Expectations
What happens when you challenge collaborative groups of students to create an original stop-motion animation that has a beginning, middle and end with only a balloon, a foam star, a toy and an hour?
– Creativity – Collaboration – Critical Thinking – Engagement
My role as an educator that day? Observe, take pictures and reflect on the conditions that were present that determined their resounding success within the process and product elements of the task. In a word – expectations!
If positive relationships form a solid foundation that support all other aspects of teaching and learning, expectations provide the structural supports that allow those relationships to occur and grow. Within these conditions, the development of 21st century skills flourish.
As more and more educators embrace the reality that engaging, open-ended tasks and design challenges are needed within today’s 21st century classrooms, there is a willingness to dive into presenting these rich tasks to students. However, without a clear definition of expectations regarding individual behaviour, collaborative behaviour, and resource management and use, well-meaning educators set their students and themselves up for frustration and failure.
Liz Anderson 