No child ever says I want to be mediocre when I grow up. There was a commercial a few years ago where children were relaying their dreams for the future. The commercial was meant to be ironic and one child, a young boy, said “I want to be middle-management when I grow up.” While the line drew laughs, it also raises an important question.
Are we modeling mediocrity?
Are we preparing students to be good enough or are we preparing them to be great?
Questions beget questions, and more importantly, we must ask ourselves this question: how can we prepare our students for greatness?
Part of preparing our students for greatness lies in discovering our own greatness as educators. In order to find our own greatness, we must expand our perception of what’s possible for students. Many of our days are focused on making sure that students are meeting standards: that they can provide text evidence to support their thinking, that they can explain their conceptual understanding when solving a math problem. We must stop focusing on covering standards and instead, focus on uncovering all that students want to learn.
Instead of settling for mediocrity, let’s expect greatness from our students.
Let’s ask them to create…
And make…
And think…
And engage…
And inspire…
And dream…
Give students the opportunity to be great. Fight the appeal and comfort of being mediocre.
Find your own greatness in order to inspire greatness in your students!
Rich
Great post Rich! We can only be merchants of hope when we believe in our own ability first. If you believe you can’t make a difference or believe you can, either way you’ll be right? Depends on what you choose. Keep up the great work!
Cory
@mrhs_principal