Background of Clip: Students carry with them certain expectations of their teacher, and

on the first few days of class, these expectations are either confirmed or denied. It is this
confirmation or denial that will set up the norm that will dictate the remainder of the
class. In the context of this movie, Cameron Diaz had set up a very relaxed classroom
environment at first. She was a very easy grader, she did not dress professionally, and a
strong emphasis was placed on leisurely sorts of activity such as movie watching. This is
what the students of this classroom had grown accustomed too. Because of this set up,
she did not have very high credibility among her students. The way she graded, the way
she behaved, and the way that she dressed initially evoked the idea that she did not care
how her students did in the class too much, and as a result, the students got the
impression that she was more like their friend and an easy A than she was their actual
teacher. This led them into not really doing their work, not having a high degree of care
for the class, and pretty much just doing as they pleased due to the fact that they felt she
did not care. However, upon hearing about the reward given to whichever teacher had the
highest test scores of the school, she decided to change and get more serious. This video
clip shows that change. Some key points to note are:
- Dress: At the beginning of the video, we see that Cameron Diaz is dressed
much more professionally than what the norm would dictate for that
classroom. This constitutes a violation among this group of students because
the social norm that has been established in that particular classroom is that
she doesnt really dress up in such a manner. We can see the students taking
note of this change as many of them evaluate her and are noticeably surprised
by what they see when they walk in; they even continue to look at the way she
is dressed as they are sitting down. The students are very quiet, and from their
reaction of silence and attentiveness, we can gauge that already the change in
her dress is giving her considerably more credibility among the students; they
are taking her much more seriously. Studies of expectancy violation in the
context of student teacher relations have shown that teachers who choose to
wear formal attire are rated with high credibility.
- Teacher behavior: As mentioned above, Cameron Diaz had originally placed
a large emphasis on movie watching in her classroom. However, due to her
new placed importance on the students grades, she has removed the TV in
favor of actual teaching. One student in this video takes notes of this change,
asking wheres the TV? The lack of the TV is another form of a violation for
these students, as they have grown so accustomed to having it in the
classroom. The TV has been replaced with actual copies of a book, a sight
which the students are very surprised to see, noted by their facial expressions.
Furthermore, because of the very relaxed environment that had been
previously established, a student feels that it is appropriate to make a joke
when Cameron Diaz is obviously asking a serious question. He isnt expecting
to be thrown out of the classroom for doing this, because pre-established norm
would say that he will not be thrown out. However, when his joke is met by a
firm get out from Cameron Diaz, his expectations have been very much
violated, as proven by the look on his face and the frantic and nearly fearful

pace with which he left. This also constitutes a violation for the entire
population of the classroom; no one was expecting him to be thrown out.
Once he is however, their expectations have all been violated; again we can
conclude this from the look of surprise on the students face behind the one
that got thrown out, and the dead silence that comes from this. Lastly, the
students were never expecting to have to read the actual book, nor were they
expecting to ever have to take a pop quiz on the book. Once Cameron Diaz
institutes these practices, they are another violation of these students
expectations, and this violation is met with a degree of outrage. It is at this
point that Cameron Diaz actually has to make it clear that things are about to
change, giving her much more credibility as a serious teacher among the
students. We can see this from the fact that afterward, the students begin
answering her questions and getting them right, showing that they are now
doing the assigned work. This comes from the fact that they now take her
seriously, and her credibility among them is now high.