25 Biggest Mistakes Teachers Make and How to Avoid Them

170 Teaching Style and Behavior
particularly offensive to make that
child stand outside in cold, freezing
weather for a long period of time.
Forcing the child to stand out in the
cold placed the child at risk for frostbite
and other cold-related illnesses.
The irony of this intense punishment
is that the child was unaware of the
offense, which renders the punishment
ineffective. The pathology
evident in this teacher’s behavior
underscores the need for better
screening of teacher applicants.
Rational teachers are aware that
social isolation is more effective if
they specify the misbehavior and
communicate the desired behavior.
SCENARIO 22.4
Bloody Secret
Social isolation is not recommended
for more than ten minutes. Experi -
enced teachers know that the setting
should be somewhat isolated from
the class, but the student should be
visible at all times. The alone time
without reinforcement gives students
an opportunity to think. The
astute teacher does not use time-out
as punishment; instead time-out is an
opportunity to regroup and resume
appropriate behavior. Qualified,
responsible teachers would use tactics
that make the punishment fit the
crime. They would never put
a child in such a risky, inhumane
situation.
In the fourth grade I had a female teacher whose name I cannot recall. I do recall that
I was acting up on the way out of the room for recess and she grabbed me. She had
long red fingernails and when she grabbed me, she dug them deep into my arm. As she
did, I jerked my arm and left a considerable amount of flesh under her nails. My arm
was bleeding and she wouldn’t let me go to the nurse. She just gave me a wet paper
towel to put on it and made me sit in the room during the recess period. I never forgot
her!
The overzealous teacher in this
scenario accidentally clawed a
student with her long, red, and possibly
dirty, nails. The scratches were
deep enough to draw blood and if the
nails were dirty, there was the risk of
infection. Injuring the child was terrible,
but when the teacher failed to
acknowledge that she had hurt the
child, that made her offense worse.
Denying the child medical attention
elevated this offense to unethical status.
It seems that the teacher was trying
to cover up the incident to avoid
any negative repercussions such as a
lawsuit or losing her job. Her efforts
to protect herself placed her student
at risk for infection and for further
discomfort. She made no effort to
comfort the student. She tried to act
as if the incident did not happen and
she probably secretly hoped that the
student would do the same. Then
again, maybe she felt that the injury
was the child’s fault because he
pulled away. On the contrary, she
was the adult in charge. She inflicted
the wound. She was responsible.