The Terrible Teacher Guide

Vicki Davis, in her Cool Cat Teacher Blog, believes that teaching is a noble calling and that teachers who are always on their cell phones or paying attention to their computers rather than their students, aren’t behaving nobly.  Although she admits that all teachers have TT or Terrible Teacher days when they are overwhelmed with work or complaints, it is at these times when they need to stop and think about putting a positive tone in their teaching. According to Davis, in addition to cell phone and computer use, other indications of a TT are teachers who often lose their tempers or are “predictably dramatic”; who share their students’ private information; who talk too much, especially without expression; who don’t vary their teaching methods; who only teach to the “good” students; who use the same tests and lessons every year; who aren’t consistent and whose words of warning mean nothing; and who don’t actually like their students and embarrass them in front of others.