25 Biggest Mistakes Teachers Make and How to Avoid Them (38 page)

Wise teachers seldom take content for granted. If they have been teaching for awhile, they know that content may reflect new developments, techniques, concepts, and understandings. Most teachers know that nothing is constant but changes, and that it pays off in instructional dividends to be prepared. Advanced preparation of lessons helps teachers pinpoint areas of weakness before they present the information to students. Resourceful teachers make productive use of this advanced warning to correct any deficiencies that are apparent.

The second example in this scenario features a very authoritarian approach to instruction. The teacher seems to think he’s all knowing and students are misguided and wrong if they don’t agree with him. Constructivist teachers know that it’s important to help students construct their own meaning to make sense of the world (Anderson, 1989). They are aware that it’s difficult to do that if they discount their students’ contributions. These teachers realize they must let students have a voice and a choice in instructional matters. Belenky et al. (1986) suggest that teachers learn to trust and respect each student’s experience.
Wise teachers attach value to their students’ responses and interpretations although they might not agree with them. Good teachers want their students to become more self-regulated learners, which means that they are willing to become less involved in lessons and become more of a facilitator of learning. These teachers encourage students to participate more in their own learning, and to assume responsibility for what they learn and to rely less on the teacher.

SCENARIO 17.4
Academic Inquisition

One of the experiences that happened to me in grade school was during Halloween. Trying to act like my mom (who is a Jehovah’s Witness), I went to school and did not participate in the Halloween party. My teachers asked me why and I explained that my mom doesn’t celebrate the holidays. The teacher phoned my mom to tell her my position and when I got home my mom did not say it was good or bad which was very confusing for me. I wasn’t mad at the teacher, just confused.

One definition of inquisitions is an investigation that violates the privacy or rights of individuals
(American Heritage Dictionary
, 1992). This kind of activity dates back to the thirteenth century when the Roman Catholic Church used inquisition to combat heresy
(Concise Columbia Encyclopedia
, 1995). This teacher’s actions are reminiscent of the actions of the old tribunal. She dared to question and interfere with a student’s religious preferences. Calling the mother about the mother’s religion and her son’s choice was clearly a violation of the family’s privacy.

Sensitive teachers respect a student’s religion and culture. If students choose to adopt their parents’ religion, which is often the case, teachers should respect that choice. It seemed that the mother did not try to impose her religion on her child, which possibly explains why the mother had nothing to say about the child’s decision. The mother appeared to respect her child’s right to choose and the teacher should do no less.

SCENARIO 17.5
Jumping to a Gender-Biased Conclusion

I was in fourth grade and in all of the “A”-group classes. I made As in everything except math, but got thrown into “honors” math because I was in this group. I remember making a failing grade on a test. When my mother went to parent–teacher conferences, the teacher had us sit in with our parents. My mom asked her what she could do to help me and the teacher said, “Nothing, she is just not a math person and will never be.” To this day I have a phobia of math!

“Never” is such an absolute term. Imagine a child hearing that she is “not a math person and will never be.” Such a label of hopelessness could easily become a self-fulfilling prophecy (Rosenthal & Jacobson, 1968). Why would a female teacher make such a disparaging remark about a young girl? One guess is that she may be echoing comments that were once made to her or her female classmates. If she is unaware of the gender bias in math classes against girls, she may see nothing wrong with her comments. When I was in high school, I can remember a math teacher saying to me, “You should never take any more math classes, you’re too careless.” I internalized this opinion and I freely told people that I was not very good in math. I only took the required math courses in my undergraduate studies. I only aspired to a C because, after all, I wasn’t very good at math. I nurtured this belief until I applied for graduate school. I froze when I saw that statistics was a required course. I was very upset when I realized I couldn’t get through the educational psychology degree plan without taking that statistics course. Fortunately, I had a great professor, Dr. Linda Stewart, who was a visionary. She was aware of mathematical gender bias long before the study that revealed that girls were often shortchanged by schools (AAUW, 1992). She encouraged me to enroll in the program and wait for her to teach the statistics course. She already knew that I had been told I was not suitable for math and had been advised not to take any more math courses. She assured me that I would do well in her course because she had a systematic way of teaching that made it easier for women. I received an A in statistics and I was elated, not so much because of the grade, but because I could dispel the myth that I wasn’t good in math. I regained my confidence, but I was one of the lucky ones. There are many young girls that never regain their confidence, as evidenced by the author of this scenario.

