25 Biggest Mistakes Teachers Make and How to Avoid Them (34 page)

Knowledgeable teachers know that assessment should provide feedback for students in need of remediation. These teachers know that using fear and punishment as a motivator is not as effective as using remediation, praise, and encouragement. They also recognize that having students compete with themselves and strive for improvement is much more effective than giving students one shot at a perfect score and punishment if they miss. Good teachers are cognizant that the quality of instruction may be a factor when students miss learning goals. They evaluate their instruction and reteach concepts if necessary. They realize that spanking has no role in the improvement of instruction. On the contrary, it has more potential for injury. Students need remediation, not punishment.

SCENARIO 15.6
Group Consequences: All or Nothing

In my senior year in high school, I had a group project in my sociology class. When the time came for our group to present our findings, one of our group members didn’t show up. The teacher proceeded to tell us that we would all get zeros on the project. I then burst out of the room, went to the principal’s office, and waited to see the principal. I was not going to allow my teacher to give me a zero. My teacher walks in and starts to scream at me for walking out of the class. I was humiliated, but we got an extension on our project.

The potential for unfairness and inequity is an implicit problem in the assessment of group projects. In some instances, one student does all of the work and in some instances one or more students do very little or no work. Assessment becomes problematic when students’ grades are contingent on the work of other students. The teacher had a rigid, high-stakes, all-or-nothing grading policy. All students had to be present for anyone to get a grade. It was not apparent that the teacher had communicated these grading criteria to students in advance because they seemed surprised by it.

Understandably, such a rigid, unfair policy precipitated a number of undesirable consequences. One of the students was vehemently opposed to the teacher’s grading practice. The student’s anger was possibly rooted in a fear of the impact of the grade of zero on being able to graduate. The teacher had a tangential tantrum about the student walking out of class but seemed oblivious to the looming fairness issue.

Proficient educators establish guidelines for group assessment in advance and make students aware of their criteria for grading. They realize the importance of basing individual grades on individual effort. Grades are not contingent on the performance of others. Perhaps a separate grade evaluates group effort and collaboration, but students are not penalized for criteria that are beyond their control. Effective teachers are mindful that students’ grades should reflect their attainment of instructional objectives. They encourage students to do self-evaluation to become more self-regulating (Stiggins, 1994). They know that peer models are useful for teaching self-evaluation and other self-regulatory skills (Orange, 1999). These teachers model good evaluation when they grade fairly and follow these guidelines.

SCENARIO 15.7
Inflexible, Indifferent, Illogical, and Inaccurate

In third-grade math we took a test. I had all the answers correct, but I missed a space on the test so all my answers were off. The teacher placed me in the “lower” math group. She did not listen to me when I tried to explain what happened.

There are a number of assessment-related problems embedded in this scenario. One is using a single test score to place students in groups. This practice has many flaws, one of which is incorrect placement, as depicted in this scenario. The teacher’s indifference to the student’s mistake resulted in an illogical placement and inaccurate feedback. Such an inflexible environment leaves little room for students to make an error.

Clifford (1990) posits that the assessment environment should be conducive to risk taking and freedom to make mistakes without undue penalty. Astute teachers avoid the one-shot opportunity that discourages risk taking and opt for a more flexible form of assessment that allows students to make some mistakes with minimal, if any, penalty. An environment where students are not allowed to make mistakes impedes learning and hinders critical thinking. Good teachers may give practice tests or bonus questions to allow mistakes without penalty. If a student makes a simple error on a significant test, experienced teachers consider helping students to reconcile the mistake and obtain their actual score. In this scenario, the student had all the correct answers in the wrong places. Helping the student make the correct placement is more important than penalizing the student for the mistake. Moreover, the effective teacher is aware of the ills of ability grouping and is wary of placing a student in a low group using one criterion, a test score, even if it is a standardized test. There are a variety of forms of assessment that could supplement a test score and help teachers make a more informed decision if they insisted on grouping by ability.

SCENARIO 15.8
Tragedy on the Classroom Stage

In my senior year of high school, I had to take either band or theater arts to be the first valedictorian to graduate under the advanced diploma plan. I chose theater arts even though I was shy and really dreaded it. I asked the teacher for exemption from the Christmas play for religious reasons. (She seemed to take this personally.) During the many weeks preparing for the play, the only thing I was asked to do one day was go to the local craft store and get some materials. One Wednesday she told everyone that they would have a dress rehearsal. Well, I didn’t think that applied to me because she had me stuck off behind her when she said it, plus the fact she never gave me anything to do. So I didn’t go. I went to church. My best friend tried to call me when she arrived and found out I was going to get a zero for not being there. She actually had to lie to the teacher and sneak across the street because the teacher wouldn’t let her call me. (She didn’t reach me.)

The next morning, I was in history class and the principal came and got me. I couldn’t imagine what was going on because I was never in trouble. When we got to his office, the teacher was there and she started literally screaming at me for not going to her practice. She then told me that she had given me specific duties to do when in fact she had not. She gave me a zero with no way of making it up. I was devastated.

This scenario had the makings of a tragedy rooted in religious drama from the beginning. The setting is a dreaded drama class that the student is forced to take. Next, she opted out of the play for religious reasons. Her shyness may also have influenced her decision. The teacher was not pleased, possibly because the play was a major part of the grade. The student seemed to think the teacher took her exemption from the play personally. The plot thickens, as the student is truly exempt from the production because she has no specific duties or responsibilities. The turning point in the story is when the student skips dress rehearsal because of some mis-communication about her role in the rehearsal. The cliffhanger is that a friend tries to warn her of the impending danger of getting a zero, but the teacher will not let her. BOO. HISS. The teacher emerges as the villain, going after the student with a vengeance. She enlists the help of the administration to bring in the student. Foul play and suffering is heaped upon the student as the screaming teacher lies about the student’s duties. In a moment of high drama, the teacher gets her revenge by giving the student a zero with no opportunity to make it up. The student endures the suffering and accepts her tragic lot. Tragically, she may not have made valedictorian. She is doomed to remember and relive this event for many years.

Discerning teachers would suspect that fear and shyness were protagonists in this classroom drama. These teachers would have alternative duties and ways of assessing the performance of a shy student. They would also respect the student’s religious decision and offer an alternative assessment. These experienced teachers would inform the student of expectations, specific alternative responsibilities, and grading criteria in advance. There would be no reason to use grades to punish the student because there would be no misunderstanding. A potential tragedy would become an ordinary classroom performance with the potential of a happy ending.

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PERSONALITY AND
PROFESSIONALISM

“Looks aren’t everything. It’s what’s inside you that really matters. A biology teacher told me that.”

Mistake

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