25 Biggest Mistakes Teachers Make and How to Avoid Them (47 page)

Effective teachers are aware of the obligation to model and expect good behavior. In this scenario, the teacher should have demanded an apology for the student whose desk was knocked over. Insightful teachers would realize the importance of making the child who knocked over the desk go back and pick the desk up and put it back. Teachers have a professional duty to suppress any bias they might feel and to insist on fair, courteous treatment of all students.

SCENARIO 24.5
The Smoke Detector

My worst experience with a teacher was in fourth grade with Mrs. D.; I swear this lady hated me. I was home sick for three days, maybe a week, so I had a lot of take-home work to complete. Back then my mom smoked, and my papers must have stunk with cigarette smoke. Well the day I got back to school, I went up to the teacher’s desk to turn in my papers. I don’t know if it was one of her bad days or not, but she goes and just throws my papers on the floor. I was so embarrassed. I wanted to cry. The class got real silent. No one liked what she did. She told me to pick up my papers and put them on the windowsill to air out. This happened before lunch, and at lunch everyone in my class was sympathetic.

When I got home I told my mom about the incident and she called Mrs. D., who said that she was allergic to cigarette smoke and that was why she did what she did and she said she was sorry. However, I think she could have handled the situation better. The reason I don’t believe she liked me was because throughout that year she would do or act in such a way that you knew she didn’t like you. I could feel it. A few years later I came across her again when she was a judge for a science contest. Her attitude let me know that she didn’t like me.

Children are very insightful. They also are very sensitive to whether a teacher likes them or not. In this scenario, it is apparent that the teacher did not care too much for this student. It is conceivable that the teacher might have an impulsive knee-jerk reaction to cigarette smoke, but this reaction should have been tempered by concern for the student’s feelings. Her cold, callused reaction of having the student pick up the papers she threw down screamed out her disdain for this poor student. She did not bother to explain her actions to the student, which clearly revealed her contempt. The teacher managed to indulge her scorn for this student at a tremendous cost. She lost the respect of her class and she undermined her credibility as a good teacher.

Caring teachers exercise tact in dealing with troublesome situations that have the potential to harm or humiliate students. In the process of trying to resolve the problem, they are sensitive to the child’s feelings and seek to speak and act in ways that are not offensive. Sensitive teachers would not say anything to the child because the smoke was not the child’s fault. Instead, they would find an inconspicuous way to air out the papers, preferably not in the child’s presence.

SCENARIO 24.6
What’s My Name?

My seventh-grade science teacher was absent for the day so we had a substitute. When it was time to call roll she mispronounced my name. I corrected her in a nice manner and she told me to either say here or present and then she told me not to correct her. She said my name wrong again so I corrected her again. Then she moved me to the back, wrote me up and sent me to the principal’s office. The principal was busy, but the next day my science teacher apologized and I did not get in trouble.

This scenario appears very innocent and straightforward on the surface. Important variables here are the student’s tone of voice and intent. Was the student being rude? Was the second correction an attempt to test the limit? Was it an innocent attempt to get the teacher to pronounce the name correctly? The answers to those questions are not apparent. What is apparent is that regardless of the student’s motive or intent, the teacher overreacted and imposed some stiff penalties as a consequence.

Experienced teachers know that student rudeness appears in a variety of forms; tone of voice, body language, pitch and inflection of voice, backtalk, defiance, and so on. A default reaction to rudeness is anger, aggression, punitive behavior, and so on. However, competent teachers manage to handle rude responses in a professional manner, suppressing any urges to lash out. In this scenario, the teacher could have avoided the power struggle over the name by apologizing and by making a concerted effort to
pronounce the name correctly. If the name is too difficult, the teacher could promise to work on getting it right. Students have a right to expect that their teachers will attach enough value to them as a person to pronounce their name correctly.

SCENARIO 24.7
Copycat?

One of the most humiliating moments in high school was when my senior year English teacher accused me of plagiarizing. I had spent several days working very hard on a research paper. When I received the paper a week later I was surprised because I had received a C on the paper. I spoke with the teacher about my grade. He told me that he thought I had copied an article or some sort of publication. The fact of the matter is that I used vocabulary in the paper that I was not accustomed to writing and since I took an effort to increase my vocabulary skills, I was punished. I felt humiliated.

Behavioral learning theory (Skinner, 1950) makes it clear that in operant conditioning, an organism will not persist in a behavior if reinforcement is withheld. In this scenario, an appropriate grade is the reinforcer. The teacher apparently had low expectations for the student and effectively penalized the student for improvement. He gave the student an inappropriate grade of C as punishment for what he believed was plagiarism. Getting a lowered grade for improved performance could extinguish efforts to improve performance in the future.

Wise teachers are not willing to jeopardize student improvement by failing to give credit where credit is due. They would prefer to err on the side of giving too much credit rather than not enough. This is especially true when there is not enough evidence to warrant the latter. A teacher should only accuse a student of plagiarism when there is indisputable proof.

Mistake

25

Sexual Harassment

SCENARIO 25.1
Scratch My Back, I’ll Scratch Yours

The worst encounter I had with a teacher was when I joined Number Sense, a UIL competition, and I was hit on by my algebra teacher. I felt that if I didn’t comply I would not pass the class. I hated to go to my algebra class because he always called on me and never acknowledged the other girls. I was always teased and everyone would always ask me where’s my boyfriend, the algebra teacher, Mr. C. I hated my sophomore year in H.S. because of this. What made matters worse was that on Fridays as a cheerleader I had to wear my uniform with my little skirt and that made me feel very uncomfortable!

Teachers like this teacher clearly violate sexual harassment laws. Sexual harassment is not limited to unwanted sexual advances. It includes words or acts that demean a person on the basis of sex. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission recognizes two types of sexual harassment that can conceptually be used in claims of harassment. “Quid pro quo,” or something for something, occurs when a superior seeks sex in exchange for a decision. In this scenario, the teacher is the superior and the quid pro quo is the course grade. A second type of harassment is “hostile environment,” where unwelcome sexual advances create an offensive environment
(Huston, 1993). The student said she was uncomfortable with the teasing of other students, wearing short skirts around the teacher, and his overly attentive response to her in class. Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 guarantees students protection from sexual harassment in schools (Crumpler, 1993). New legislation that holds schools liable for sexual harassment will trigger a more aggressive response to these types of claims. Schools will not want to invite lawsuits. A new ruling allows sexually harassed students to collect monetary damages from schools and school officials if they know of the harassment and ignore it. Schools have to show that they took some action and tried to alleviate the situation. An easy, acceptable action would be to suspend or fire the offending employee. This teacher is not just flirting with a child; he’s flirting with disaster. He may end up in a full-blown love affair with disgrace and dismissal. True professionals would never misuse their position to take advantage of vulnerable students. Teachers have a duty to report any sexual harassment that is reported to them.

SCENARIO 25.2
Let the Student Beware

I was sitting in band class in the front row when a boy came up behind me and sprayed my butt with a water gun. I had on light-colored pants with blue polka-dot underwear. I was a freshman and he was a junior.

The male student in this scenario sprayed a female student with a water gun. It seems like an innocent prank but the sexual overtones of his act puts him, his school, and school officials in danger of sexual harassment charges. Unfortunately, playing around will not be an adequate defense. Schools will no longer turn a blind eye or deaf ear to claims of sexual harassment; they will act swiftly and assertively if they are made aware of it.