Teacher Expectations: The Link to Educational Access and Success

Inequality is ubiquitous. It exists everywhere in society including places like the work place, hospitals, elderly homes, and, of course, schools. There are many theories as to why such inequity exists. Some argue that IQ is what brings inequality: some people simply retain information and understand better than others, making them more successful. Though this may be true in some cases, it cannot explain the clear patterns of inequalities regarding race, and socioeconomics. Others, such as Jonathan Kozol, argue that a lack of material resources at some schools impede students' abilities to grow and learn as successfully as students in schools with a plethora of both economic resources and facilities. Although Kozol's points are valid, they do not necessarily address why many economically privileged students fail to succeed in college or in business. I would argue that no matter what the economic status of the school district or student, teacher expectations is what plays the most influential role in student success. For me, as a Hispanic, I consider myself lucky to have parents who opted to teach me English, although I wish they taught me Spanish as well. My success, however, cannot only be attributed to my English skills. Teacher expectations played a huge role in what I was able to achieve in the public school system. Throughout grade school and junior high, I was fortunate to have a few scattered teachers who truly influenced my own outlook on school and motivated me to have a desire for knowledge that other students did not have; there was one teacher in particular who changed my outlook and allowed me to move forward in my academics and as a citizen. It was because of her that I came to Vermont and because of her that I had any interest in helping students like Maria. After I met this teacher, my goals shifted dramatically. I met Gail Glover when I was fourteen years old on my second day of high school. Gail was my Spanish teacher. Before I met her, I had no desire to learn any foreign language. I hated Spanish. As a Hispanic who grew up in a predominately white school, I was pressured by my peers into hating the language. I was essentially taught to be embarrassed to be Mexican-American and trained to be "one of them." If I knew how to speak Spanish, I would fit the stereotype, which was something I did not want to do. So, when I was given the opportunity to take the first of the two required years of high school Spanish in eighth grade, I took it hoping to get it out of the way as soon as possible. I took it with a narrow mind and I hated it. The next year I hoped to get the second and final year over with so I promptly registered for Spanish II. Initially, I was placed in another teacher's class, but due to some scheduling conflicts with a biology class I ended up in Gail's seventh period class- her only Spanish II class. Looking back on it, I feel as if it was supposed to work out that way. Mostly, she taught the more advanced Spanish III and I was lucky to be in her single Spanish II class. On the second day of school, I walked into the classroom to find people dressed in costumes and performing skits — already, on the second day of school. I looked at who I guessed was the teacher. She was no bigger than any of the students in the room and hard to distinguish as older. She looked over at me, walked over and said, "¿Cómo te llamas?" I looked at her blankly, "¿Cómo te what???" I thought. Then she said, in English, "What's your name?" "Ohhh," I thought, "okay, I get it." "Mary," I said. "Okay, María." She replied, "Siéntate aquí. Tenemos que terminar la tarea de ayer, y después vamos a empezar el trabajo para hoy." I had no idea what she said to me. I was completely confused. The day before I was in a different Spanish II class and in that class, the teacher said everything in English and all she really did was take attendance. There was no work for the first day in that other class. This new class was already performing skits that they wrote as homework from the night before! I couldn't believe the difference. With time, I began to enjoy my Spanish class. Once I warmed up to listening to Gail speak Spanish, I understood what was happening and I learned it. It wasn't only the Spanish speaking that did it. Gail was...different. She was constantly doing something weird or sneaking a funny word in to see if we were paying attention. I always was. I never wanted to miss anything. She did everything from hopping about the room in the middle of a lesson, for no apparent reason, to singing strange songs in some terrible pitch about penguins doing the mambo. Yes, she was strange, but that was the hook for me. Since she was so unpredictable, my attention to detail in her class resulted in my learning all about Spanish grammar, Latin American culture, and truly learning how beautiful knowing a foreign language can be. As the year came to an end, I found myself wanting to learn more. So I decided to take just one more year of Spanish and I enrolled in Spanish III. Sra. Glover would be my teacher again. In addition to registering for Spanish III, I decided to register for French and Latin. I became obsessed with learning and understanding other languages, and I knew that Gail majored in Spanish and French. I wanted to be multilingual too. So, I took the other languages, but Spanish still grabbed my attention the most. It seemed to me that it was not only more beautiful than the other languages, it