25 Biggest Mistakes Teachers Make and How to Avoid Them (9 page)

It was kindergarten, my first day, and boy was I in trouble. I was all tomboy and very used to being in charge. I punched a boy who was continuously picking on me and my friends. Well, I hit him so hard he fell over and began screaming. Here comes Mrs. M. “Who did this?” “I did, but he . . .” “That’s enough. We are going to have to call your mother.” So I sat in a chair in the corner scared to death until my mom came. From that day forward I remembered the “look” that my teacher had given me. Did I do it again? Well not in kindergarten—not until first grade. Even now twenty years later when I see her, she still gives me that “look.”

In both of these worst experience scenarios, the teachers did not bother to ask for explanations or to hear both sides of the story. In these cases, justice was blinded by a lack of explanation and no consideration of circumstances. Such an authoritarian approach to discipline leaves no room for clarification, explanation, or illumination.

Diplomatic professionals, who exercise sensitivity in dealing with all children, would listen to both sides of each story without hesitation. If they still felt that punishment was necessary, they would make sure that it was meted out fairly. This may mean that both children will be disciplined, rather than just one.

SCENARIO 1.23
Whodunit?

In kindergarten, the teacher paddled me for sitting at a table where one of the girls called the other girl fatso. However, the teacher didn’t even ask if we had, she just took the girl’s word and paddled all of us because we were at the table.

The teacher was not monitoring the students’ behavior as they sat at the table. She could not possibly know who actually committed the “offense.” Additionally, calling names is not acceptable but scarcely warrants paddling.

It was inappropriate for the teacher to take one student’s word over that of another, considering that she did not know who was guilty. Resourceful practitioners would use this situation to discuss the hurtful effects of name-calling and would suggest that the students show some empathy for the victim. Punishment is out of the question because the teacher does not know who to punish. The teacher could begin by offering the students an apology and by admonishing the act in general. She could model a more prosocial approach by making a positive comment about the student. Empathy facilitates prosocial behaviors (Ormrod, 1998).

SCENARIOS 1.24 and 1.25
Sitting Ducks

My math teacher in elementary school was calling on me. I didn’t hear him. To wake me up, he threw a piece of chalk at me.

Ms. G. would throw erasers in class, hit students, and call students stupid and ignorant. She was very old and very crabby. She grabbed my arm once and it turned black and blue. My mom went to the school and complained to the principal.

Throwing objects at students can be a very dangerous practice. The projectile can miss its mark and cause serious injury. Although the teacher may choose something soft like a chalkboard eraser, as the object gains momentum, the impact may sting a little. Whatever the object, the teacher runs the risk of damaging a sensitive area like a student’s eye. When I was teaching fifth grade, a colleague often used rulers to make angry gestures at her students to try and get them to sit down or to stop talking. In one tragic incident, the ruler slipped out of her hand and accidentally hit a student in the eye. One of my elementary school teachers would throw erasers at students in the classroom. He prided himself on the element of surprise. I lived in fear of being the target of one of his erasers. It was a very ineffective technique. The unruly students thrived off the attention and the orderly students withdrew in apprehension.

In the current classroom environment, astute teachers have to learn to navigate the choppy waters of classroom discipline and avoid lawsuits. Most school districts have a “handsoff students” policy that without question includes hitting students with objects. In this scenario, the teacher should have let the sleeping student continue to sleep until the teacher had a chance to investigate the circumstances of the child’s need
to sleep in class. If there are no significant problems at home such as abuse or having to help support the family, the teacher should use conventional ways of waking a sleeping student. If the sleeping continues, a referral to the guidance counselor may be appropriate.

SCENARIO 1.26
Boys Will Be Boys

When I was in the third grade, a boy raised my dress and I screamed. My teacher got mad and made me go stand in the hall. The boy did not get in trouble, but I sure did. This was, believe it or not, the first time I remember getting in trouble in school.

A supposedly harmless prank such as a male student raising this little female student’s dress is no longer as widely accepted as it once was. For years, little boys did little naughty things of a slightly sexual nature to girls with few, if any, consequences. As a matter of fact it was widely accepted and often joked about. When I was in grade school, girls had to be careful that boys did not try to put mirrors on the floor to look under their skirts or they had to fight off young boys who tried to touch them on private parts of their bodies. Girls can be very humiliated, hurt, and shamed by such acts. During my senior year in high school, we all autographed each other’s sweatshirts. I was mortified when a boy came up to me and drew two circles with dots in the center around my breasts. He laughed and everybody thought it was funny. I did not think it was funny because I had to walk around like that all day. When teachers dismiss these acts, they are part of the problem. The teacher in this scenario added insult to injury when she punished the young woman for screaming and did not punish the young man.

Today’s savvy teachers would never punish the victim and ignore the perpetrator. Informed professionals know that sexual harassment is a real issue that is not to be ignored. They also know that there is a delicate balance between child behaviors that are innocent and those that actually fall into the category of sexual harassment. The astute teacher has to be very careful not to compare minor child behavior with mature behavior that has sexual overtones. The explicit sexual content of some TV programs may encourage children to model some of the adult behaviors they see in these programs. The teacher should recognize that a first-grade boy kissing a little girl on the cheek cannot compare to a much older boy looking under a girl’s dress. Some states are taking a very hard stand on children sexually harassing other children. Good teachers would make the class aware that such behaviors cannot be tolerated and that there are serious consequences should they occur. The teacher should make sure that parents are aware of any laws pertaining to sexual
harassment that could affect their child. In this scenario, the teacher should have admonished the boy’s behavior and given him some consequences. State laws would determine if she would have to report the incident to someone else. Prevention is best for sexual harassment. The competent teacher will make students aware of consequences and will monitor student behavior as a deterrent.

SCENARIO 1.27
Copious Copying

In fourth grade, Ms. T. made me copy several pages from the dictionary as punishment for misbehaving. I think it was the time my friends and I were in the bathroom looking at glow-in-the-dark rubber balls with the lights off.

If a student is forced to copy the dictionary as punishment for misbehaving, Behavioral Learning Theory (Skinner, 1950) suggests that the child may learn to associate using the dictionary with punishment. This would be unfortunate if the teacher wanted to assign useful dictionary work. Copious copying might also make them hate writing. If the teacher were trying to punish students by giving a boring, tedious assignment, it would be better to create a passage with a positive message and have the students copy that instead of the dictionary. Informed teachers would be very cautious about using reading, writing, researching, copying, and so forth as forms of punishment. The risk of turning students off on these educational activities is too great.