25 Biggest Mistakes Teachers Make and How to Avoid Them

by Carolyn Orange

Overview

Avoid common teaching mistakes and acquire positive strategies and approaches!

All teachers make mistakes, but when those missteps involve students, they can have negative effects for years to come. This second edition of the bestseller by Carolyn Orange offers reflective scenarios and insights to help teachers learn from examples of undesirable teaching techniques and find better ways to address challenging or stressful classroom situations.

25 Biggest Mistakes Teachers Make and How to Avoid Them, Second Edition, includes newly updated scenarios containing real student voices and teacher vignettes, as well as the author's prescriptions for better solutions. Drawn from many years of teaching experience, each prescription is aligned with sound educational theory and provides a dash of humor to help the solution stick. The book is organized into six sections, covering:

• Discipline
• Teacher-student relations
• Classroom policy and practices
• Classroom management and instruction
• Personality and professionalism
• Teaching style and behavior

Excellent for staff development workshops and seminars, preservice and inservice teachers, and teacher leaders and mentors, this book’s real-life examples offer valuable professional lessons while helping teachers better understand the responses and feelings of their students.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781629148441
Publisher:	Skyhorse Publishing
Publication date:	11/18/2014
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	288
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Carolyn Orange, PhD, has worked as an educator for around 25 years. Now, she is Professor of Educational Psychology at the University of Texas at San Antonio. She currently resides in San Antonio, Texas.

