Re'eh
In this week's parsha, Re'eh, the Torah explains that "you shall rejoice...as Hashem has blessed you." [12:7] Rashi explains that your offering should be a match for your level of wealth. This would also apply to tzedakah--those who have more are expected to give more. The same should be true for Torah learning, as those with more time to dedicate to study should apportion that time appropriately.
Similarly in schools we would want to match our performance expectations to each student. But there are complicating circumstances in our human estimation of student performance, as we can only guess how much effort a student put into preparing for an evaluation. We also don't want to communicate the message that performance only hinges on innate ability, either, as numerous studies show that with this mindset students are more prone to simply throw their hands up instead of work hard to prepare. So we know that we don't want to say as teachers "you are so smart at math." Rather, the message should be "you must have really worked hard to prepare so well!"
We also want students to believe that they are capable, so noting their improvement with praise is critical. The danger lies, counter-intuitively, when we praise a student for an improvement, but she knows she is capable of much more. So for example, telling a student who earns a B+ when his usual grade is a C "wow, you must have worked hard; this is such a great job" may back-fire if the student believes he is capable of A-level work. That student may think "the teacher thinks that is the best I can do? Well, maybe it is."
So while we want to praise our students for working at their capacity, just as the Torah expects us all to give to our capacity, it is not always a simple matter for us as educators to know exactly what that capacity is. Ideally we have high expectations for all of our students, and the better we get to know them the more we can target their capacity for giving.
May we all be working toward maximizing our potential in the service of Hashem.
Shabbat Shalom--
Paul Oberman
Similarly in schools we would want to match our performance expectations to each student. But there are complicating circumstances in our human estimation of student performance, as we can only guess how much effort a student put into preparing for an evaluation. We also don't want to communicate the message that performance only hinges on innate ability, either, as numerous studies show that with this mindset students are more prone to simply throw their hands up instead of work hard to prepare. So we know that we don't want to say as teachers "you are so smart at math." Rather, the message should be "you must have really worked hard to prepare so well!"
We also want students to believe that they are capable, so noting their improvement with praise is critical. The danger lies, counter-intuitively, when we praise a student for an improvement, but she knows she is capable of much more. So for example, telling a student who earns a B+ when his usual grade is a C "wow, you must have worked hard; this is such a great job" may back-fire if the student believes he is capable of A-level work. That student may think "the teacher thinks that is the best I can do? Well, maybe it is."
So while we want to praise our students for working at their capacity, just as the Torah expects us all to give to our capacity, it is not always a simple matter for us as educators to know exactly what that capacity is. Ideally we have high expectations for all of our students, and the better we get to know them the more we can target their capacity for giving.
May we all be working toward maximizing our potential in the service of Hashem.
Shabbat Shalom--
Paul Oberman
