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Poll: Have you ever been embarrassed while teaching?
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Have you ever been embarrassed while teaching?

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  #1 (permalink)  
Unread Jun 9th, 2007, 09:35 am
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Default Have you ever been embarrassed while teaching?

Let's share our most embarrassing experiences in teaching. I am sure every teacher has atleast one. Here is mine:
I left the bathroom in a hurry - late for a lesson - and was later told by one of my female students that my zipper was
Although she whispered it to me the rest of them all knew. Jeez I completely lost control of the lesson in front of them. (First year University teenagers). That was way back in 2005 but it's hard to forget it.
How about you guys?
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Unread Jun 9th, 2007, 12:12 pm
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Default Re: Have you ever been embarrassed while teaching?

Years ago I bought a tight shortskirt with a slit up the back. As since the sixties I've dressed in long hippy style skirts, it was a bit of a departure. Unfortunately, it also meant I hadn't learnt how to walk in it, and my long inelegant strides meant that the slit just split even further. As the lesson progressed i was aware of a sort of subdued giggle from the class every time I turned to write on the board. but I didn't realise why until after the lesson. needless to say that was the first and last tight skirt I ever wore in my life.
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Unread Jun 9th, 2007, 08:16 pm
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Default Re: Have you ever been embarrassed while teaching?

That was a big one too Sue. Were they kids or older students? The kids don't mine. They would come up to you and tell you straight what is going on. It's usually the older ones that make it embarrassing.
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Unread Jun 10th, 2007, 03:03 am
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Default Re: Have you ever been embarrassed while teaching?

Adults
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Unread Jun 13th, 2007, 09:22 am
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Default Re: Have you ever been embarrassed while teaching?

Had the zipper let me down too. Still to have problems with a skirt but I guess that would be on another thread!

I suppose my most embarrasing was when I kept on correcting a guy on his use of tenses in an elementary class. He kept using the past tense when talking about his wife and I'd correct him with the present. It hadn't even occured to me that I was making the mistake until he very quietly and politely informed me that his wife had died the previous year. I didn't know where to look.
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Unread Jun 13th, 2007, 09:20 pm
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Default Re: Have you ever been embarrassed while teaching?

Errr! I once gave a PowerPoint presentation to a class & followed it up with a worksheet that was for a completely different lesson. They were confused, but I think I got away with it.
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Unread Jun 18th, 2007, 06:53 am
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Default Re: Have you ever been embarrassed while teaching?

Hmm...

I'm not really sure how to answer this one. On one hand, I feel like I must have been embarrassed countless times. On the other, nothing springs to mind. I'm sure I've had my zipper down, but I don't remember a particular time.

Clive - your example makes me wince. Ouch.

I think, early on, I was probably embarrassed every time a student pointed out a mistake that I had made. Now that never happens, and not because I've stopped making mistakes.

Hmm...
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Unread Jun 18th, 2007, 05:18 pm
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Default Re: Have you ever been embarrassed while teaching?

Talking about students pointing out mistakes Dave that happens so many times that sometimes it is no longer embarrassing - spelling mistakes especially.
A friend of mine was reading this thread and really wanted contribute this one since he doesn't have an account here on this site.

From Jeff:
I had had a bad meal of some vegetables mixed with potatoes. The next day in class I messed the air - though unintentionally. It just came as I stood up from the teacher's table. All the students heard because they were doing an exercise and there was silence. The smell was really bad. Anyway, I managed to say sorry. But what really killed me was this naughty guy who opened the window next to where he was sitting. Teaching sometimes sucks folks! Things done everyday by everybody become scandals if it is a teacher.
Nice thread Denis.
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Unread Jul 3rd, 2007, 07:28 pm
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Default Re: Have you ever been embarrassed while teaching?

Quote:
The next day in class I messed the air - though unintentionally.
Heh, heh. I once had a teacher who would 'mess the air' all the time. And he would stamp his feet while doing it to try to hide the sound.

Here in Malaysia, farting in public is a really strict taboo. It would be akin to running around with your pants down!
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Unread Jul 3rd, 2007, 07:48 pm
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Default Re: Have you ever been embarrassed while teaching?

Once I had a 12 year old correct my spelling of badminton. Another time I had an adult student grab the chalk from me and write all the rules about the pronunciation of 's' when it comes at the end of a word. It was quite impressive but overall very embarrassing.
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Unread Jul 4th, 2007, 04:39 am
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Default Re: Have you ever been embarrassed while teaching?

