By Alexander Denham
In 2024, Pew Research Center released a report titled “What’s It Like to Be a Teacher in America Today?” While reading through the data contained within the report, three main points stuck out to me:
- Around half of teachers are recording that students are not meeting their academic goals;
- Teachers are identifying that parent involvement is not as impactful as in previous years;
- Students are not finding value in their educational experiences.
I believe all three of these data points have a common connection: a lack of hope.
What Is Hope Theory?
An emerging branch of research in the field of psychology is the study of hope. Based on American psychologist Charles Synder’s concept of “Hope Theory,” which he began developing in the late 1980s, current research looks at the science and power of hope. It’s already been shown to have many psychological, social, and physical benefits, contributing to health and well-being, self-esteem, resilience, and more.
The Hope Research Center defines hope as: “the belief that the future will be better and you have the power to make it so.” It is up to us to instill this belief in our students.
According to Arizona State University, hope is “a cognitive practice that involves the intentional act of setting goals and working towards them with purpose.” If hope is a practice, then it is a skill that we can learn. It is a skill that we can teach.
So, how do we as educators impact the current realities we are facing in our schools? My recommendation is to infuse skill-based hope strategies into the classroom setting.
Read on to find out what this looks like in practice.
Creating a Goal Strategy that Works
According to Synder’s theory, hope is based on three main ideas:
- Desirable goals
- Agency to stay motivated
- Pathways to achieve those goals
Throughout the decade I have spent working in education, I’ve seen the most positive impact when I’ve incorporated these ideas into my teaching.
First and foremost: goals. Our students have difficulty visualizing ways to a better future for themselves, so having intentional practices in place that require them to write down and reflect on their goals helps them “see the path to success.”
A newer goal framework called N.I.C.E. asks students to create goals that are Near-term, Input-based, Controllable, and Energizing. These goals should also be independent, meaningful, and relevant to students’ lives—in other words, a goal of “pass this class” will not make a significant impact. Instead, prompt students with deeper questions like, “What skills do you want to build in this class?” or “How can we make this class more relevant to your life?” or “In four years, what do you hope to remember from this class?”
Ask your students to create goals for the week, month, and quarter, instead of the semester or year, and make sure you have a system that helps them track their progress regularly. Ensure that the goals they’re making are within their sphere of influence and, most importantly, that they are excited to see progress towards them. If students don’t feel energized about achieving their goals, then their behaviors will be more apathetic and disengaged.
Building Ownership and Agency
Teachers are identifying apathy as a growing source of conflict in their classrooms. I believe a big part of this stems from students not owning their learning or being able to participate in shaping their educational experiences. Ownership of learning directly correlates to engagement and achievement. It also plays a big role in students’ feelings of agency, helping them to stay motivated and keep on track to achieve their goals.
We should actively be working to build systems that encourage ownership. I like to use a method that I’ve termed “product-based learning.” Every day I want my students to write something down, I want them to actively create something, and I want them building something meaningful to share with others.
I frequently have my students respond to independent journal prompts, asking shallow or deep questions depending on the day. I also ask them to create word walls for vocabulary assignments, or design posters about recently taught material, in order to help other students in the class remember what we’ve been learning about through the lens of their peers. In the past I’ve even had my students build websites and portfolios that tracked their progress throughout the semester.
Depending on the assignment, I offer my students multiple ways to complete it, giving them a sense of agency regarding their work. When assigning reflection assignments, for example, I’ll allow students to either write their reflection in their journal, voice record it like a podcast, or video record it like a social media post. I want to give them the opportunity to grow different skills that they are interested in—and to do so through the avenue of my content.
Incorporating these small elements of agency gives students the opportunity to tie their daily work into their goals, and does wonders to keep them motivated.
Measuring Success Through Multiple Pathways
Teachers are asked to differentiate our instruction through our planning process. We learn throughout the year that our students are all unique, with their own strengths and weaknesses. Their interests, values, and mindsets are different from one another, so it makes sense that their pathways to success would be too.
Some students thrive in multiple choice tests, others with verbal assessments, or through project-based assignments. Infusing hope into the classroom also means recognizing that students can succeed in multiple ways, and then creating routes to that success.
I once taught a student who struggled answering multiple choice questions. She didn’t see herself as smart, and other students and teachers furthered this perception by treating her like she wasn’t. Over time, she lost the belief that she could succeed.
In getting to know this student, I recognized that she would fail almost every reading assessment, but could talk all day—in depth—about the topics I was teaching in class. Her pathway to success was verbal! So, what I began doing was teaching her the skills needed for multiple-choice tests, but I would also assess her verbally, talking through the major points of a lesson or asking her to give me discussion questions for other students. What followed was an increase in engagement from this student as she began to see her route to success.
You can achieve the same result in your own classroom, simply begin by identifying your students’ strengths and weaknesses, and using these indicators to create pathways to success for them. I have seen teachers utilize three main paths to achievement:
- The creative path, where the teacher builds opportunities to use creativity as an assessment tool;
- The writing path, where the teacher builds opportunities to use writing and diagraming as assessment tools;
- The organization path, where teachers build structures to aggregate work and assignments so students can share their learning with others.
This flexibility in assessment allows students to achieve their goals through a pathway that fits their strengths, which ultimately leads to higher engagement and a more meaningful learning experience.
What Can I Do Right Now to Start Building Hope?
In your lesson planning practices, include goal setting and tracking. When coming up with ideas for classroom activities, give your students the opportunity to create and build, to own their work. When thinking about assessments, consider how you can differentiate to provide multiple pathways to success for your students.
Ideally, you should be spending 50% of your class time on your content, 25% on hope-practices, and 25% on academic and behavioral feedback. What is your strategy to have students track their goals? How can you shift your assignments from knowledge intake to product creation?
Infusing hope is not just for schools. Families should be including these practices as well. Parents, please talk to your children about their goals and dreams for the future. These conversations can go a long way to helping them develop a sense of reflection. What are your child’s goals for the next 30 days, 90 days, and 6 months? How can you can create opportunities for them to have agency and contribution in your household?
Students can begin practicing hope on their own without an adult to guide them. They can start by searching “goal setting strategies for students” on YouTube and looking for the best methods that fit with their strengths. In their schoolwork, students should try to find ownership and leadership opportunities. They can talk to their teachers about this. They should also look for where the roads to achievement are in their classes and extracurriculars.
Here are some questions for students to consider:
- Think about classes that are difficult for you. What skills can you learn from them that might help you in the next 30 or 90 days?
- Can you learn something from your classmates in those classes so you can become better?
- What skills can you teach your teacher?
And most important of all, students should believe in themselves and create friendships with people that also believe in them.
The absence of hope is more than just a feeling—it’s a reflection of deep systemic challenges facing educators today. Recognizing this is the first step in meaningful change. Now the only question that remains is: are we ready to restore hope in teaching and in our schools?
Alexander Denham is a North Carolina educator with a MEd in Urban Education. His passion for infusing hope in educational spaces has led him to be a teacher, coach, and behavior systems specialist. He spends his free time with his family and friends, traveling with his wife, and hiking with his dog.