25 Biggest Mistakes Teachers Make and How to Avoid Them

166 Teaching Style and Behavior
Good teachers are sensitive to a
child’s need for acceptance and fair
treatment. Caring teachers would
never do anything to terrorize children,
such as constantly showing
them a feared object. Caring teachers
SCENARIO 21.5
Liar, Liar, Your Habit’s on Fire
are always willing to comfort a
distressed child, but they wisely
regard the legal limitations of their
school district. If the district has a
hands-off policy, they soothe and
comfort with words.
I was educated in Catholic school all of my life. With that in mind, I had a bad nun experience.
As a young student I was always fearful and intimidated by the older women in
their scary black hoods and gowns. This time period would have been in the late sixties
when they still wore the full-length battle dress. In my opinion they more closely
resembled witches, like the one in the Wizard of Oz, than saintly women who had
devoted their lives to the church.
Well, there was this one nun who always had it in for me. No matter where I went
or every time I was about to do something she was always there, so I never really had
the opportunity. Then one day while in sixth grade, another classmate came running to
tell me that my sister, who was a fifth grader, was in a fight with a boy, so I better get
over there, which I did, but there was no sign of a fight, just a mob of kids surrounding
my sister and this boy. I quickly got to the center of the mob; as I was about to ask my
sister what was going on, I felt some huge force pulling me from behind. When I turned
to see who was pulling me toward the outside of the mob, I was surprised to see it was
the nun who was always after me. She was grabbing me, saying, “Don’t hit that boy anymore.”
The principal, who was also a nun, then came up and asked what happened and
why did this nun have me in a police chokehold. The bad nun then said I was beating
up the fifth grader and she had to pull me off of him before I did any more damage. I
had no say in this field trial. I was given the mandatory amount of demerits and put on
probation, as well as having to do a month of work detail during recess, lunch, and after
school. I have never looked at nuns the same after this travesty of justice.
Are the nuns above lying? If
we believe this student’s
account, then clearly they are not.
Nuns are people, not saints. They
have the same character defects as
anyone else. It is certainly plausible
that the nun in search of an offense
manufactured this story and took
advantage of the situation. This “I’vegot-my-eye-on-you”
behavior is not
limited to nuns. Teachers and administrators
frequently have this attitude
toward problem students. Although
some students truly bear watching,
for others it is a setup, a misdeed
waiting to happen. Effective teachers
have high standards of integrity and
honesty and would never lie about a
student. Competent teachers work on
helping students to change undesirable
beh avior. They never perpetuate
bad behavior by setting a student up,
by falsely accusing a student, or by
manufacturing an offense.