Sometimes teachers are just plain wrong

My year 9 Geography teacher used to say to me and my classmates:

"There you go again, flaunting your ignorance and proving yourself to be the lowest common denominator. Yes, that does make you less intelligent than pond scum."

I can still feel the slow burn of the anger that would growl inside of me, and the sense of futility in arguing with someone who had all the power in the classroom.

I hope you've never had a teacher like him. 

You may not have loved all of your teachers, but I hope you had teachers who were all passionate about learning, about education, about their subject and about students. 

I worry that this is unlikely.

I worry that maybe you've had a teacher who told you that you were dumb. Or just not good at their subject. Or more of a sporty type. Or better suited to arts subjects. Or the maths subjects. Or whatever was not their subject. Or suggested you do a trade, even though that's not what you wanted.* Or never asked for your opinion or answer in class. Or in a million other tiny ways made you feel not good enough. 

I hope I'm wrong.

But, if you have, I want you to remember, that sometimes teachers are just plain wrong

We are just people too. Sometimes we get it wrong. Some of us are just plain rude. Some can only appreciate students who think the way that they think.

Those types of comments from teachers can be damaging, but they are also just wrong. They represent a fixed mindset. They make people think that they are either smart or dumb and that there is nothing they can do about it. 

That goes against the very idea of learning, and the very purpose of teaching. 

You may not have a natural aptitude for a particular subject, that doesn't make you bad at it. The goal is not perfection. The goal is progress. 

Knowing that wherever your current ability is represents a moment in time, and that you can improve on that, is a growth mindset. If you have a growth mindset any negative statements have a "yet" on the end. 

"I'm not good at quote integration, yet."

That's ok. We can work on it and you can get better at it.

People with fixed mindsets tend to give up easily, because they don't see the point of working hard when they don't believe they can get better. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy. When students believe it those teachers look at them and say "see, they don't even want to get better." And then the cycle continues.

People with growth mindsets show persistence. They believe that they can make a difference in their own learning and are more intrinsically motivated. They are not afraid of failures, as they realise they don't define them as a person.

Surely, you can see that a growth mindset is the healthiest and most productive attitude to take? Surely, you can see that any teacher who ever told you that you were just bad at something is wrong?

If any teacher ever says that to you again, I hope you have the courage to say:

"No, I'm just not good at it yet. And you're not great at teaching it yet either."

(Or at least think it in your head, and know that it is true.)

A growth mindset gives you both the possibility that you can get better.