August 14th, 2024

Becoming a High-Love, High-Expectations, High-Resource Teacher or Leader

Years ago, Kim Clark shared a simple matrix with teachers at BYU-Idaho, with one axis representing the level of love or concern teachers have for their students and the other axis representing the level of expectations. He invited us to be teachers in the high-love, high-expectations quadrant. I’ve found that counsel to be simple yet profound, especially since as an administrator, I found that most of the professors who created some real challenges with students fell into the low-love, high-expectations quadrant.

But here’s a simple twist on that analysis. Why not make the model three-dimensional by adding another axis that represents level of support? I’ve found my most effective coaches, teachers, leaders, and mentors not only have high concern for me and high expectations of me. They also show my how I can rise to the level of their expectations.

Personally, I’ve never been especially motivated by, say, a basketball coach who says shoot better or a leader who encourages me to produce better numbers, even if I know they love me. On the other hand, if they can show me how to change and improve my approach or point me to valuable resources in my effort to improve, then I’m motivated and empowered to improve.

So as my TA grades my students’ capstone projects this week, she is kindly giving them feedback and pointing them to resources (e.g., the campus writing center) that can help students rise to their capacity, if they choose to resubmit their essay for additional credit. It’s my simple way of trying to be a high-love, high-expectation, high-resource teacher.