Table of Contents

Foreword   Anita Woolfolk Hoy     xi
Preface to the Second Editon     xii
Acknowledgments     xiii
About the Author     xv
Introduction     1
Discipline     7
Inappropriate Discipline Strategies     9
Actions Scream Louder Than Words     9
Clean in Thought, Word, and "Backtalk"     10
Nose, Toes, Anything Goes     11
Sticky Business     12
Nosing Around in the Corner     12
Sneaking a Peek     13
Water Sprites Strike     14
Give a Hand, Get a Hand     14
Knuckle Whackers     15
The Lineup     16
Attila the Nun     16
Injustice and Punishment for All     17
Dubious Misdeeds     17
Pay Attention!!!     18
Cheating Expose     19
Biting in Self-Defense     20
No Apology Needed     20
No Explanations, Please     21
Whodunit?     21
Sitting Ducks     22
Boys Will Be Boys     23
Copious Copying     24
Assault With a Deadly Playground     24
PunishmentBefitting the Crime     25
Old Betsy and What's Her Name     26
Physical Aggression     27
Punishment or Perversion?     27
Pit Bully     28
Putting the Squeeze On     28
The Hair-Raiser     29
Perils of Paddling     30
Go for It     30
Handle With Care     31
Pupil Plucking     32
Sweet Smile of Sorrow     32
Purposeful Alienation     34
Scapegoat Scandal     34
Public Ridicule     35
Confession [not equal] Contrition     35
Don't Bother to Raise Your Hand     36
Adding Insult to an Unjust Injury     36
Saving a Red Face     37
Old School-1899 or New School-1999?     38
If you Muse, You Lose     38
To Laugh or Not to Laugh, That Is the Question     39
Teacher-Student Relations     41
Favoritism     43
Snob Appeal     43
Sugar, Spice, and Very Smart     44
Teacher's Pet     45
Physiological Discrimination     47
The Antifat Motive     47
Writing Well at Any Cost      48
Blurred-Eye View     49
Discrimination by Isolated Exits     49
Baby and the Beast     50
Stuff and Nonsense     51
Personal Attacks     53
Derailment on the College Track     53
Risque Rumor     54
Job's Comforter     54
Mirror on the Wall, Who's the Worst Student of All?     55
Inappropriate Teacher-Student Relationships     57
My Teacher, My Friend?     57
A Wolf in Teacher's Clothing     58
Deliberate Mistreatment     60
A Holy Terror     60
It's Snowing Down South     61
sins of Big Sister Visited on Little Sister     62
Racial and Cultural Discrimination     63
Cross-Cultural Confusion     63
Cinderella in the Classroom     64
English-Only Spoken Here     65
The Transparent Mask of Prejudice     66
Separate and Unequal Treatment     67
Lesson in Oppression     68
Culture Clash     69
Humiliation     71
Chalkboard Etiquette     71
Be Still and the Shame Will Settle     72
Shake, Baby, Shake     73
Girls Will Be Girls     74
Tomato or Tomato? Pecan or Pecan?     75
Classroom Policies and Practices     77
Inappropriate Classroom Policies     79
New Kid on the School Block     79
Banished to the Underworld     80
It's Now or Never     80
One for You and One for You and None for You     81
Sour Note Switch     82
Broken Bones: Give the Student a Break     83
The Shaming of the Crew     84
Last Picks     85
Speak First, Think Later     85
The Perils and Pearls of Mandatory Attendance     86
Sounding Off     87
"Loser of the Week": A Real Loser     87
Only "Smart" Questions, Please     88
Help Wanted     89
Off on a Tangent     89
Worksheet Workout     90
Let Your Fingers Do the Reading     91
Rigid Mortis     91
Almost Perfect Attendance     92
Inappropriate Toileting Practices     94
You're All Wet     94
Wait, Wait... Too Late     97
Right of Privacy: None of Your Business     98
Pass the Pass Pronto     99
Toilet Tyrant      100
Classroom Management and Instruction     103
Inappropriate Educational Strategies     105
Gifted: One Who Walks on Water     105
I Don't Know, I'm Just the Teacher     106
Get Thee to the Second Grade!     106
Standing the Test of Time     107
Math Mania     108
No Play, You Pay     109
Prime Time     109
Once More, With Feeling     110
Teacher, Can You Spare a Sign?     110
Wait a Minute ... or Two or Three     111
No Excuses.... EVER!     111
Competition Isn't Always Good     113
Keep Working, Rain, Shine, Sleet, or Divorce     113
I'm Writing as Fast as I Can     114
Reading Reticence: To Read or Not to Read     115
No Make-Up; I'll Take a Powder     115
Can't You See That I Can't See?     116
Small but Mighty     117
Anything Worth Doing Is Not Worth Doing Well     117
Ready, Willing, and Able     118
Talk, Talk, Talk     119
Here an "F", There an "F," Everywhere an "F," "F"     119
Academic "Payday"     120
If at First You Don't Succeed, Try, Try Again, and Again, and Again      121
Inappropriate Assessment     122
Test Error: Demotion to Promotion     122
"I": Feedback or Folly?     122
I Am Not My Brother's Keeper     123
Caustic Critique     124
Being Taught Red-Handed     125
Group Consequences: All or Nothing     126
Inflexible, Indifferent, Illogical, and Inaccurate     126
Tragedy on the Classroom Stage     127
Personality and Professionalism     129
Teacher Insensitivity     131
Seeing Red     131
And the "Winner" Is     132
Name Sweet Name     133
Exit Front and Center Stage     133
Eye to Swollen Eye     134
Diagnosis: Faking     135
When the Bough Cracks     135
The Bereaved Must Leave     136
Children Must Be Seen and Heard     137
Stripped of Protective Coating     137
Turning a Deaf Ear to Bullyragging     138
Academic Shortcomings     141
Shame and Punishment     141
Ducking the Stoning Incident     142
A Know-a-Little and a Know-It-All     143
Academic Inquisition     144
Jumping to a Gender-Biased Conclusion     144
Tread Lightly, but Do Tread     145
All Talk and No Teaching     147
Don't Know Fall From Autumn     148
Teaching Solo Students Can't Hear You     148
The Incarceration of Originality     149
Poor Administration     150
Duped Dancers     150
Teacher Reputation     152
Fearsome Reputations Often Precede People     152
Teacher Misjudgment     154
Shrinking Violet or Conceited Prima Donna?     154
Damsel in Distress?     155
Trust Me at Your Own Risk     156
The Whole Is Greater Than Its Parts     157
Excluded!     157
To Err Is Human, to Admit It Is Divine     158
It's Gobbledygook to Me     159
Your Crime, My Time     159
Teaching Style and Behavior     161
Teacher Bias or Expectations     163
Once a Clown, Always a Clown     163
Dark Comedy of Gender Bias     164
Justice for All     164
Extraterrestrial Terror     165
Liar, Liar, Your Habit's on Fire     166
Cheater Watch     167
Unethical Behavior      168
Keep Hope Alive     168
Out in the Cold     169
Bloody Secret     170
A Lesson in Deception     171
Sneaky Snacking     172
Teacher Goes AWOL     172
Sleepy Slacker     173
False Accusations     175
Do Send a Girl to Do a Man's Work     175
Arbitrary Scapegoats     176
Inappropriate Reactions     178
Volunteer or Else!     178
Silence Is Not Always Golden     179
Abandoning the Band     180
Oops! Too Bad for You     181
The Smoke Detector     181
What's My Name?     182
Copycat?     183
Sexual Harassment     184
Scratch My Back, I'll Scratch Yours     184
Let the Student Beware     185
Biting Remarks Beget Big Bucks     186
Bottoms Up     186
Chest Nut Roasts Student     187
Teacher Confessions of Worst Treatment of a Child: Their Motives and Feelings     189
Why Good Teachers Mistreat Students: Their Motives and Feelings     191
Underlying Causes and Reasons That Some Teachers Mistreat Students     241
The Triggers or Emotional Catalysts for Aberrant Teacher Behavior     243
Hidden Hazards: Negative Outcomes of Student Mistreatment     246
How to Avoid Making the 25 Biggest Mistakes     249
Further Thoughts on Avoiding Mistakes     251
Epilogue     254
References     255
Index     260

Editorial Reviews

"A must-read for new as well as seasoned teachers who want to create a safe and nurturing learning environment for all children."

Billie S. Mayo

"The book should be an important teaching tool for preservice teachers, practicing teachers, administrators, and others concerned with effective teaching. "

2001 Choice Magazine

This book will make you laugh, make you shake your head in disbelief, and keep you amazed. Most important, this book will help you become a more enlightened and effective educator as yougracefully sidestep difficult situations by remembering the practical lessons withinthese pages.

Jennifer Brooks

"Examines and creates awarenessof the social and psychological implications of teachers’ responses to students.The authorprovides real-life scenarios and purposeful commentaries addressing these interactions."

Anissa Pennick

"I was able to reflect on my own teaching experience and actions, whichresulted ina conscious effort to be more positive with my students."

Nicole D. Anderson

"The book should be an important teaching tool for preservice teachers, practicing teachers, administrators, and others concerned with effective teaching. "

2001 CHOICE