Error Correction – in learners’ shoes
We are all looking forward to upcoming International Teacher Development Institute webinar on March 3rd (you have still time to register http://itdi.pro/webinar.html ) that will be about error correction in the classroom. As an introduction and a kind of warmer, there was a launch of the new iTDi blog where lovely and inspiring posts were shared on the same topic – http://itdi.pro/blog/.
However, today I was thinking about it and realized we tend to forget mistakes we, teachers, make. I know that it is not particularly interesting and for many teachers not even something they want to think about. I understand! I hate making mistakes in the classroom but no matter what, it happens.
Suddenly, I found myself with some questions to think about:
- Is it (or does it have to be) embarrassing experience for a teacher or rather an opportunity for connecting with your students on a more personal and human level?
- What does a teacher do when s/he makes mistake in the classroom?
- How do students react to teachers’ mistakes?
- How do you avoid making mistakes?
I may not have all the answers (or at least not answers that would work for everyone) but I think we all should start with thinking more about the roles teachers play in the classroom. Is a teacher an all knowing “encyclopedia”, a partner or a role model? I prefer to be thought of as a role model and partner – a person who is an example of a learner who found the way to learn that suits their personality, needs and expectations; a person who learned how to learn and is happy to share and help others on their way of discovery.
So is making mistakes embarrassing? It definitely is an embarrassing experience if you and your students see you as that “walking encyclopedia”. A teacher, native or not, does not have to know everything, does not have to have the correct answer all the time, does not have to come up with some miraculous solution for every problem students might have.
What do I do when I make a mistake? I connect with students! In fact, I connect with them even before that by empowering them, including them in decision making and leaving a part of the responsibility for learning/teaching in the classroom on them. We communicate a lot in the process of learning/teaching, discuss things and when I am not sure, they are there (so many bright minds in one room) to help me and each other. And that is basically an answer for the rest of the questions I mentioned above. I don’t try to avoid mistakes. I speak (really) with my students and I share my doubts that are sometimes English, sometimes Slovak language related.
We may sometimes stand alone in the front of the classroom. We may feel insecure by all that responsibility we have but by embracing our “humanity” as teachers we will really be there to help someone make a change and understand that it is always learning and not learning vs. teaching.
So true, Vlaďka. It’s easy to expect we should always have ALL the answers and be always correct. It’s what we do, so we should know, right?
I absolutely agree that it’s better to be an example – by owning, admitting and claiming our mistakes – even making fun of them! – but, most importantly – by showing how these mistakes are used positively,how making a mistake is an essential and natural part of learning even for us, the people who are often falsely expected to be perfect.
The real mistake we as teachers, and learners!, can make, regardless of our mother tongue, is believing we should always be correct and that making a mistake would be deadly embarrassing. It’s not the kind of message we’d like to put across.
Admitting and owning mistakes doesn’t mean drowning in doubt or losing control – quite the opposite. It shows how it’s simply the way we learn!
btw, how you manage to do all those things, like posting a great article, while travelling and preparing a conference is beyond me..
Thanks Marian for lovely comment!
Somehow, thinking about it, I came to conclusion (or realization) that many teachers fear that. The result often is (at least what I have seen during my observations) that they create a wall between them and students and often not even admit their mistakes.
The next observation of mine is that they try to avoid using dictionaries in the classroom, which is wrong I think. Students themselves can’t use dictionaries properly and not using them as teachers we just show them that is it “weak and lame” to use them. I always have a pile of dictionaries in my classroom. You’ll see that soon
ps. i am happy to post something every now and then. Just a coincidence the idea came “on the road”
Lovely post Vladimira!!
It’s true to sat that a lot has been said about
students’ mistakes and there isn’t much further talk about Teachers’ and we’re human and definitely far away from being “perfect”. Not only new teachers make mistakes there can be a lot of reasons why a teacher might make a mistake so the importance lies on how to react. I’d say be honest and admit it! Then if it lends to it you could even make fun of it. There’s nothing embarrassing about being just human!
Hi V,
I completely agree with you and Marian. Even though students see teachers as all-knowing walking encyclopedias, we are learners ourselves – whether native speakers or not (on a personal note, I think these days I speak English more correctly than Portuguese! I certainly know the language a lot more
). More than that, we are human, and we make mistakes.
I think the fear we have is that the students will have doubts about our competence if we make mistakes (and they notice, of course!). But we have to know this will not happen, that competence is not only about language and that even if it were, nobody is exempt from making mistakes.
I also believe admitting to the mistakes and not giving much importance to have made them is the best thing to do (that’s what I do) not only because it should be seen as normal but also to show the students it is normal. If they see you are not afraid of making mistakes, they shouldn’t either.
Thanks for a great post, V!
HI Vladimira,
I totally agree with u Vladimira…A teacher is in my view far from being an all knowing Encyclopedia..It is a facilitator, a role model.True to err is human whether native or non native…perhaps we should draw the difference between error and mistake/oral and written performance .I believe that teachers must plan their lesson well…The classroom is the land of the unpredictable…mistakes ,slips of the tongue happen especially orally…I do believe that the more we teach , the more we learn ..the more we learn ,the less we are likely to make mistakes…perfection is divine and unattainable…the classroom contract between learners and teachers must be based on frankness…mistakes happen at various degrees …A teacher ,especially ,a non native must read as much as he can in order to make his teaching more efficient…
Thank u for your great article..I really liked it
Hamdi
I agree with Vladmira. I have gone from pretending I didn’t make a mistake or explaining it away to joking that I made to mistake to find out if they would catch the error to thanking the students when they catch my mistakes. I think the last one exemplifies better an attitude toward mistakes I want my students to have.
Thanks Martha for your comment and of course I agree with what you wrote. Admit your humanity!
Thank you Ceci for lovely comment and post mention during iTDi webinar! Your words mean so much! What you wrote about your mother tongue, it happens to me too these days and it is just normal I tell them. They understand I think and so accept any mistakes. You know what? Sometimes, when I am not entirely sure about spelling let’s say, I ask someone to check it for me in dictionary and beside the very friendly atmosphere it creates, they also feel important and useful…:-) It is always nice to have such collaboration in classroom.
Thanks Hamdi for lovely and true comment! I agree that it is important to plan your lessons carefully. At the same time, I often plan my lessons as a structure and see what comes up during the lesson and adapt it…so mistakes happen but my point is, it is normal and that’s what we want to pass to our students. Does it sound harsh to say “don’t aim for perfection”? But I believe it is so.
Thank you John, I loved reading about your way of dealing with mistakes
I remember my teacher used to do that…kind of if we noticed the mistake. Thanks so much!