7 DEADLY SINS OF TEACHERS

1. Lust
One of the 7 deadly sins of teaching, is for the teacher not to show their feelings.

This is not about lust in the sense of having ‘feelings’ for a student. This is about
teachers failing to show emotion in their teaching and general relationships with
the classes they teach. Students love teachers who bring learning to life;
students also love teachers who show ‘themselves’ to be real individuals with
personality, emotion and passion. Students do not enjoy teachers who are
motionless, perhaps too private; teachers who are fearful to share their opinions
and feelings towards children they teach or worst of all, the subject they teach.
2. Gluttony

One of the 7 deadly sins of teaching, is for the teacher to waste their expertise.

Every teacher is (mostly) qualified to degree level. This should mean that
teachers are experts in their field. Gluttony in this sense is for the teacher to fail to
explain knowledge, skills and understanding. To fail to share their expertise.

A teacher may for example, fail to fully answer a child’s question, nor accept
that they do not know the answer; or that they will try to find it out for the
student. They may even fail to challenge the student to ‘go find’ the answer for
themselves and bring it back to class. This type of teacher has gaps in their
subject knowledge and as they teach older students higher up the school, their
own knowledge is challenged and students ‘sense’ that the teacher is not the
expert in the room. The teacher may cut corners in subject-skills, for example
during demonstrations, and avoid explicit terminology or clarity in their
instruction. It is probably one of the worst sins of all.
3. Greed

One of the 7 deadly sins of teaching, is for the teacher to be greedy for
themselves and not of their students.

This teacher put themselves first before the child. This sin or type of teacher is
very rare indeed. We know by default, that teachers are naturally inclined to put
the child first; quite the opposite of ‘greed.’ An example of a ‘greedy’ or ‘selfish’
teacher may be that they arrive late to class, often. They may also be late in the
morning to school, late to assembly or always last to hand letters out to their
tutor group. This means their children are last in line for school performances,
trips out of school or general notices.

It is rare, but this teacher is absorbed in their own ‘personal work’ rather than the
students and their work.

4. Sloth

One of the 7 deadly sins of teaching, is for the teacher to be lazy.

Workload is an issue for every teacher and to mark students’ books is a never-
ending task. However, this sin is for a teacher who ‘never’ marks a child’s book
for an entire academic year. They probably opt for this option due to the fact
that neither student, parent nor school will be asking ‘why not?’ Once this
teacher finds the gap to reduce their workload, they may often continue down
this path until it is noticed. Failing to mark a student’s work is a sin.

(I have written about Sloth Teaching before – it was very popular!)

5. Wrath
One of the 7 deadly sins of teaching, is for the teacher to avoid ‘getting to
know’ their students.

This teacher will have poor relationships, perhaps a bad attitude. More often
than not, students will feel the wrath of this teacher in their lessons more than
others. This teacher may have a ‘corridor-reputation’ for shouting and being
heard with (or without) the classroom door open. This teacher is full of rage and
may have uncontrollable feelings toward their class when students get answers
wrong, or show disrespect. In this example, the teacher is often irrational and
students find the teacher unpredictable. In very extreme situations, this teacher
may show signs of anger (or may throw an object)!

6. Envy

One of the 7 deadly sins of teaching, is for the teacher to be envious of others.

Envy is a rare characteristic found in teachers, but when ‘envy’ is discovered in

teaching, this is exposed in the discontent of others for promotion or in allocation
of task. It is rarely found in teacher-student relationships and is more often than
not, heard in staff rooms, offices and broom-cupboards. Most scenarios come to
light at the end of term after many, many beverages.

7. Pride

One of the 7 deadly sins of teaching, is for the teacher to have too much pride.

The best teachers adapt to the needs of their students. They adapt over time,
but the most-efficient teachers can adapt ‘in the lesson.’ For example, the
lesson may not be going according to plan and students may be unable to
grasp a difficult concept. The teacher with ‘pride’ will plough on regardless and
may a) fail to notice students struggling or b) blame students for their lack of i)
listening ii) effort or iii) poor attitude to the subject. Whatever it is, this teacher will
stick to their own path and ignore the needs of the child.