Inspiration.

"I'm tired of the racism of low expectations."
-Sue Gower

Professional Development days are often dull affairs full of already processed information, but thankfully last Friday we had a breath of fresh air. Our speaker for the day was a woman named Sue Gower who had been Principal of a First Nations school in the North for thirty-seven years. She told us that if you truly love a child you teach them to meet expectations, not lower them. She got a standing ovation.

My students have so many things going on in their lives it is easy to feel sorry for them and let school fall to the wayside but that isn't doing them any favors. Consistency is important. The work that we do at school is critical and studies show that if a student falls behind as early as grade three it is almost certain that they will not graduate.

Does this mean I will be an unreasonable tyrant over my students? No but I will be stricter and I will be certain that my students do the work they are assigned with no exceptions.