I was embarrassed today, in fact.

I was showing a DVD and it stopped working about five minutes before the end, and I couldn't get it working again.
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Unread Jul 4th, 2007, 10:34 pm
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Default Re: Have you ever been embarrassed while teaching?

That has happened to me many times Eric. Students reciting grammar rules to the whole class when they find you fumbling over something they happen to have learnt so well somewhere else.
During my first years in teaching, I was so embarrassed when students corrected my mistakes but I have learnt that teaching is also a learning process.
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Unread Jul 5th, 2007, 12:08 am
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Default Re: Have you ever been embarrassed while teaching?

Emile, your post reminds me of something that happened to me last week. I wanted to show a movie, so I requested the multimedia room. I unlocked everything, and got the projector and computer all set up. Then I realized that the blinds on the windows were totally inadequate. It was impossible to see the movie because the room was so bright.

"Why would a school spend a lot of money on a computer and projector without spending a little money making the room adequately dark?" In China, that type of question gets blank stares.

Not embarrassing for me, I realize, but anyways...
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Unread Jul 5th, 2007, 05:24 am
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Default Re: Have you ever been embarrassed while teaching?

Quote:
Quote emile
Heh, heh. I once had a teacher who would 'mess the air' all the time. And he would stamp his feet while doing it to try to hide the sound.

Here in Malaysia, farting in public is a really strict taboo. It would be akin to running around with your pants down!
That's funny Emile. A good trick
Farting seems somehow a very normal thing to do among people here in China.
Just curious to know why?
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Unread Jul 5th, 2007, 06:06 am
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Default Re: Have you ever been embarrassed while teaching?

Quote:
Quote emile
I once had a teacher who would 'mess the air' all the time. And he would stamp his feet while doing it to try to hide the sound.
OK, that might, just might, hide the sound (if your feet are big enough) but there remains another slight problem. What did he do to hide the other by-product of expelling gas in this way? Open the window loudly??
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Unread Jul 5th, 2007, 08:47 am
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Default Re: Have you ever been embarrassed while teaching?

Quote:
Quote emile
II was showing a DVD and it stopped working about five minutes before the end, and I couldn't get it working again.
I was once using video and couldn't get the machine to work. The TV was on, but just showing static. Tried everything - took off the lead connecting to the TV and tried it in different positions, tried every channel, gave up with the remote control and opened the control panel, went and got a different cassette to see if that was the problem. Nothing - just fuzz on the TV screen. In the end after about 15 mins, gave up and pushed the TV/video trolley aside. The video plug trailed after it. I'd forgotten to plug it in.
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Unread Jul 5th, 2007, 07:58 pm
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Default Re: Have you ever been embarrassed while teaching?

Christ Susan!
That was one of those crazy days I guess.
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Unread Jan 22nd, 2008, 10:01 pm
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Default Re: Have you ever been embarrassed while teaching?

The most embarassing moment....BAR NONE:

I didn't have a class so the art teacher asked if I would be a model for her JHS art students. Everything in Japan is about presentation so I had to stand outside the class and wait for the ultimate moment of my introduction, at which time all the students were enthralled by my presence and started clapping upon my entrance into the classroom.

In the middle of the class, were four desks slammed together. This was my platform to stand on. Upon climbing onto the desks, the teacher instructed me to do a pose. Naturally, I awed them with my basketball 3-point shooting pose with my arms extending over my head like I was about to release the ball.

Just then, I heard giggling from in front of me. A group of boys were laughing their asses off. One of them finally had the courage to tell me that my zipper was down.

I immediately jumped off the desks, ran into the hall and zipped it up. Upon reentering the class, I nonchalantly called him a liar and returned to my awe-stricken pose.
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Unread Jan 22nd, 2008, 10:37 pm
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Default Re: Have you ever been embarrassed while teaching?

That's funny! The zipper thing again.
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Unread Feb 6th, 2008, 09:04 am
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Default Re: Have you ever been embarrassed while teaching?

Years back, I was a substitute teacher in one the schools not far from my house. The students in my class were rather naughty and they usually would not obey my instructions. I kept telling them no eating in class during lessons and if you want to drink, just go outside. One day, after recess, I was quite in a bit of hurry that I forgot to spit out a sweet which I chewed it in my mouth. I didn't realized that the sweet was still in my mouth that I spitted out during my lesson. I became a laughing stock and a few found it disgusting! I was so embarrased of the incident. Since that day, when I walked past them, they would whispered to each other and giggled. It lasted until a few months.
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