25 Biggest Mistakes Teachers Make and How to Avoid Them

A tender rosebud on the verge of blooming, basking in the light of new loves and life promises was snipped and crushed in a dark moment of despair. Surely those are her sweet petals being carried away gently and lovingly by a winged messenger of the kingdom. Goodbye Robertta, you were and always will be loved.

This book is dedicated to my Goddaughter, the late Robertta O’Neal Washington, August 4, 1984, to September 21, 2007.

Copyright © 2008 by Carolyn Orange

First Skyhorse Publishing edition 2014

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

Cover design by Karine Housepiah

Print ISBN: 978-1-62914-687-4

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-62914-844-1

Printed in the United States of America

Contents

Foreword

Anita Woolfolk Hoy

Preface to the Second Editon

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Introduction

1. DISCIPLINE

Mistake 1: Inappropriate Discipline Strategies

Scenario 1.1: Actions Scream Louder Than Words

Scenario 1.2: Clean in Thought, Word, and “Backtalk”

Scenario 1.3: Nose, Toes, Anything Goes

Scenario 1.4: Sticky Business

Scenario 1.5: Nosing Around in the Corner

Scenario 1.6: Sneaking a Peek

Scenario 1.7: Water Sprites Strike

Scenario 1.8: Give a Hand, Get a Hand

Scenarios 1.9, 1.10, and 1.11: Knuckle Whackers

Scenario 1.12: The Lineup

Scenario 1.13: Attila the Nun

Scenario 1.14: Injustice and Punishment for All

Scenarios 1.15 and 1.16: Dubious Misdeeds

Scenario 1.17: Pay Attention!!!

Scenario 1.18: Cheating Exposé

Scenario 1.19: Biting in Self-Defense

Scenario 1.20: No Apology Needed

Scenarios 1.21 and 1.22: No Explanations, Please

Scenario 1.23: Whodunit?

Scenarios 1.24 and 1.25: Sitting Ducks

Scenario 1.26: Boys Will Be Boys

Scenario 1.27: Copious Copying

Scenario 1.28: Assault With a Deadly Playground

Scenario 1.29: Punishment Befitting the Crime

Scenario 1.30: Old Betsy and What’s Her Name

Mistake 2: Physical Aggression

Scenario 2.1: Punishment or Perversion?

Scenario 2.2: Pit Bully

Scenario 2.3: Putting the Squeeze On

Scenario 2.4: The Hair-Raiser

Scenarios 2.5 and 2.6: Perils of Paddling

Scenario 2.7: Go for It

Scenario 2.8: Handle With Care

Scenario 2.9: Pupil Plucking

Scenario 2.10: Sweet Smile of Sorrow

Mistake 3: Purposeful Alienation

Scenario 3.1: Scapegoat Scandal

Mistake 4: Public Ridicule

Scenario 4.1: Confession ≠ Contrition

Scenario 4.2: Don’t Bother to Raise Your Hand

Scenario 4.3: Adding Insult to an Unjust Injury

Scenario 4.4: Saving a Red Face

Scenario 4.5: Old School—1899 or New School—1999?

Scenario 4.6: If You Muse, You Lose

Scenario 4.7: To Laugh or Not to Laugh, That Is the Question

2. TEACHER–STUDENT RELATIONS

Mistake 5: Favoritism

Scenario 5.1: Snob Appeal

Scenario 5.2: Sugar, Spice, and Very Smart

Scenario 5.3: Teacher’s Pet

Mistake 6: Physiological Discrimination

Scenario 6.1: The Antifat Motive

Scenario 6.2: Writing Well at Any Cost

Scenario 6.3: Blurred-Eye View

Scenario 6.4: Discrimination by Isolated Exits

Scenario 6.5: Baby and the Beast

Scenarios 6.6 and 6.7: Stuff and Nonsense

Mistake 7: Personal Attacks

Scenario 7.1: Derailment on the College Track

Scenario 7.2: Risqué Rumor

Scenario 7.3: Job’s Comforter

Scenario 7.4: Mirror on the Wall, Who’s the Worst Student of All?

Mistake 8: Inappropriate Teacher–Student Relationships

Scenario 8.1: My Teacher, My Friend?

Scenario 8.2: A Wolf in Teacher’s Clothing

Mistake 9: Deliberate Mistreatment

Scenario 9.1: A Holy Terror

Scenario 9.2: It’s Snowing Down South

Scenario 9.3: Sins of Big Sister Visited on Little Sister

Mistake 10: Racial and Cultural Discrimination

Scenario 10.1: Cross-Cultural Confusion

Scenario 10.2: Cinderella in the Classroom

Scenario 10.3: English-Only Spoken Here

Scenario 10.4: The Transparent Mask of Prejudice

Scenario 10.5: Separate and Unequal Treatment

Scenario 10.6: Lesson in Oppression

Scenario 10.7: Culture Clash

Mistake 11: Humiliation

Scenario 11.1: Chalkboard Etiquette

Scenario 11.2: Be Still and the Shame Will Settle

Scenario 11.3: Shake, Baby, Shake

Scenario 11.4: Girls Will Be Girls

Scenario 11.5: Tomāto or Tomäto? Pēcan or Pecän?

3. CLASSROOM POLICIES AND PRACTICES