also made the most sense and it was taught by a crazy person, so there was always the entertainment aspect. I couldn't learn fast enough. I was determined to understand everything that seemed difficult and I knew that the year would soon end. Sometimes, I would get to school early so that I could go in for extra help and ask all of the questions that I thought of about the previous day's lesson. I am certain that my most frequent visits were right about the time we learned the subjunctive. What is wrong with that tense? Anyone who has learned a foreign language probably understands what I mean. There are all kinds of rules that come along with the subjunctive and, as it seemed to me when I first learned it, half of the time you don't even have to use it. It all depended on what the speaker wanted to say. I remember that the old' subjunctive really threw me when it came time for the test. I always felt that I could argue, in many cases that the regular past or present could have worked in one of the blanks where I could have also used subjunctive. Though I am certain that Gail was most likely annoyed about my persistence and curiosity from time to time, she never let me know it and she always gave me an answer for my questions. One of my favorite things about her was that she never told me, "That's just the way it is" as so many other language teachers had. Occasionally, I would ask a question she could not answer off of the top of her head, but the next day, she would have an answer for me. Being a fun teacher was not all of it; it was just a small part. It was so much more personal than that. As a person, she not only opened my eyes and showed me that Spanish was fun. She also opened my eyes enough to see that I could learn languages, and learn them well. She always made me feel like I could succeed on any path I chose to travel in life. It is because of her that I realized that I could be different. She helped me to step into a whole new world of possibilities, and showed me how beautiful it is to know more than one language. Gail graduated from Middlebury College in Vermont in 1981 and after talking with her about what would come next for me; I decided to look at her alma mater as an option for me. Middlebury has a great language program, so I took her advice and applied. When I got in, I wondered how someone like me who went to such a terrible public school could get into a place like that. I certainly did my share of hard work in high school, but that hard worked stemmed from the encouragement of my teachers and parents. I learned a lot from Gail about how a teacher's attitude can really affect the way that a student learns. Even in high school, shortly after having her as a teacher, I put what she taught me into practice. During my sophomore year of high school, I began working with Mexican immigrants students who came to my school because their parents migrated to the United States in search of a better life. Many Mexican families found the education system to be especially challenging in the United States and realized the difficulty that came with trying to educate their children. The fact is that many school districts across the country do not offer LEP or ESL (English as a Second Language) programs to help these populations adapt and learn in their new environment. And since they cannot understand English and, therefore, cannot understand what is going on at the school that they are attending, they drop out because there is little reason why they should spend 7 or 8 hours a day in a place that where they get little, if any, help. In high school, I realized that there was little help for these students. In fact, they were placed in special education classrooms instead of ESL classrooms even though the only "disability" they had was a language barrier. With the proper help, these children could have really succeeded and grown to like the school that they attended. I was enraged by their lack of access to resources, so I teamed up with some of the Spanish teachers in the school and we started a tutoring program for the Mexican students that attended my high school. One student, named Maria, and I really hit it off. She was extremely intelligent and did very well when she understood the material that she was expected to grasp. For three years, we prepared for the Texas state standardized test that, at the time, was called the TAAS test. All she needed to do to graduate was pass it. We took several practice exams and worked mostly on her comprehension of the reading, but also on the math and science portions. In March of my senior year, she took and passed each section of the exam and was able to graduate with me. It was a very rewarding experience and it proved to me that when people are given the proper tools for success, they can succeed. Maria, unlike many of the other Mexican students who passed through my school district, was given access to the material that the other students did not have and was surrounded by people who encouraged her. Educational access can be interpreted in many different ways. For Maria and me, access was given to us by those who thought we were capable. When I came to Vermont, I began working with children of all ages. Some are more challenging than others, but I have found that patience and positive energy go a long way both inside and outside of the classroom. No matter what the circumstances, when a student finds a teacher who motivates, captivates, and encourages them, that student takes positive steps forward.