The Tao of TeaChing (Making Mistakes in Front of the Class) How do you handle it when you make a mistake while teaching? I used to get confused, stammer, blush, etc. But now I just pause and notice that something is incorrect, then correct it if I can figure it out, or say that I will get back to it.

In one of my questions on this site, I said that I taught something wrongly and a student raised a question about it. I stopped and said I would sort it out, but didn't try then to correct it because I wasn't sure why I had made the mistake. The students have a very limited capacity to handle ambiguous or conflicting info while they are learning new things, so I usually try to say only what is essential at the moment. Dijkstra wrote about "the limited size of our skulls" and I mention that frequently.

My skull is definitely limited, and I forget more than I know at any given moment. So every year I need to refresh my memory of details. That is why if something doesn't work or I can't recall something then I demonstrate how to find it again or figure it out. Every year the software changes, the textbook is different, I am using different teaching notes or web sites, and on and on, so I am never completely on top of what is about to be shown in class. I used to reprimand myself, try to prepare better, make more notes, try out all the examples first and so on, but really, the workplace (to which they are going) is not a rehearsal, so I am "modeling what I am teaching". Maybe I come off as a 'cowboy' sometimes, but I enjoy teaching a lot more than I used to!


  "I am a man foolish in heart, dull and confused.
  Other men are full of light; I alone seem to be in darkness.
  Other men are alert; I alone am listless.
  I am unsettled as the ocean, drifting as though I had no stopping-place.
  All men have their usefulness; I alone am stupid and clownish."
  -- The Tao Te Ching of Lao Tzu


What I really enjoy is figuring out why I made the mistake and saying that, not to pass blame or even blame myself, but because understanding is what matters. How do you, by example, teach your students to "learn from others mistakes, because you haven't got time to make them all yourself"?
If I catch it quickly and can easily explain the error, I use it as an example of failing up. "Ooops, look at me, here's my mistake, here's how I can learn from it."

If students catch it, and I'm not immediately sure who is right, I make a note to do some research and come back to it in the next class.

If I don't realize it until class is over, I make sure to correct it the next day so that I don't reinforce a misconception.