The first step toward eliminating bias is to become aware of it. Encouraging teachers are necessary to imbue young girls with the confidence they need to take more math courses. The American Association of University Women (1992) found that boys have better math scores than girls on the SAT. They attributed that discrepancy to girls taking fewer math classes rather than to a lack of ability. Maple and Stage (1991) found that girls are now taking more math classes and the gender gap on math scores is closing.

Good teachers never say never, especially when trying to predict a student’s success in an area. Possible is a better word than never; it’s a word that fosters hope. We can empower students by telling them that anything is possible.

SCENARIOS 17.6 and 17.7
Tread Lightly, but Do Tread

All through school I was always labeled as a hyper child so I labeled myself as a hyper child who had a hard time in school and it was not till I was twenty-two years old I was discovered as being ADD. It really frustrates me still today that my disability was not discovered until two years ago! However, I am dealing with it and, for the first time in college, I made an A on a test with the help of Ritalin, and last semester I got a 2.0—the closest I have ever gotten to a 3.0.

Another experience was my junior year in high school and I was in Advanced Geometry, the first advanced class I ever attempted and I was studying with my mom and my boyfriend, C. After turning the homework in, C. and I both missed the same problems and he was a straight-A, advanced student and I was a B, C, regular student, and she called me a cheater!

In third grade I visited the orthodontist over Christmas vacation and was fitted for a retainer. Anyone who has experienced this knows it can be humiliating, especially in the speech department. It takes some getting used to. When school resumed I was still having some difficulty. My teacher, obviously hoping to be awarded “teacher of the year” for noticing this defect, placed me with a speech pathologist.

Trying to determine if a student has a learning disability or a physical disability is a difficult, sensitive process. Teachers should tread lightly in these areas, being careful not to misdiagnose, but tread they must, lest they miss a diagnosis or condition.
Scenario 17.7
is a misdiagnosis. The teacher jumped to the erroneous conclusion that the student had speech difficulties and remanded the student to a speech pathologist without further investigation. If she had treaded lightly and talked to the student first or obtained further evidence of a problem, she could have avoided misdiagnosing the student. The teacher does deserve credit for trying to act on the student’s behalf.

Scenario 17.6
is a case of missed diagnosis. For about twenty years, no one suspected the student had attention deficit disorder. This disorder is making its way to the forefront of research on exceptional learners, as increased knowledge of the disorder becomes available.

Diagnosing attention deficit disorder (ADD) may be difficult because it mimics attention problems in other disorders (Slavin, 1994) and in some cases, children may have difficulty paying attention and not have ADD or any other disorder.

To avoid missing a diagnosis of a disorder or misdiagnosing a disorder, effective teachers will proactively arm themselves with knowledge. They learn how to identify learning disabilities according to their school district’s rules, regulations, and requirements. They learn characteristics of students with learning disabilities or physical challenges. They become knowledgeable of the legal ramifications of serving exceptional learners. Effective teachers tread lightly in recommending students for special education to avoid contributing to the disproportionate number of males and African Americans that are overrepresented in special education (U.S. Department of Education, 1991).

SCENARIO 17.8
All Talk and No Teaching

My worst experience with a teacher occurred with my dance instructor my senior year. She taught the dance class the dance team was required to take. I was the colonel of the team and therefore had to work very closely with the teacher. It was her first year at the high school; however, she had been a teacher for another Texas school for two years before. She was totally unprofessional with her job. Days that we were to practice a dance routine for competition, she would sit the whole team down and explain how her house was haunted with ghosts. She wanted to be everyone’s friend instead of teacher. She was eventually fired about three-fourths of the way through the year. Being that I was the colonel, an unbelievable amount of stress and responsibility was placed on me. I should have been paid for doing her job. There are so many stories I could tell you that you wouldn’t even believe. It’s really sad when I look back to my senior year as being the worst. I truly believe that if I hadn’t gone through what I did, I would have gone on to become a professional dancer. This teacher just took my will to dance and crushed it.