Many teachers tell us is that they struggle with confidence. Every teacher has had experiences that have shaken their confidence. Confidence isn’t something that you have or don’t have- confidence ebbs and flows. It’s perfectly normal to feel confident one day and less confident the next day. Sometimes, all it takes is one difficult conversation or one negative remark and we fall down the rabbit hole of questioning everything we thought we knew about who we are and what we can do.
You may be struggling with confidence if you often feel that your best efforts aren’t enough, that you will never finish your to-do list or that at the end of the day, you haven’t done enough.
You may also feel a lack of confidence if you feel like you have not been able to meet the needs of your students, your family or yourself. You might constantly question whether your lesson plans are good enough, or whether you are a worthy enough teacher, friend, partner, or parent.
We all want to feel confident, and there are good reasons for having confidence. When you are confident, you make bold and creative choices. You can face challenges head on and are more resilient when things go wrong. With confidence, you are clear in your vision and are able to hold to a plan of action.
There is even research that suggests that when teachers are confident, they are more organized, ask better questions, and give better feedback. Their students also learn more. (Mojavezi & Tamiz, 2012).
Confident teachers also inspire students to be more confident. When students believe that they can tackle something new and learn the concepts, they are more likely to be able to do so. Confidence also affects student engagement and motivation.
As Henry Ford once said,
“Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you’re right.”
In her Ted Talk How to Build Your Confidence and Spark it In Others, former 3rd grade teacher and activist Brittany Packnett Cunningham shares her insight into why confidence is important.
Cunningham reminds us that teachers need to appear confident because they are modeling for students. She says, “ You can’t be what you can’t see.”
You can watch the Ted Talk here:
We all want to be confident. What can you do to increase your teacher confidence?
Here are 5 ways to grow in confidence:
Stop expecting yourself to be perfect.
You teach your students to have a growth mindset; you also need to have a growth mindset yourself. Many teachers are really hard on themselves. It is okay to admit that you don’t know something. Be willing to learn from your mistakes. You are human, and all humans make mistakes.
Accept that your To-Do list will never be finished.
It is the nature of the work that just when you finish something on your list you will add three more things. No, you will never check off everything on your list! Once you accept that, you will feel less stress around it. Feeling like a failure because you never complete your to-do list is a recipe for low self-confidence.
Realize that not everyone will love everything you do.
This for those of you who are people pleasers. You can’t please everyone all of the time. If you do, you are probably not setting enough boundaries for yourself. Also, remember that sometimes negative remarks or criticism is not about you, it is about someone else’s insecurity, their bad day or their lack of understanding a situation the way you do. Consider criticism , take what you can from it, and be willing to let it go if it doesn’t serve you.
Own your own unique gifts and talents.
You may not be as funny as the teacher down the hall, and your bulletin boards might not be as Pinterest worthy as the ones you see on-line. You have gifts and talents that others do not have. Focus on the special things that YOU bring to your classroom. If you struggle to see your own gifts, ask others. Sometimes friends or colleagues see in us what we fail to see in ourselves.
Stop thinking that you are an imposter.
Imposter syndrome tells us that we are not who we are pretending to be. It also tells us that we are not qualified, that we don’t know enough, or that we are not as good as others. Listening to imposter syndrome is like turning out the lights on your personal happiness and success. You were hired for a job, which means that someone believes in you. You also choose to do this work, which means that in your heart you want to make a difference. You have training and experience that will help you to do the job and you are smart enough to figure out what you don’t know.
Recognize your own successes.
Chances are you made a hundred decisions today and chances are also very good that most of those decisions were good ones. Yes, you likely made a decision that given hindsight, you might have changed. Don’t spend all your time worrying about the few things you got wrong at the expense of acknowledging all the things you did well!
As you gain experience and wisdom, your confidence will grow. As you learn more, you’ll realize that you have many qualities that make you a good teacher. You’ll learn step into your own uniqueness, embrace your own teaching style, and accept that despite bad days and struggles, you have a valuable role to play in the lives of the students you teach.
Our best,
Mojavezi, A., & Tamiz, M. P. (2012). The impact of teacher self-efficacy on the students’ motivation and achievement. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 2, 483-491.
https://doi.org/10.4304/tpls.2.3.483-491
