I Was Impressed by Their Worst Work.

My first week, I watched a kid write a sentence and thought: incredible.

I was genuinely impressed. I said nothing when the handwriting was messy. I accepted whatever they gave me.

Turns out, that was their worst work.

The teacher training me told me this after week one. The kids had read my low expectations immediately and delivered exactly that.

She walked over, erased a student’s work, and said, “Write neatly!”

They picked up their pencil and wrote it again. Neater, slower, better.

I didn’t know what 7-year-olds could do, so I’d set the bar so low.

They tested me.

Whining, messy work, pushing back. I eased up. They pushed further.

The moment I raised it, the work changed dramatically.

Kids will show you exactly as much as you expect to see. Show them what good looks like, hold it every single time, and they’ll surprise you.

They surprised me every day after that.