Student Mistakes in Elite School Classrooms: Teacher Reflections and Reported Instructional Strategies

Authors

Maleka Donaldson, Smith CollegeFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

6-15-2023

Publication Title

Journal of Educational Research and Practices

Abstract

This article explores how teachers respond to student mistakes in one educational setting—an elite private high school. This qualitative study is a thematic analysis of in-depth, semi-structured interviews with teachers at one such school. The results reveal that in their responses to student mistakes, the teachers work to build trust and emotional safety, give students agency throughout the learning and feedback processes, and ask probing questions that rigorously challenge their thinking. By considering teacher accounts of their instructional approaches and past experiences, the study adds a context-specific, real-world perspective on how teachers in an elite school frame student mistakes.

Keywords

private education, instructional practices, teacher context, high schools, in-depth interviewing, error correction

Volume

13

Issue

1

First Page

203

Last Page

218

DOI

10.5590/JERAP.2023.13.1.15

Rights

@ The Author(s)

Comments

Archived as published.

Recommended Citation

Donaldson, Maleka, "Student Mistakes in Elite School Classrooms: Teacher Reflections and Reported Instructional Strategies" (2023). Education and Child Study: Faculty Publications, Smith College, Northampton, MA.
https://scholarworks.smith.edu/edc_facpubs/20