What I said was "the minimum work which the teacher expects of all students." Maybe I should have said "wants" instead of "expects," but I think the idea is accurate.
You said you had benchmarks and standards for each lesson, and explain these to the students. Presumably you want each student to achieve these, and expect each student to be able to achieve them. (It seems unfair to a student to set benchmarks you know the student can't achieve, right?) So that's what you want and expect every student to do. If a student does all that, they get an A. If they fall short, they are falling short of what you want them to do and expect them to be able to do.
And if it's your job to motivate them, and you have set benchmarks that are achievable, then it seems a logical necessity that if any students don't get As you've either failed to motivate them or failed to set appropriate benchmarks -- in either case, your failure, not theirs.
That's a standard I never expected of myself as a teacher, and wouldn't expect of my kids teachers, either. |
