This posting focuses on best practices when, inevitably, we make mistakes when we are teaching. In the category of mistakes, I include: allowing typos to go uncorrected on exams and other assessment-related errors, misstating the law or the analysis of a hypothetical, forgetting or mispronouncing a student’s name, implementing a new (or even time-tested) teaching technique that fails, and failing to respond consistent with one’s values to a student’s misconduct, discourteousness, or mistreatment of peers. I will start by making it clear that mistakes in these categories are inevitable, and I have made most of the errors on the list in the previous sentence. 

Recommendations Applicable to All Teaching Errors

Owning the mistake. The most important thing you can do, both for your credibility with your students and as a role model, is to acknowledge the mistake with professionalism and candor. This best practice requires you to neither publicly beat yourself up (no matter how disappointed you are in yourself) nor to understate the error. Try to be factual, e.g., “In class, I said that the courts have concluded . . . but, when I looked it up after class, I discovered that the courts actually have concluded . . .” or “In class, I pronounced Ms. ________’s last name as _______, but it is properly pronounced __________.”

Thank students who helped you identify the error or whose questions you erroneously answered. If a student helped you discover that you made an error, say so and express gratitude for the student’s input. If a student asked a question that you answered erroneously, take delight in the fact that a student asked you a question you could not answer easily. Doing so encourages students to feel comfortable disagreeing with you and asking questions and, perhaps surprisingly, enhances your credibility because you are demonstrating that you do not feel threatened by such student input. 

Explain what you did to identify and correct the error. Because you are a role model for legal practitioners, who, of course, also make mistakes, your process for identifying and correcting your errors should model how you hope your students will address their errors, e.g., “After class, I thought more about my answer to Mr. ___________’s question so I did some additional research and discovered . . .”  

(If applicable) Explain how you will avoid making the same error in the future. Especially as to errors that might cause a student to feel unseen (e.g., mispronunciation of the student’s name) or might add stress to your students (e.g., some types of exam typos), students want to know that you take the error seriously enough to make sure it will not occur again. 

Recommendations for Some Specific Errors 

Exam typos and other assessment-related errors. Because exams are so high stakes, it is important that you explain any solution you adopt and why you adopted it. It is even more effective to email your solution to the class in advance of the next class session and devote time to getting students’ input. Ideally, you will feel comfortable implementing your students’ feedback. However, you may decide not to do so because of law school policies or your assessment of the fairest way to address the issue; either way, inform the students of your decision, and, if you decided not to implement what the students asked for, explain why not.

Doctrinal or legal analysis errors. Students will learn most from these kinds of errors if you explicitly walk them through your rethinking and research process. This approach allows them to both receive your correction and see a model of how a thoughtful practitioner works.

Mispronouncing a student’s name. Some students will wonder why you are devoting class time to correcting your error and may dismiss your efforts as “woke.” By explaining why you chose to spend class time correcting your error, you turn a mistake you made into a teaching moment for those in the class who would otherwise be skeptical about your actions.

Teaching techniques that failed. Solicit anonymous student feedback with general and specific questions. What worked? What did not work? Why did my instructions confuse people? How can I redesign the activity to make it work? This approach demonstrates a key trait of the best legal professionals: they continuously seek input to try to improve.In fact, by owning your mistake, correcting it, and manifesting your commitment to better serve your students in the future, you have a chance to strengthen your relationship with your students. Business experts call this the “service recovery paradox,” the surprising fact that, “When a customer issue is resolved positively, that customer is likely to demonstrate more customer loyalty over time than people who haven’t encountered any issues (service failures) at all.”