1) What if a teacher teaches wrong information?
I would be a flat out liar if I tried to say that I have never been wrong about material. I will never forget one of my first times teaching Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations. I had this really good – at least I thought it was good – lesson about one of the scenes in the novel. It was not until the following YEAR that I realized I had made a very big mistake. My details were obviously WRONG. I had read a certain passage, thinking I understood it, and realized that I had not read it correctly the first time. It was too late to go back and correct my mistake. But I was able to use that experience to create a new connection with the current class. I showed them what I had read, how I interpreted it, and how I realized I was incorrect. In short, it became a classroom discussion that encouraged the students to challenge me, as an instructor, to be sure my information is accurate. Just because I am a professional does not equate me with some god-like quality that you should take what I say as hard fact. So what if a teacher, especially THIS one, teaches wrong information? Bring it to his/her attention. Do it in a respectful way, but by all means, bring it up.
This is what makes you a good teacher. Unlike a lot of teachers, you don't try and make yourself look correct if you're not. You learn from that mistake and use it to teach.
ReplyDeleteI like it when a teacher knows they understood it wrong and they fix it. Such as today when you went over The Iliad again because we all had misunderstood Chryses and Chryseis.
ReplyDeleteWow this is like a revolutionary thought most teachers would never NEVER be humble to be able to admit they are wrong. I am sad to say that from what I have heard college professors are even worse when it comes to humbling themselves. Thank you for seeing the light and doing what is right not what makes you look good.
ReplyDeleteTeachers more than likely teach at least some wrong information quite often. They are also human. What determines a great teacher is when he or she realizes they have made a mistake and then accepts it and uses it to teach something else or start a discussion. Some teachers would argue about something they taught without even considering the possibility that they may be wrong. It is a foreign concept to them. Accepting mistakes, and learning from them, is a great characteristic, especially for a teacher.
ReplyDeleteStudents don't expect the teachers to be perfect. Everybody makes mistakes, its life. At least you noticed that you made a mistake and made something good out of your mistake, by making it a class room discussion. I agree with beautifullychaotic, you dont like to make yourself sound correct when your not.
ReplyDeletei like how you dont argue with the class when you are wrong or we think something is wrong. you just have a discussion with the whole class and we try to figure out what is right or wrong. kdp 6th
ReplyDeleteyou are different than most teachers in cases like this. most would not want anyone to bring it up, but you have an open mind aboput it. i like having that as a student, it makes me feel like we can be more open with you about classroom material.
ReplyDeleteals1
Things like that happen to the best of us... but hard, old, VERY old!!.... Literature is hard to comprehend the way it was meant because we didn't right it... the passed away writers did. They meant it in a certain way and with our changes throughout time, we have developed new languages and new ways of living. Sometimes correcting teachers is a risky thing to do because randomly they will get mad "if ya know what i mean" Then you feel embarrassed...etc..etc.. But i feel in your class anyone can speak their mind or correct something and there isn't any anger.. AT ALL! well.... sometimes if we are off topic but we eventually get back on topic...just sometimes. anyway, everyone learns from their mistakes! trust me!
ReplyDeleteKEM 1
i agree absolutely and completely with you on this one. I am glad to have a teacher ready to admit mistake, especially when it is on the material you are trying to teach us. I often find adults in that kind of position unable to admit to mistakes as if they had some kind of messiah complex. Again, I am very pleased to have a teacher that can take constructive criticism well. XP1st
ReplyDeleteI think it is disrespectful to correct a teacher in front of a whole class, i would like wait till class was over because i would hate it if someone corrected me in front of a large group :D well thats all i have to say miranda sue
ReplyDeleteThank you for admitting that you are human. And don't worry your students will point out if they think you are teaching it wrong because you actually like to hear what we think. And you also fix your mistakes like you said in your passage you realized that you made a mistake and that it was to late to fix so you just fixed it the next year.
ReplyDeleteSS 1st hour
When i teacher teaches something wrong or misunderstands it is understandable. Teachers are human as well and make mistakes. I like when teachers admit their mistake and clarify it with the whole class, if they dont or insist they are right it causes confusion especially when they learn the correct thing in the future. I like that if their is any confusion or if there is something wrong said in class it is clarified in your class.
ReplyDeleteJT 1st
I enjoy a good banter in class. Especially when I know that i am correct. When a teacher gets his or her stuff wrong i always get a kick out of it. Not to say its a good thing... I just like a challenge.
ReplyDeletetjc1
I agree with the first post. I think that you are a great teacher for accepting the mistake and trying to correct it. I am going to relate this to all of my classes because I know that I do this a lot. I try to understand something without challenging myself to make sure I understood it correctly.
ReplyDeleteaeb1
I think that when teachers make mistakes it helps the class remember the material. When the teacher catches there mistakes i always remember that and it helps me rember what is right.
ReplyDeleteMT 1st hour
All of my teachers say the same thing about mistakes. I mean we are all human almost all of us if not all of us has made a mistake today whether it is misspelling a word or forgetting how to do something every one makes mistakes.
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