Professional Development
Most teachers spend a lot of time thinking about expectations. We explain them, model them, and return to them again and again. Still, many of us notice moments that don’t quite line up.
Students hesitate to share ideas. They ask, “Is this right?” before finishing a thought. Some rush through work. Others wait quietly, unsure when it’s safe to speak.
These moments are rarely about unclear expectations. More often, they reflect expectations students haven’t learned to trust yet.
In KnowAtom classrooms, expectations are not just directions or norms. Over time, they become part of the relationship between teacher, students, and the work itself.
Students don’t experience expectations as neutral
From a student’s perspective, expectations are not just about what to do. They are about what kind of learner they are allowed to be.
When students are expected to explain their thinking, revise ideas, or engage in disagreement, they don’t just hear the instruction. They interpret it emotionally: Is this something my teacher really expects me to be able to do? Or is it something I might get wrong in public?
Research on classroom cultures of thinking shows that engagement increases when expectations communicate trust in students’ intellectual capacity, not just control over behavior (Ritchhart, 2015).
In everyday classroom moments, students notice:
- Which ideas become part of the shared work of the class
- How uncertainty is handled
- Whether mistakes lead to conversation or correction
- What happens after an incomplete answer
Those moments teach expectations more powerfully than any explanation.
Expectations are learned by watching what happens next
Students do not learn expectations primarily from explanations. They learn them by observing what consistently happens to ideas once they are shared.
Teachers may articulate expectations at the start of a lesson or unit, but students watch closely to see which expectations are enacted and reinforced over time. Research on classroom cultures of thinking shows that students infer expectations from patterns in instructional practice—especially how ideas are taken up, revisited, and responded to (Ritchhart, 2015).
In particular, students attend to:
- Whose ideas are returned to later
- Whether revision is treated as a normal part of learning or an exception
- How feedback sounds when thinking is incomplete or still forming
- Whether disagreement leads to exploration or is quietly avoided
From these patterns, students draw conclusions about what counts as good thinking, how much intellectual risk is safe to take, and what kind of learner they are expected to be.
For expectations to be learned—not just heard—students need repeated opportunities to see the same intellectual moves taken seriously. KnowAtom’s lesson structure supports this by making thinking routines visible and predictable:
- Sharing initial ideas
- Testing ideas through investigation
- Using evidence to revise explanations
- Talking through disagreement
For example, in Shaping Earth’s Surface, students begin by offering initial explanations for why landforms change over time. These ideas are not evaluated for correctness; they are treated as starting points. As students analyze data and evidence from investigations, those same explanations are revisited and revised. When students disagree, the class returns to the evidence rather than to the teacher for resolution.
Over time, students come to expect that their first ideas are provisional, that evidence will matter more than confidence, and that revision is not a sign of error but a normal and expected outcome of learning.
Because students encounter this sequence repeatedly, expectations stop feeling like rules imposed by the teacher and start feeling like the way learning works. Students learn expectations not because they are told what to do, but because they experience—again and again—what happens to their ideas next.
Expectations grow as relationships grow
Strong expectations do not stay the same all year. They evolve as students become more confident with the work and with one another.
Early expectations emphasize safety
At the beginning of a unit, teachers often model thinking aloud, make space for tentative ideas, and slow down discourse. These moves signal that participation is expected even when ideas are incomplete. Students learn that participation is safe before it is sophisticated.
Expectations shift as responsibility shifts
As students grow more familiar with investigations and discourse routines, teachers step back. Students take more responsibility for planning investigations, interpreting data, and leading discussions. Expectations increase because students have learned, through experience, that they can handle this responsibility.
Expectations increase without feeling heavier
Later in a unit, explanations are expected to be clearer and evidence stronger. Because trust has been built, these higher expectations feel like confidence rather than pressure. Students interpret the increased demand as a sign that their teacher believes in their thinking.
Holding high expectations without raising stress
Many teachers worry that raising expectations will increase anxiety. That tends to happen only when struggle is framed as a problem instead of a normal part of learning.
Struggle is expected
When uncertainty and revision show up regularly, students stop interpreting confusion as failure. They learn that not knowing yet is part of the process, not a signal that they are doing something wrong.
Revision feels normal
In KnowAtom lessons, revision is built into the learning process rather than treated as remediation. Because students revise frequently, they come to expect that their first ideas will change. Revision becomes evidence of learning, not of error.
Success is about thinking, not speed
When success is defined by reasoning and evidence rather than how fast students finish, expectations shift away from performance and toward sensemaking.
Across grades, students learn the same expectation: ideas are meant to be revised as understanding deepens, even as the form of expression becomes more sophisticated.
What it looks like when students trust expectations
When expectations are consistent and relational, classrooms start to feel different.
Students are more willing to share half-formed ideas, disagree respectfully, revise thinking publicly, and take responsibility for learning. Teachers notice fewer compliance questions and more thinking questions.
Over time, students begin to see science as something they can figure out, not something they wait to be told.
References
- Ritchhart, R. (2015). Creating Cultures of Thinking. Jossey-Bass.
- Dweck, C. (2016). Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. Ballantine Books.
- Hattie, J. (2012). Visible Learning for Teachers. Routledge.