Teachers, are you embarrassed when you, oops!, make board mistakes?
My true story: I tell my students that making mistakes is inevitable when doing math problems. It’s no big deal, provided you correct them, learn from them, and move on from them without beating yourself up too much. (‘Be mindful little grasshopper! Be mindful!’)
I often share my record of mistakes by asking someone to have their calculator ready to multiply the following numbers; 5, 5, 180, and a final number between 10 and 38. Result: between 45,000 and 171,000. If I made 1 board mistake each class that would be 5 per day, 5 days a week, 180 days each school year and 10 to 38 years of teaching for a total of somewhere between 45,000 and 171,000 board mistakes and that doesn’t include board mistakes I made teaching university and community college classes.)
Jaws drop and I say please, please, please, watch me carefully because I will be ever so grateful for each one that you point out. And they do!
Please share your stories about how you handle your goofs!