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Sunday, October 30, 2016

When You Teach Something That's, well, Wrong

Heaven forbid, I know - you are an expert! Well, you should try to be anyway.

It's a delicate balance.  As a teacher, you want to be in control, but not arrogant; human, but not an amateur.  Your persona should be confident enough to not doubt what you're saying, but reasonable enough to make room for errors.

How is this done in an average class?

Example 1: You're a math teacher explaining the solution to a word-problem on the board.  You arrive at the answer, but something doesn't look quite right.  Was that 236 watermelons? Or 336?  You stop yourself and take a second look.  You announce to the class, "Hold on..." and this let's them know that YOU know something is amiss.  You re-work the problem to yourself and find the mistake - you circle it in red or simply cross it out and re-write it: either way, you found the error.  "That looks better.  Any questions?" You smile and move on.

Example 2: You're an English teacher writing a sample open-response on the board.  You sweep over a tricky word (receive/recieve, for example) and just write what comes naturally.  Only this time you don't catch the mistake - a student does.  "Um, shouldn't that be R-E-C-E-I-V-E Mr. Hogarty?"  You look down at your script and think for a second.  You realize where you went wrong, draw a line through the word, and correct your spelling.  "Ah, yes, Ethan, good eye.  Thank you." Smile, move on.

Example 3: You're a history teacher and you've made a hand-out as an outline for significant events of the 20th century.  Under the time-line you've written that World War I started in 1915.  *gasp* Whether that was a typo or not, once you realize your mistake, that takes a whole-class shut down.  "Excuse me, can everyone turn their attention to the beginning of WWI... yes, that's a typo, please cross it out and write in 1914.  I'm very sorry about that." Smile, and move on.

As a role model for the students in your yearly care, the issue here is not IF you make a mistake, but WHEN you do, how you handle it.  Don't try to cover it up.  Don't just leave it be.  Show your attention to detail, show you care about the little (or big) things, and show that you can take the correction - even if it is by a 13-year-old.  The way that you respond to criticism can set the tone for the class.  You don't have perfect students, and they do not have a perfect teacher.  Mistakes are a part of it all, but you don't have to wallow in embarrassment or self-pity.  Admit it, smile, and move on.


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