Listen to a conversation between two students.
M:I really like my sociology class. It's a seminar on methods in sociology.
W:That doesn't sound some terribly exciting.
M:I thought so too at first. But after we being reading different research studies, we found out about the conclusions, their finding and we also discuss the details of how they did the study. Some of reading has been fascinating.
W:For example?
M:Well, we just read the study that was done in an elementary school. A school where a lot of students were failing. When the researchers went into the school, they thought they would find out how teachers low expectations contributed to students doing so poor in the school.
W:I think I've heard of that. Then when students don't perform well in the school, it's called self-fulfilling something.
M:Right, self-fulfilling prophecy. But in this school, there was one first grade teacher. They called her Ms.A who had very positive affect on students. The researchers talk to the students after they become adults and examine the students' school records. Students who had been in Ms.A's class were much more like to do well in the school and they were more likely to be successful as adults than students who had been in the other first grade classes in that school.
W:What was the teacher's secret? Did researchers ever find out?
M:She just didn't give up on anyone no matter how long it took to reach them. She also communicated to the students how important education is. The adults in the study all mentioned this when they were interviewed some 20 years later.