High Expectations for Elementary Students

In the movie Stand and Deliever, Mr. Escalante told a fellow coworker that students will rise to the level of expectation that they are held to.  That statement stuck with me when I heard it, and I have been thinking about it since then.  I truly believe that students will rise to the level of expectation that they are held to by their superior.  It's important for the teacher to believe in the students abilities and that they can achieve.  With the teachers encouragement and support, eventually the high level of expectation will transfer onto the students and they will begin to believe in their abilities as well. 

Since I plan on becoming an elementary school teachers, I searched around on the internet for some tips on how to rise expectations for elementary students. I found this article which gives four suggestions for teachers on how to raise expectations of their elementary students. http://everydaylife.globalpost.com/communicate-high-expectations-elementary-students-3650.html  The first tip is to be clear about your expectations of the students.  They give to suggestions on how to be clear with expectations.  The first is to write up a contract with the expectations clearly stated so that you can refer back to the contract when needed.  The second suggestion is to write the expectations out and post them in the classroom.  Posting expectations in the classroom will allow students to easily refer back to them.  The second tip from the article is for the teacher to communicate what is expected of the students to their parents.  Parents can continue these expectations at home and can encourage the students to raise expectations for themselves as well. The third tip is to encourage students by saying they are capable of doing well rather than saying the task at hand is easy.  According to the article, when you say a task is easy you could discourage students who think the task looks difficult.  The last tip is to use praise for when students accomplish difficult tasks, but limit praise for not as difficult tasks.