Category Archives: Common Teacher Mistakes

Common Teacher Mistake #7 — Overconfidence. This is one that particularly applies to new TFA teachers. I was a victim of this myself, back in the day, and the fact that it’s still a prominent issue makes me worry that … Continue reading →

Common teacher mistake #6 — Telling a misbehaving student that you are calling home. Calling parents is a great thing to do. Even for students whose parents don’t have a lot of control them, a parent call is still pretty … Continue reading →

Common teacher mistake #5 — Making the first test too difficult. It’s important that all your students succeed on the first formal assessment. Even if you’ve conducted enough ‘informal’ assessments that they’ve convinced you that they’ve learned, the students need … Continue reading →

Common teacher mistake #4: Too much enthusiasm on the first day. My first year, I was wrongly under the impression that my task on the first day was to ‘wow’ my class and get their attention. As good as this … Continue reading →

Common teacher mistake #3. Overusing cooperative learning. Cooperative learning is a great tool when used properly and when used in moderation. Unfortunately some schools have ‘bought in’ to this method so much that teachers are actually mandated to seat their … Continue reading →

Common teacher mistake #2. Teaching effectively is mostly a process of elimination. Don’t make the most common teacher mistakes, and everything else you do will be OK. Unfortunately we’re programmed to make these mistakes. The only way to avoid them … Continue reading →

Common teacher mistake #1 Teachers, especially new ones, are prone to making many mistakes. Some mistakes are made unintentionally, but the worst, and most avoidable mistakes, are ones that are made while actively trying to follow some advice from new-teacher … Continue reading →