25 Biggest Mistakes Teachers Make and How to Avoid Them

158 Personality and Professionalism
to let go of the initial omission. The
student apparently internalized the
slight, nurtured it, and hung on to it
for years. There is no evidence that
the teacher was aware of the impact
of the omission.
Astute teachers know the importance
of apologizing to a student
when they make mistakes. I think it
is important to preface that apology
with an acknowledgment that teachers
make honest mistakes and to
assure the student that it was not
personal. To soothe ruffled feathers,
teachers can ask students what else
they can do to make them feel better.
SCENARIO 20.6
To Err Is Human, to Admit It Is Divine
When I was in sixth grade my English teacher gave me a C on a project. That isn’t a bad
grade, it could have been worse, but I disagreed with it. The assignment was to make
a poster showing the difference between “good” and “well.” He said I got the concepts
backward and gave me a C. I was so sure I had them straight. I remember every week
in elementary school telling my teacher, “I don’t feel good,” and she would say, “Well,
you don’t feel well.”
And so I was positive that my picture of a man’s face that I put on my poster with a
thermometer and sad, droopy, watery eyes saying, “He doesn’t feel well” was correct.
Wrong, my teacher said. I still believe that I was correct. Even today, I am confused as
to how I feel. So I mostly say I have a headache or my stomach hurts. And I seldom correct
others on their use of good and well, fearing I might correct them the wrong way
and traumatize them for life. I am not really traumatized, but I will never forget all of
my hard effort I put into that poster and joy I felt, thinking I finally used the word correctly,
only to find out I was wrong and had been misguided.
This is a scenario of “the student
is right and the teacher is
wrong.” Well can be used as an adjective
or adverb to mean in good
health, satisfactory, or to appear well
dressed; whereas, good is only used
as an adjective and it is never used to
modify a verb (Warriner & Griffith,
1977). Either the teacher was unaware
that he was wrong or was reluctant
to admit that he was wrong.
Erroneously, some teachers believe
that because they are the teachers,
they must know all of the answers all
of the time and never make mistakes.
They think that if they admit that
they are wrong, their admission is a
sign of weakness that undermines
their credibility.
The smart, confident teacher realizes
that saying “I don’t know” and
being ignorant for the moment is
preferable to never saying “I don’t
know” and remaining ignorant for all
time. When children are so sure they
are right, effective teachers investigate
and tell them that teachers make
mistakes and that sometimes the student
is right. If the student is right,
these teachers readily admit their
errors or shortcomings. Teachers can
save face and validate the child by
thanking the child for the gift of the
new knowledge.