The Six Realities: A Rubric to Evaluate Awareness!
Students who succeed in high school understand six core realities:
Eating, sleeping, and relaxing matter.
Homework is more than an assignment; it is a daily discipline.
Obeying your teachers is painful but not wrong.
Put stuff where it goes . . . Now!
Getting an education is worth it.
Asking for help in class takes courage.
When students neglect any of these realities, they do not perform as well as those who intentionally develop them.
These realities emerged from my work with a first-period class of young men. Many were returning from placement, struggling in school, or needing a place to decompress as they transitioned from their world to the world of school.
During class, I kept finding myself saying the same thing again and again. Over time, these repeated statements evolved into The Six Realities of a High School Graduate.
I then reverse-engineered my class to intentionally build awareness of these realities through my words, actions, and classroom activities.
This work led to the second axis of the grid shown below. I realized students had different levels of understanding regarding these realities:
Unconscious – No awareness that the reality exists. It was not a factor in decision-making.
Interested – Sounds like a good idea. Students take positive and appropriate action from time to time.
Committed – A desire to make this reality happen. It’s not perfection but persistence that marks these students.
This grid has become a powerful tool for helping students understand where they are—and how to move toward a higher level of success.