For Teachers: How to Find Your Flaws

Part of the human experience is making mistakes. As much as our pride might tell us that we should do better, no one is perfect: not a single person.

We might hope that the commonality of human mistakes would make it easier for us to admit our own, but this rarely seems to be the case. Even when we are willing to forgive others for their mistakes, it can be hard to expect others to respond to us with grace.

This difficulty with admitting our mistakes may come from our childhood, where we were punished for even an honest mistake. Our coworkers or boss may have responded harshly in the past, and this may make us hesitate to own up to our failures. We may also have a hard time because of pride.

As difficult as it can be to own up to our mistakes, this is the only way we can continue to grow. In fact, identifying our failures is a great way to find where we need to grow.

There are many ways to determine where you fall short as a teacher. My previous post on creating SMART goals discusses some of the areas you may need to work on and how to do so. However, in this post, we will be talking about outside sources that can help us identify areas of weakness: the areas we make mistakes.

In my last post, we talked about how important it is to admit our mistakes. Oftentimes, our mistakes are obvious. Other times we need to be willing to let down our walls so that we can find the areas we need to change.

We may need to take someone else's comments or remarks with a grain of salt, but we should always be willing to sift through what was said to find the truth.

Coworker Comments

One of the more obvious ways to see where we fall short is to listen to what a coworker has to say.

If we have a close relationship with another teacher, they may give us constructive criticism from time to time. They may take us aside and tell us about something we did wrong. Hopefully, they will sandwich their words with encouragement.

This setting makes it easier to admit we were wrong, take ownership for the mistake, and make changes.

Other times our coworkers are less compassionate.

Perhaps it's the other teacher's personality that rubs us the wrong way, or maybe they were distracted when they decided to have a conversation with us. Either way, it can hurt to hear a colleague tell us we messed up.

As much as it may be difficult to hear what a coworker has to say about our flaws, they may have insight into our abilities as a teacher.

Yes, it can hurt, even when criticism is communicated correctly, but if our desire is to grow -- to own up to our mistakes so that we can fix them -- we must be willing to humble ourselves enough to listen.

As I said before, comments need to be taken with a grain of salt, but they should still be taken into consideration.

Maybe you have a coworker who has it out for you. Even so, their hurtful words may be accurate, if we're willing to hear them. If we are willing, we will be able to learn from our mistakes and change our situation for the better.

Remember: the only thing we can change is ourselves. If a coworker insults us, we cannot change them, but we can choose how we respond, and we can take steps to improve ourselves.

Be willing to listen to what your colleague has to say. It may have taken a lot of courage on their end to speak up. Even if a coworker's comment was flippant, there may be truth there, if we're willing to humble ourselves and take time for self-reflection.

Principal Performance Review

Perhaps the most straightforward place you will hear criticism is in a performance review.

Hopefully, your supervisor pairs honesty with grace. Although, even if your principal is brutally honest about your weaknesses, this is still a place to learn where you fall short so that you can grow.

We cannot change our principals. We cannot change our curriculum. We cannot change which students we have in our class.

We can change ourselves.

Instead of blaming our deficiencies on other things that we have no control over, we must hear what our principals have to say and take ownership of what we can change.

This is our only choice if we want to see anything get better.

Parent Emails

It's probably hardest to hear criticism from our students' parents. This is likely the most unreliable source of criticism too.

Nonetheless, there can be grains of truth in the nastygrams we sometimes find in our inboxes. Be willing to hear the truth that the parent is communicating, but ignore the insults.

It's worth noting here that it's okay to seek consolation from coworkers when you receive an angry email from a parent. I have literally cried as I read the hurtful words a parent wrote to me. I have also comforted others who came to my crying because a parent made them feel awful.

When you get an email like this, remember: we have all been there. You are not alone.

Nonetheless, if you can ignore the disrespect and find the grain of truth, do so. Although we cannot change our students' parents or the way they treat us, we can change ourselves. See if there is anything you need to make right before dismissing a parent email.

Student Remarks

It is our principal's job to evaluate our job performance. The other teachers have insights because they have the same job. However, the most genuine evaluation a teacher will receive may be from her students.

"Out of the mouths of babes," as they say.

Of course, our students don't always know what's best. Sometimes they complain because they don't want to be at school, not because we as teachers are doing anything wrong, but there will be times that our students will make comments that we need to listen to - that should influence our teaching.

When a student says, "This lesson is boring," we may need to add a better hook.

If they tell us they "don't want to do this," they may need a brain break first.

While our students may have unrealistic expectations and may have a difficult time telling us what their expectations are respectfully, there is truth to much of what they say. At least their feelings are genuine.

If a student points out an area of weakness, listen.

You cannot change everything, but there are many things you can change.

You cannot make your students want to learn, but you can make your lessons more engaging.

It's impossible to instantly extend your students' attention spans, but you can change the pace and allow students to take breaks.

It can be easy to dismiss our students' complaints. We're teaching them, not the other way around. But sometimes our students have the best point of view because they're the ones we're teaching. They're often the ones we need to listen to the most.

Gut Feelings

Other people can help us recognize our faults, and we need to be willing to listen to what they have to say, but we must also learn to listen to ourselves: our gut feelings.

If you think you should or could be doing something better, don't ignore the feeling. You're probably right.

If you think you should have been better-prepared for that IEP meeting, make sure you pull more data before the next meeting.

If you read the room and see that a lesson fell flat, find ways to make your next lesson more engaging and interactive.

Through honest self-reflection and a willingness to change, you will be able to improve so many aspects of your teaching career.

Conclusion

While it can be difficult to admit that you are not perfect, you will become a better teacher when you are willing to hear what others have to say about your performance.

You cannot change your principal, your coworkers, your districts' policies, your school's curriculum, or your class roster, but you can change your actions.

When you have the humility to hear how you can improve and the willingness to take steps to make those improvements, you have the power to make yourself better.