Happy summer!

We are approaching the end of the academic year at the academy where I work, and it's high time to look back and draw conclusions. My conclusion is that, overall, I can be proud of my achievements and the work done, considering that 90% of my students have given positive feedback regarding my classes. Thus, despite my insecurities, I reckon that I am in a position to say that I have done a pretty good job. These insecurities, more often than not, are shared by my colleagues and can sometimes be rather powerful and off-putting. But why do we have that feeling?

To be honest, whenever I don’t feel like a good teacher, I tend to avoid expressing those emotions to my workmates. Nevertheless, to my surprise, it appears that I am not the only one who, from time to time, feels this way. To begin with, nobody has taught the majority of us how to teach, so it is something we have been learning on the job. Additionally, I don’t know why, but we usually are under the impression that we need to know everything. Indeed, the fear of not knowing something that a student asks is terrifying. Have you ever felt like this?

In light of this view, it is true that whenever you are frank and state that you don’t know the answer but will look for it, it turns out that pupils (in general) perfectly understand that you are not perfect. Thus, not having all the answers doesn’t make you a bad teacher.

On top of that, we also have the pressure of those parents who, far from being comprehensible, are pure idiots and not only do they defend their children by arguing the inarguable but also make you feel incompetent. Having said that, since it’s impossible to be appreciated by everyone, we have to focus on the positive feedback and learn from our mistakes.

All in all, we are human beings, and all of us make mistakes, even the silliest ones. Therefore, although there is always room for improvement and it is completely necessary to analyse our flaws, it is also essential to avoid being so hard on ourselves and to be proud of what we do. Basically, we need to love ourselves more. Can we do that? Happy summer!