Expectations and Goal Setting

Ok, so after reading that I was bottom of my class, and that I hated school, you might be wondering how in the world I ended up as an assistant principal.  The story kind of goes like this:

I was lucky enough to have people expect a lot out of me.

My grandfather, mother, and stepfather cared enough to send me to private school after the 5th grade.  They sacrificed so that I could get a good education whether I wanted one or not.  What ended up happening wasn’t easy for anyone, but it did end in a way so that I was not limited by my high school education.

Let me explain:

When I started my fifth grade class there were about 25 people in class, about 22 of them had started kindergarten together, and about 20 of those would graduate together.  Most of those parents valued education enough to send their children to private school, and in return, the students in my class did well in school.  They were smart and good at school when I started. I started at the bottom of this class, but expectations were high.  I cared very little for school and teachers, and would have done that anywhere I went.  If there had been a choice, I would have been moved to a lower class with lower expectations, but there was no other class, so I stayed.  Most times I did enough to get by, sometimes I didn’t.  After four years of middle school, 5-8, and four years of high school, 9-12, just getting by was good enough.  I graduated 25th our of 26 people, but because the expectations where high, and I was able to disappoint, but get by, I was able to get into college.  From there, I still wasn’t sure and didn’t have the habits to succeed. I ended up with the goal that I mentioned last week.  The goal to make learning different for students like me.  When I had that goal, work became easier, and I figured out that in order to meet that goal I had to do get better at school.  After that, things fell into place, and two thing have never changed.

I have set high expectations for myself and my students, and now for teachers, and I have set both long term and short term goals for my self and my students, and now for teachers.

I am not naive enough to think this is the only way success comes about, but if you are looking for ways to succeed, try setting high expectations and setting goals.  It has helped me tremendously, both in my classroom, and in my life.