25 Biggest Mistakes Teachers Make and How to Avoid Them

Mistake 14: Inappropriate Educational Strategies
SCENARIO 14.21
Talk , Talk , Talk
My worst experience with a teacher was in eighth grade at St. L.’s School. Her name
was Mrs. D. Even as an eighth-grade student I realized that she was a bad teacher, the
worksheet queen, Ms. Boring!! She taught her class in the lecture style all year long and
half the time I had no idea what she was talking about. She never smiled and never tried
to make any connections with her students.
Lecture can be an appropriate
teaching strategy, but this
strategy should be reserved for students
at the high school level and
above. The younger the students, the
more disengaged they become as
time goes on. If lecture is used, it
should be interesting and include as
much media as possible. Integrating
video, audio tapes, visual aids,
PowerPoint-type computer presentations,
and other sensory sources will
keep students engaged and will
enhance the effectiveness of lecture
as a teaching strategy. Kindsvatter,
Wilen, and Ishler (1988) suggest
three ways to enhance the lecture
presentation: Use visual aids, present
simple material before complex
material, and use nonverbal behaviors
to hold students’ attention. This
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teacher missed the mark on all three
points. She used worksheets, a lessdesirable
instructional tool, she used
no visual aids, and she presented
complex material most of the time.
She never smiled. This simple nonverbal
expression would have helped
her to connect with her students and
to minimize the gap that seemed to
emerge from her ineffective use of
the lecture method.
A more effective approach is articulated
in the concept of connected
teaching, proposed by Belenky, Clinchy,
Goldberger, and Tarule (1986). They
suggest that connected teachers
function as a midwife who helps students
give birth to their own ideas as
opposed to functioning like a banker
who merely makes knowledge deposits
in a student’s head.
SCENARIO 14.22
Here an “F,” There an “F,” Everywhere an “F,” “F”
My single worst experience in school was my high school economics teacher. I had this
teacher my last semester during my senior year. On the first day I had his class, he
stood in the middle of the classroom and proceeded to tell us how he prided himself
on failing students. From that moment on, I knew I was in trouble. He gave us two
chapters to read every night and would lecture over things not in the book. His tests
were hard because nobody ever knew what he would test us over. I had a horrible time
making him happy with my projects. In the end, after working very hard, I made a B in
the class.