25 Biggest Mistakes Teachers Make and How to Avoid Them

Teacher Confessions of Worst Treatment of a Child
Underlying Causes and Reasons
That Some Teachers Mistreat Students
An analysis of the 44 teacher responses of why they did what they did
revealed commonalities in the content of their responses that give ear to a
collective voice of frustration that is very obvious. Most of the teachers
reported that they did what they did because they were angry and/or frustrated.
In their efforts to discipline and control their students, some teachers
do and say things that traumatize students, creating acute anxiety or stress . . . in
effect, they cause what I refer to as academic trauma. I define academic
trauma as a construct or concept that represents the effect of a student’s reaction
to aversive academic experiences such as extreme or harsh discipline,
negative teacher–pupil interactions, unfair treatment, poor instruction, physical
or psychological injury, or any other occurrence that may manifest as a
significant emotional event. These aversive experiences typically involve victimization
by a teacher or an administrator. Academic trauma may have
long-term consequences that can have detrimental effects from childhood on
into adulthood. Victims of academic trauma may be psychologically scarred,
meaning, they never seem to forget what happened to them when they were
young students. Academic trauma appears to be a legacy of early educational
practices rooted in Puritan and Colonial tradition, the antiquated, abusive
discipline strategies and ineffective practices that were characteristic of the
early twentieth century.
Further analysis of the motive probes provided an enlightening revelation;
namely, that the teachers’ offensive acts were most often an outcome of
“emotional snapping.” I believe this “snapping” is one of the main reasons
that teachers did what they did in their worst treatment of a student. I think
the genesis of emotional snapping lies in the teachers’ perceptions of themselves
and what Woolfolk (2007) refers to as their teacher efficacy or their perception
of their ability, particularly in the context of dealing with student
misbehavior.
After further examination of their responses, I conclude that the participating
teachers were very troubled when their students exhibited strong
opposition, particularly any of the behaviors that I’ll call the 5 D’s of discipline
problems; disrespect, defiance, disruption, disdain, and disorder.
Fueled by ingrained beliefs of ultimate teacher power and authority, many
teachers become frustrated when they are unable to penetrate the wall of
opposition that is often perceived by the teacher when a student or students
engage in any of the 5 D’s of misbehavior. The apparent wall of opposition
often strains the teacher’s emotional resources. The resistance or student misbehavior
generates an unbearable level of frustration and the teacher “snaps”
under the pressure. Unfortunately, as a result of their anger, many teachers
step out of character and impulsively seek relief from their emotional snap
through vengeful, offensive acts.
In Figure 7.1, I have created a detailed, social interaction model that
depicts the dynamics of teachers’ confessions of their worst treatment of
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