Developing Confidence as an Educator

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This year I want to switch it up and start asking you a weekly reflection question. After hearing the question, take a moment to think and jot down your answer. I know some of you are listening to this on the go or possibly reading this in passing. I would still like you to take five minutes and reflect. This can have a huge impact on your teaching. Here is our weekly reflection question: How are you nurturing your confidence as an educator?

Have you ever been in a faculty meeting or in professional development and noticed that confident teacher?  They are usually speaking about their classroom activities with ease or casually sharing with their co-workers about what they have planned for the upcoming lessons. They are also the go-to people in the building when it comes to delivering professional development. They are also the classroom to see when visitors come to the building. Every single one of us has those confident teachers in our schools and some of you all listening might be that person. I want to share with you a personal story of how I developed confidence as an educator and share some strategies on how to do the same. 

My first year of teaching was rocky. I was confused and overwhelmed about what I needed to be doing as an educator. I was missing meetings, deadlines, and planning at the spur of the moment. One thing I did start to pick up on that year were the teachers who were high performing. All of them were walking tall and confident about their teaching. I have always been a strong believer in picking up good habits from others, so I started paying very close attention to those teachers. 

The first thing I noticed was that many of those educators had a growth mindset. They were serious about growing their students and how they can grow themselves as educators. On top of that they were always prepared! Even if they were called to explain something in detail in a meeting they were prepared. 

In addition, all of them were positive educators. I NEVER heard them speak negatively about students or other co-workers. If they had concerns, they were always very solutions oriented. This leads me to the point that they were very open to trying new things in the classroom. If worked out….it worked out. If not, they were open to find ways to tweek it to make it work for them and their students. 

Here are a few simple strategies for you to build your confidence as an educator. 

• Be prepared. Try your best every week to be prepared for your team meetings, faculty meetings, professional development, and most importantly your classroom. This will require some planning and prep work beforehand. Once you get into a grove you will start to notice a boost in your confidence. In those meetings, you will start contributing more and more which will lead to more opportunities. 
• Develop a growth mindset. Having a growth mindset of how you can grow as an educator is a must. This will encourage you to look at your areas of strength and pinpoint those areas of growth in your classroom. 
• Create a positive space. This will require you to be intentional about who you surround yourself with at work. It will also require you to be mindful of your own words and actions. Surround yourself with positive people who have a similar mindset as you. 
• Say Affirmations. This is one of my favorites and it is so simple. Every day before you get out the car, bus, or train say you are a confident educator.

Your next steps are simple. Start right now practicing the strategies in this episode. I promise that you will start to see results. If you start to get down or frustrated, that is okay. We are all human and that is natural. Just remember your why.

What are some traits that you see in confident educators? Share those with the community or in the comments below.