John Hattie: His 10 myths about student achievement

I've just read a brief but interesting article "John Hattie: His 10 myths about student achievement." It is the summary of a BBC radio interview he gave. Number 10 really caught my attention as 'just do your best' is a phrase I often use to encourage my own kids and students at school to give new things a try.

"10. Student Expectation - John Hattie claims that telling a child "do your best" is the worst thing a teacher or parent can do. A successful teacher establishes a student's expectations of their own abilities but then dispels those expectations by telling them they can do better. What a student achieved yesterday should never be okay for tomorrow."

So encouraging a child to "just do your best" is not challenging them to achieve their full potential but to merely demonstrate what they can already do, thus not moving their achievement forward. Next time a situation such as this presents itself, my goal is to be specific and establish with the student (or my child!) what success will look like and the steps they might take to achieve this.

Here is the link to the article: http://www.irisconnect.co.uk/john-hattie-10-myths-about-student-achievement/