25 Biggest Mistakes Teachers Make and How to Avoid Them (8 page)

The worst experience I ever had with a teacher was in the sixth grade. Her name was Mrs. H. She was very big and scary. I do not even remember what I did. I was probably talking. She took me outside and yelled at me. It was right before Thanksgiving. I remember telling everyone she wanted to eat me as her Thanksgiving turkey. I do not think I had ever been so scared.

In both of these scenarios, the students seemed unaware of their offenses and assumed that the punishments were for talking. The problem here is that neither teacher made either student aware of their offense and did not connect the offense to an appropriate consequence. Both teachers reacted in an impulsive, hostile manner, which is ineffective.

Effective teachers would like to decrease the likelihood that unacceptable behaviors will continue and increase the likelihood that acceptable behaviors will continue. The ABCs (antecedents → behaviors → consequences) of Behavioral Learning Theory (Skinner, 1950) suggest that behaviors should be connected to consequences to determine if that behavior will occur again. If the consequences are good, the behavior is likely to occur again. If the consequences are not good, the behavior is not likely to occur again.

Lee and Marlene Canter (1992) would probably agree that the problem in both of these scenarios is a teacher-owned problem. They suggest using assertive discipline to deal with these types of problems. If assertive discipline were viewed through a lens of Behavioral Learning Theory, the “ABCs” of assertive discipline would be as follows: (A = antecedents) Teachers establish rules, give clear explanations of the rules, and teach students how to behave appropriately; (B = behavior) students make choices about following the rules; and, if they don’t follow the rules, (C = consequences) assertive teachers follow through with appropriate consequences. They warn against passive or hostile consequences. If children choose to break the rules, they should be reminded of the rules and asked what they would do differently next time. This question forces children to think about what they have done, what they should have done, and what they will do next time. Assertive discipline would have been very appropriate for both of these scenarios.

SCENARIO 1.17
Pay Attention!!!

In third grade, I had a teacher who yelled at me. We were having some type of quiz and we were only supposed to have one sheet of paper. I don’t remember if I didn’t have any or if I just decided not to listen. I used a pad of paper. When she saw that, she squatted down right in front of my desk and yelled right in front of my face. I was so humiliated. I still remember I just put my face real close to my paper and cried.

The student in this scenario was obviously distracted or not paying attention. The “crime” was not following directions. Bending down and yelling in front of the student’s face was an authoritarian tactic that meant “do as I say.” This teacher seems to have had a need to be in control and took the child’s inattentiveness personally.

Knowledgeable teachers would know that it is not unusual for students, and adults, to become distracted in a group setting where they are forced to pay attention. Armed with that knowledge, the teacher can be patient and understanding and repeat the instructions in a civil tone. Some students need to hear the directions for an assignment more than once. If the students still do not understand after one or two repetitions, the teacher could demonstrate or have class members explain the assignment in their own words until everyone understands. Before giving instructions, it is always advisable for a teacher to wait until she has everyone’s attention.

She should model the instructions as much as possible using the actual materials. If not paying attention had been a habit with this student, the teacher could have let the student know, before the instructions were given, that the student would be expected to help by repeating the instructions to the class.

SCENARIO 1.18
Cheating Exposé

I was in middle school and I was caught cheating. The teacher took up my paper and asked, in front of the class, if I thought that it [cheating] was worth it.

The teacher exposed a cheater in class. On the surface, this seems reasonable. The teacher’s intent seemed to be to embarrass the child enough that this cheating behavior would cease.

Insightful, experienced teachers know that students cheat when they do not know the material or they are afraid that they do not know enough of the material. Sometimes, students feel pressure from parents and high-achieving siblings or peers to do well in school. Thus, the motive for cheating becomes an important issue. If teachers are aware of the cheating motive, they can help students with the problem, effectively eliminating the need to cheat. A public exposé could cut off any means of communication. A soft reprimand in private would be more effective (O’Leary, Kaufman, Kass, & Drabman, 1970). In private, the teacher is more likely to get an explanation. Issuing a referral for cheating should be a last resort.

SCENARIO 1.19
Biting in Self-Defense

My fifth-grade teacher made me apologize to another student for biting her. The other girl was trying to take my shoes away and I had no other resort. We were in the restroom, and she was much bigger than I was. She ran to tell the teacher, and I was forced to apologize. What I did wrong was that I did not give my side of the story because she had no reason to take my shoes.

Conflicts among students often escalate into violence. Studies have shown that most conflicts among students are usually not effectively resolved (DeCecco & Richards, 1974). In this scenario, the teacher did not manage student conflict appropriately. She listened to one child and in a perfunctory manner, she made the wrong child apologize. She did not bother to find out what happened.

Resourceful practitioners would ask both children what had happened. If both students insisted that the other was wrong and the conflict could not be resolved, they could use peer mediators to help the students settle their dispute (Johnson, Johnson, Dudley, Ward, & Magnuson, 1995). They would not arbitrarily decide that one student was right and the other was wrong.

SCENARIO 1.20
No Apology Needed

My second-grade teacher was Mrs. M. I remember that the girl behind me was not behaving correctly. She was talking when the teacher was teaching. So the teacher got mad. She got up and went toward the girl, but before she got to her she hit my shoulder, then she grabbed the girl and shook her. I was surprised but scared. Every time we saw Mrs. M. we were quiet. I remember telling my mom. My mother went to talk to the teacher, but the teacher denied everything.

Anger is a breeding ground for inappropriate actions. In an irate attempt to discipline a student, the teacher accidentally hit the wrong student, an innocent bystander. The teacher failed to acknowledge her mistake and she later denied it ever happened, which only added insult to the child’s injury. There are a variety of reasons that the teacher failed to acknowledge her mistake. She was oblivious because of her rage. Sometimes angry people want to hold on to their anger, and stopping to apologize would diffuse the anger. Another reason could be that the teacher did not feel it was necessary to apologize because she was the teacher and the student was just a student. Perhaps there are more reasons, but whatever they are, they do not justify the teacher’s actions.

Any reasonable human being would stop to apologize and say “excuse me.” If a teacher is too angry to do that, she may be putting too much of herself into controlling student behavior. Such anger can push a teacher across that reasonable, litigious line separating appropriate and inappropriate discipline. The professional teacher with integrity would admit her mistake, and thereby eliminate any need to lie to parents to cover it up.

SCENARIOS 1.21 and 1.22
No Explanations, Please

In the second grade I received a paddling for pinching a classmate. The classmate and I had made a bet to see who could pinch each other the hardest. I took my pinch. When I pinched her, she started crying and I got in trouble. I thought we both should have gotten in trouble because she pinched me too, but I didn’t cry.