Positive Teaching: Errorless Teaching

The red pen can be a frightening tool for any student.  When dealing with a special needs student, it can be even more terrifying.  The color itself can bring up fear and anxiety.  Having someone pointing out errors and focusing in on what was wrong can set a student on the defensive and shut them down from being able to learn anything past the mark on the paper. How can we address errors without fear?

   From the first day of class it is important to emphasize mistakes are how you learn while you go through your classroom policies and procedures.  It is also important to establish a safe learning environment where no one is allowed to laugh or demean another classmate because they make an error. Errors need to be seen as a way for the teacher to know what to teach, not as a way to judge what the student did wrong.  That is how I explain them to my students.  If they do not make any errors, then I know we are ready to move on.  The errors tell me what I have to teach and work on with them.  I turn them into a positive tool for me rather than a negative for the students. I also never grade in red.  I personally use green, but you can use purple or orange, whatever color you like, just make it consistent.  I leave red as the color for self-editing.  They have control over the red pen.  It is empowering.

    Another strategy I use to take away the intimidation factor is to not use the X for a wrong answer.  I simply use a dot to mark the problems they need to look at again.  It is not a sign You got this wrong, but rather, let’s look at this again and figure out where you went wrong.  It is a learning opportunity rather than a judgment.  Even if it is an assessment, it can be a learning opportunity as well. The students are less fearful and more willing to take a risk when they do not feel judged in my experience.

    There are many ways you can choose to grade the work from this form of errorless teaching. You can give average grades for the two: before corrections and after.  You can just give the first grade.  You can just give the second grade.  You can give completion grades.  This depends on the students and your class.  It is important to be consistent and that your parents understand both the marking and grading system you are using. The fundamentals of errorless teaching are that you introduce the topic without letting the students fail.  You cue or prompt correct answer and gradually fade until they have mastery. The grading comes in when you begin to assess for mastery. If you will be using errorless grading you may want to put it into the accommodations at the IEP meeting. There are many references available for errorless teaching on the internet for more information.

   With our kids, it is always important to focus on the positive.  When they do well on a project or paper, give rewards and praise.  Put a sticker on it.  Let them show it off to a favorite staff member or peer buddy. Send a quick email home and read it to them before you hit the send button.  Remember to make the special moment shine, so they can work through the harder things to seek out the rewards.

For more information you may want to start here:

http://www.projectlearnet.org/tutorials/errorless_learning.html