Being Unsure

In The opposite of confidence from Seth Godin's Blog, Seth Godin states,

“Being unsure can be healthy. It can help us focus on how we can make our work more likely to become the contribution we seek.”

When I am unsure, I work harder to find facts that helps me become more confident.

As a teacher, I can be confident that I will work towards finding the key to helping my students become successful but I’m not confident that my students will be successful. I can’t guarantee that because that is up to the student.

That is why I need to make sure that I arm myself with as many tools as I can find to help my student. Since my students may all have different needs, there is no one tool that will work for everyone. This means that my tool arsenal needs to varied and abundant. Sometimes the same tool will not work for the same student because the circumstances are different.

It is also important that my students see and understand that I’m unsure about what will work for them. They need to see how to look for resources that will work and not be afraid to try different ones. They need to understand that just because a tool doesn’t work for them does not spell out failure. It just means that this specific tool was not the right one to get the job done.

By modeling this for my students, I can help them to learn how to do research and look for new tools. This is an important skill to learn because I won’t always be able to help them after they leave my class.

I’m reminded of this when I see a former student, who was diagnosed with autism, learn new skills, and become more and more independent over the years. We are friends on Facebook so I can see when she tries something new and is successful. I feel like I’m in the cheerleader section cheering her on! I hope that the things she learned in my classroom have enabled her to continue her personal growth over the many years since she graduated from my class.

I also hope that there are many other students who I don’t have any contact with who continue to learn new skills that help them become more confident in their lives. I hope these skills help them be more successful in their careers and in their relationships with others.

How do you help your students when they are unsure? Please share.

Photo by frank mckenna on Unsplash