We label students to make it easier for us to teach them. Administration likes the labels because they can show how we improve, newspapers like labels because it shows people what their tax dollar is spent on. Unfortunately, we assume a lot of the time that if a student is “low” in math then that carries over to other subjects as well. (See my previous post on how I feel about assumptions). So just as we place kids in the high group, we also place kids as average learners. Think about the implication of that though; by labeling someone average, which has practically become a swear word, we are closing off our view of them as a learner. No longer allowed to evolve, that child is just average. Imagine saying that in a parent-teacher conference.
And yet, our students amaze us. The biggest hallelujah moments I have had have been when those “low” or “average” learners all of a sudden understood complicated concepts or excelled at a task. I don’t have those same hallelujah moments when my “high” learners figure something out, after all, they are supposed to figure it out. Have you ever seen gifted students struggle? It is the same struggle that all students go through and yet we tend to gloss over it because we have more confidence in them as learners because of their label. And yet, once we have labeled someone as gifted we don’t reevaluate that label. Sure, Suzy may be gifted in math but does that mean she is gifted in everything else, not just subjects, but life? No, it means she is really good at math.
So if someone is “average” we assume they are always “average” except for those few moments where they shine. This is a debilitating view of your classroom and something I wish to combat next year. Truth is, all of our students are low, average, and high learners. The categories and labels change depending on the topic, the subject, the style of learning, the assignment, the day, the weather – so many factors change it. If we are too set in our ways as educators, we will fail to notice how these labels are suffocating our students, if we do not make the labels or groupings flexible.
So promise yourself to not label your students, or at least label them for that task at that moment and then go back and revisit that label for the next task. It may seem like a lot of work but your learning experience as a classroom will be much improved. And you may even raise the confidence level of a couple of students in the process.
Pernille Ripp 
Great post! I think that pre-assessments are needed to gear instruction but labels need not be attached. Interesting how labels create a solid box around a child preventing them from moving in all directions in all areas.
HI Brandi,Thank you for your comment; I believe this is an important discussion to have with yourself. I know that I am guilty of labeling students as well, so now I have to remind myself to remove those labels when they are not needed. The worst is definitely when a child knows what their label is; what damage it can do!
Pernille-Well done on this post. Like you, I will make a more conscious effort not to write kids off in seeming areas of deficit by labeling them.I'm planning to use cooperative learning for the first time, which differs from group work that essentially demands grouping by achievement. I'm looking forward to seeing how it levels the playing field.Oh, and by the way, we know kids know they're being labeled…we have to break that, too.
It cuts both ways. I was a "good" student–meaning I was quiet and obedient. I followed directions and completed assignments on time. While most things I learned were in my ZPD, when I didn't understand something, I felt ashamed. It was my fault because I "should" know how to understand it on my own. I became a perfectionist, trying to prove I really was more than just obedient, but even my most shining efforts were seen as "average" for a "gifted" student like me. I fought the gifted label for years because I wanted to be seen as an individual, not as a type. When that label is affixed, it becomes humiliating and frightening to ask for help. I will never forget a mid-year parent-teacher conference in grade school when one of my teachers proudly proclaimed he had nothing more to teach me. He had to catch everyone up to where I was. The truth? I was terrified that he would ask me a question in class because I felt like I was barely keeping up. He was true to his word and ignored me the rest of the year, confident that I was "getting it" and I played along, keeping my head down, acting like the good worker bee I associated with being a good student. Beware all easy categorization with any student. The "low" students will sink beneath it. The "middle" students will not recognize their strengths. The "gifted" students will hide behind it in fear that you will find out the "truth" that they are not really that smart after all.