BEP041 – “Only My Smartest Kids Can Handle This”

“Only My Smartest Kids Can Handle This” In talking about why this phrase may come out of someone’s mouth and how is it handled, we also talk about student mastery, honors-based education and classroom culture.

02:09 Concept of high kids, low kids, honors kids, non-honors kids

02:59 Phrase is heard from many teachers at many different levels

03:26 “I can only take risks with the kids that I feel comfortable taking risks around.”

03:59 Should there be cohort-based education at certain levels?

04:50 In taking risks with the high kids, what does it mean for the other kids?

05:29 Honors is a mindset and it’s a choice.

05:55 Having a teacher advocate

06:31 Every class has honors opportunities

06:53 Negative self-talk and self-fulfilling prophecy

07:40 Honors being a cultural thing and also a badge of honor for parents

08:13 From a teacher perspective, what are the considerations when they’re thinking about this? What is the right mindset for teachers?

11:26 What are you doing for classroom culture?

12:10 How does a teacher take action on this? What are the action steps that they can take now?

12:37 What isn’t working and what can we fix together?