this so well too because I always ask them what the rules or expectations are and this way it is in their own words, and they are giving me the answers I’m looking for. I think the only thing that could be adjusted is just making sure your tone is even when you are doing this, if you get any type of a tone with the students when asking what the expectations are they’re going to think they’re in trouble when they aren’t.
I used this tool with 5th graders, this was something I used during every lesson I taught as well as all of my small groups. I noticed that more often than not after mentioning the expectations again students remembered what I wanted them to do and I got back better work. More students were using the form that I taught them when answering the social studies questions, leading to more of them getting correct answers. When I first thought about using this tool I thought it wouldn’t do much. But it was so simple and helped my students meet expectations each time, so why wouldn’t I continue using this with everything I teach them? reminders always help me so why wouldn’t they help my student? I really liked this tool and will be continuing to use it as I move forward in my teaching.
4th Grade, 24 students, urban
This tool was easy to prepare, but it does take a little extra thought. For preparing it, I would go through different goals that I had for behavior in a lesson or situation. If I was planning a lesson, I would take the time to write out my expectations on a slide in my slide show. If the situation was something like an activity transition or walking through the hallways I wouldn’t have the time to write anything out. However, I would try to quickly think of what I wanted the students to accomplish and how, and would try to summarize these things in as few verbal expectations as possible.
It was amazing going through activity transitions after stating expectations. There were still some problems, but it was so much more orderly and contained than it was without. This was especially true if I got to do an expectation slide for my lessons. This made it so that students were quieter and more cooperative with each other. Naturally, because I just stated expectations, students understood their role in it.
Some improvements I might make to this is having the option to list out expectations rather than asking for student input every time. If we are putting students into an experience they have never done before (like a science project or certain group projects) then it is better for the teacher to state out-right what students should be doing so that there is no confusion. This also keeps reviewing expectations clear and brief.