1.20 Lessons - Practice Makes Perfect?

Bestest Friend and I are embarking on a new blog project. Each day of the month we will post a picture on a pre-determined theme and write a little something about it. The theme for the twentieth day of each month is "Lessons."
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When I teach, there’s so much to keep track of: What are the strengths and weaknesses of each student? I don’t want to ask the mathphobic person a hard math question. What is the teaching point of this problem? Of this page? What are common misperceptions about this? How I can build up students’ confidence without just telling them the answers? How can I be simultaneously self-deprecating and instill confidence in my expertise? What does that word mean anyway?

And the truth is that I don’t always get it right. I get it right a lot. But every time I step into the classroom, it’s like a new minefield with new traps and mistakes to be made. Every student is a new person with a new set of surprise answers and questions for me. Practice does not make perfect; it makes you more flexible and hones your ability to turn inevitable mistakes into teaching points.

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To see what Bestest Friend wrote about the theme of the day, check out her blog, Too Legit To Quit.