We strive to build leadership in our students. Regardless of our content areas, we hope that students will leave our class having developed leadership skills which will help them in the real world. There are great strategies and techniques for instilling specific leadership in students, but let’s back up and take a look at the big picture. You can instill leadership in your students simply by setting clear and high expectations.

We set more expectations than we may realize. General behavior, performance on class assignments, how students treat each other, arriving to class on time, and responsibility for missed work are just a few. We set expectations by what we allow in our classroom. Regardless of what we have posted, our actions speak the loudest!

So make your expectations clear and set the bar high. As we approach the end of the year, it is likely that you may not have reviewed expectations since August! Take a few minutes to revisit your expectations, clarify those that you may not have previously enforced, and make copies of specific expectations for students to keep in their binder.

Reality Check - How do your students view your expectations? What do they think you expect them? Ask. Take 5 minutes at the end of class today and ask students to jot down on a piece of paper the top 3 expectations you have of them. Collect these and find out what expectations your students have a clear expectation of, and what expectations you might need to clarify!