Chapter 4 is all about the expectations we have for our students. The word “expectations” is a loaded word that can be interpreted and implemented in a variety of ways. Some of these methods are more constructive than others, but the way in which we convey “high expectations” to our students is incredibly important. It begins with the beliefs that students have about themselves and ends with the beliefs that we have about them. What are some of the stereotype threats that affect your students? What do you currently do (or what could you change) to minimize these threats?
I think that, perhaps, the stereotype threats that affect my students include those that Bain discussed. Students can think that someone else might be viewing them through the lens of a negative stereotype and these thoughts can negatively impact student accomplishments. For example, as described by Bain, European American males perform less well on a test if they were told that Asian students generally did better than white students did. This makes me think of the nocebo effect, the opposite of the placebo effect, where negative thoughts and negatively affect the outcome.
I have changed how I conduct my lectures from when I started teaching. In the old days, I would write everything on the board and rely on students to take notes themselves. In the last year or so, I prefer to have (mostly) typed notes that students can read/print before the lecture and we fill out the notes together in class. While a huge time commitment to create them, it frees up more time in the classroom for me to talk to individual students and for students to work together. Being able to walk around the room and talk one-on-one with students allows me to connect with individual students and, I hope, lets them know that I want to know them and watch them succeed. Before doing this in my classes, I would talk to all students at once in the room and there would be many students who never spoke to me even once. This is meant to serve as a subtle way of telling the students I want them to succeed, no matter who they are. My goal is to always try to talk positively to students to try to alleviate worries students have, especially if due to a stereotype threat.