25 Biggest Mistakes Teachers Make and How to Avoid Them

Teacher Confessions of Worst Treatment of a Child
16.6. Do you ever think about this incident? If yes, approximately how
often since the occurrence(s)?
Yes, maybe twice since it happened.
16.7. If faced with the same or a similar situation, what would you do?
Commentary
I did apologize to him afterward. I think I told him how frustrated I was.
I am not sure if it was a good idea to burden him with that.
This teacher is obviously a believer in the old adage—the apple doesn’t fall
far from the tree. She clearly sees the child’s parents as losers and has the
same low expectations for him. She assumes he does not care about school
and that he’s depressed, as if she has X-ray vision that can probe the interior
of his deepest thoughts. Teachers must tread lightly through the muck and
mire of low expectations and assumptions, lest they make them a reality.
They must remember that some of those apples that fall close to the tree
make great apple pie.
Teacher # 17
A Scenario of a Teacher’s Worst Treatment of a Student
I had all three second-grade classes and no one was following directions or paying
attention and this had been going on for a week or so. I had a visitor come in and had
to stop and talk briefly. While I was talking, all control of my class was lost. You
would have thought you were in a cage full of wild monkeys. When the visitor left, I
started yelling at the students. I told them they were acting like idiots and if they did
not know what an idiot was, all they had to do was to look in a mirror. The next day
I was called into the principal’s office to face the principal and an irate parent of one
of those idiots. I apologized to my students, but I also made them copy down all the
rules and practice them for 45 minutes.
Motive Probe
17.1. Describe the problem and your specific role in it.
I had had it.
17.2. Why did you do what you did?
I had had it.
17.3. What emotions or feelings were you experiencing at the time?
Anger and frustration.
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