25 Biggest Mistakes Teachers Make and How to Avoid Them

10 Discipline
on her. These extreme measures reinforced
the students’ behavior. After a
while, they realized that no serious
consequences would be forth coming,
so they continued to test the waters
with this teacher.
Experienced teachers never raise
their voices because they know that
once you become a screamer, you will
forever a screamer be. Experienced
teachers would never ignore students
for an entire day, under any circumstances.
Ignoring them for a short
period of time could be effective in
some situations, but not in this case.
I have found that silence is much
more effective for getting students’
attention than screaming, especially
if this is done at the beginning of the
year. I would refuse to start teaching
until I had their attention and then
I would say politely, “Whenever
you ’ re ready.” That was a very effective
strategy for me. Gagne (1977)
emphasized the importance of get ting
students’ attention before teaching.
I have found that keeping students
engaged and moving smoothly from
one assignment to the next leaves
little time for them to misbehave. If
students are working on meaningful
assignments in an environment
of mutual respect, there is little
need for the acting out that is
apparent in this scenario. Wise
teachers would work to establish
warm feelings and mutual respect.
In this scenario the rapport in the
classroom had deteriorated to a
level bordering on total disrespect.
At this point the teacher had nothing
to lose. She could have laughed
at the cruel little ditty, thereby dispelling
any effect it was supposed
to have on her. Her nonverbal
behavior indicated that she was
mortified, which would encourage
more ditties in the future. Charles
Galloway (1977) found that the nonverbal
behavior of the teacher has a
significant impact on the classroom
atmosphere.
SCENARIO 1.2
Clean in Thought, Word, and “Backtalk”
My twin sister and I were in first grade. We spoke little English and we were both in
the same class. One day the teacher asked my sister a question that she was not able
to understand. The teacher called her “dummy.” I answered the teacher back by telling
her that my sister did not understand her. The teacher felt I was talking back and she
took me to the bathroom to wash my mouth with soap. I did not question her again,
but I remember feeling hurt. I could not understand why she would not try to understand.
We were also seated in the back of the classroom.
This worst-experience scenario
is like a porcupine; it has
many sticky points. One point was
asking a child who spoke little
English a question in English and
demanding that she understand. To
add insult to that linguistic injury,
the teacher ridiculed the child and
called her “dummy.” Another point
was punishing the twin who was trying
to explain her sister’s predicament.
A particularly sticky point was