Do You Make These Teaching Mistakes?
Sometimes I get lazy in the classroom and I need a kick in the pants to get out of some bad habits. Here are 4 things I constantly try to avoid when teaching:
Not waiting long enough before calling on students.
I learned this one in my first ed class in college almost twenty years ago, and I still forget it. Teachers should wait at least 3 seconds after asking a question before calling on a student for an answer. I tend to overplan my lessons (better than underplanning!), and sometimes I try to cram everything in by rushing the lesson. Students need time to hear the question, think about the question, and formulate an answer.
Calling on the first person to raise his or her hand
This one is closely related to the first but is important enough to state on its own. Sometimes it’s such a relief when a hand goes up that it’s tempting to immediately call on the first student with an arm in the air. I have to consciously remind myself to wait, and I might say something out loud like, “I see one person with an answer, are there any other ideas out there?” That will usually get another half a dozen hands to come up.
Repeating a student’s answer
Fortunately I’ve mostly broken myself of this all-too common habit. Repeating a student’s answer discourages students from speaking loudly, discourages students from listen to each other, and reinforces the illusion that students can only learn from the teacher.
It’s easy to to slip into the pattern of repeating student answers. It gives you time to think before deciding what to say next, it helps you make sure that everyone heard what was said, and it lets the student know that you heard them. But it’s not good practice. Students should get used to speaking up and listening to each other.
Only calling on students who raise their hands
I have to carry a Palm Tungsten E2 and a clip board to avoid this mistake.  The Palm helps me to choose random students to call on, and the clip board records how often they’ve answered. Someday I’ll figure out how to use the Palm to record who’s answered. There are other, less geeky ways to randomly call on students, but I like to use technology as much as I can.
Conclusion
I’m curious about which of these mistakes you or your teachers might make. Please leave a comment to share your experiences, both as a teacher and as a learner.
