“WHAT EXACTLY DO you want your students to achieve this year and what plans do you have to accomplish it?” Those words hung in the air as I stared blankly at my new principal. I had no idea how to answer.

It was late September, and I had just begun work at my third school in almost as many years. At 25, I had completed two years of teaching at a private school and another at a public school. I left the private school to earn more pay and lost my position at the public school due to declining student enrollment.

Up to then, I had no reason to question my skills as a teacher and was generally held in high regard by others. Not that there was much empirical data on which to base my good standing. I was observed exactly once by a school administrator during those three years. The private school director never walked into my classroom but used positive feedback from parents and students to rate my effectiveness. My sole observation and subsequent evaluation in public school was positive with one exception. I was told to “put up a bulletin board.”

Abrupt and Unsettling
Suddenly, things had taken a radical turn. In my new school, I was observed four times in the first month alone. The reviews were scathing. I learned that my handouts were filled with misspellings and grammatical errors. I did not move around the room strategically, asked too many closed questions, failed to allow enough wait time and did not adequately plan each lesson with relevant and measurable objectives that tied into a larger unit plan. In short, I had become a lousy teacher.

What happened to me? Just a few years earlier, my college supervisor told me I was the best student teacher he ever had. It was not until much later that I was able to fully assess why and how my skill as a teacher evaporated.

By the close of that year, with support from administrators, I relearned how to teach. More recently, I have come to understand the impact of that unsettling experience on my later accomplishments.

Greatest Motivator
This early jolt shaped my career and strongly formed my belief that we perform according to the expectations of others. Just as low expectations bring limited results, high expectations can lead to exceptional results. We rise to the standards put upon us by important people in our lives.

This is not a revolutionary concept, but it is one that affected my professional life and helped develop my philosophy about leadership and our role in helping students become contributing members of our great society. The greatest single motivator for success is high expectations from those we respect.

Trying to answer that fundamental question was a life-changing moment for me. This one interaction triggered a life-altering experience that affected the rest of my career.

I have had the opportunity during my 17 years in school district leadership to supervise many teachers and administrators. Regardless of their starting point, my expectations always are high and root back to that central question: What do you hope to achieve and how will you do it? Some met their goals and went on to great success while others forced me to take corrective action, including their removal from leadership positions.

Exercising Power
Many superintendent colleagues can share similar stories of how their lives were shaped by those important to them, for better or worse.

Think about every experience that you have with students or the adults you supervise. Set realistic, high expectations for them and provide the necessary supports so the encounter can bring about positive results.

One question changed my life and inspired a career. We have that kind of power. How will you use yours?


STEPHEN GUTHRIE is superintendent of the Sussex Technical School District in Georgetown, Del.