25 Biggest Mistakes Teachers Make and How to Avoid Them

154
Mistake
20
Teacher Misjudgment
SCENARIO 20.1
Shrinking Violet or Conceited Prima Donna?
When I was in sixth grade we were to do some sort of assignment that required us to
stand in front of the class and speak. I was a very shy person at that point in my life and
when I jokingly told my teacher I was scared of doing the assignment because I was
scared, she told me that it wasn’t fear, it was conceit. I felt so dumb and hurt that she
thought I was conceited. I was in student council and sometimes did have to speak in
front of the school, and I was in choir, so I suppose audiences shouldn’t have intimidated
me. However, in speaking to them I had a written dialogue that was not my own creation
and I never stood alone, but technically I was still scared, not CONCEITED!
The teacher erroneously confused
a student’s shyness with
conceit. Her misdiagnosis may be
based on her definition of shyness.
By its very nature, shyness suggests
a focus on or an awareness of self,
whereas conceit suggests a preoccupation
with self. However, there
are many factors that influence a student’s
tendency toward shyness.
Fear is a legitimate factor; fear of failure,
fear of success, fear of strangers,
fear of making a mistake.
Teachers with an understanding of
child development know that fear is an
integral part of growing up. Conceit is
an overinflated opinion of one’s abilities
or sense of self-efficacy. Fear on the
other hand is a deep-rooted psychological
and physiological reaction to a
perceived threat to the self. The reaction
can be so intense that it can immobilize
a person and at the very least
hinder performance. It is presumptuous
for teachers to think that they can
discount labels that students put on
their feelings. The presumption is
compounded when teachers change
the student’s label, especially if the
teacher’s label is negative.