Podcast: 5 Common Teacher Mistakes and How to Fix Them

Everyone makes mistakes—including teachers. 

While educators are quick to reframe student mistakes through a growth mindset lens, they’re less forgiving when it comes to their own slipups. But teacher errors often follow familiar patterns and can be a source of exceptional personal and professional growth.

In this episode of School of Practice, ELA teacher and instructional specialist Miriam Plotinsky digs into the most common teacher mistakes and identifies key strategies for quick, effective resets that get learning back on track. We’ll also hear from a few classroom teachers about their own missteps, and examine the research about how students benefit when teachers address their own mistakes head-on. 

Related resources:

• 6 Common Teacher Mistakes – And How To Avoid Them From rushing through prep to misjudging students’ readiness for a task to overloading lessons with activities, experienced teachers talk about some of the mistakes they’ve made.
• Teachers’ Intellectual Humility Benefits Adolescents’ Interest and Learning A 2024 American Psychological Association study found that teacher humility makes students feel more accepted by the teacher, more connected to peers, and predicted grade improvements.
• PEW: How K-12 Teachers Manage Their Workload A 2024 Pew survey found that 84% of public school K-12 teachers feel like they don't have enough time in the day. 
• A Simple Way to Self-Monitor for Bias Teachers concerned that they might be showing bias against students in marginalized groups can use a short checklist for self-assessment.
• 5 Steps to Leveraging Background Knowledge in Lessons  Providing students with background knowledge about lessons improves comprehension and engagement.
• Using Formative Assessment to Measure Student Progress Teachers can use the feedback they gain from assessing to drive instructional outcomes and help students understand what success looks like.
• How to Engage Students the Moment They Enter the Classroom Openers matter and set the tone for the lesson that follows. Here’s how to start strong when you need to.
• 29 High-Impact Formative Assessment Strategies These versatile strategies—from brain dumps to speed sharing—help students track their own progress while informing your next instructional steps.
• How to Avoid Rushing—a Pitfall for Even the Most Experienced Teachers There are always too many standards to meet and assignments to grade. These strategies can help you reject haste in favor of care and clarity.