Why Should Teachers Admit Their Mistakes?
Have you ever had to tell someone that you made a mistake? It can be embarrassing and humbling to know that someone else knows where you fall short. You may even feel like your reputation has been tainted just a little bit and that your coworkers respect you less.
Of course, no one wants to make a mistake, and if we do make a mistake, we don't want other people to know about it! Wouldn't it be easier if we kept our mistakes to ourselves - kept it a secret?
We all want to do our best, but sometimes we fail in this mission. Mistakes will happen, no matter what we do to try and avoid them.
It can be tempting to sweep our mistakes under the rug. Blaming other teachers or our circumstances can also be enticing - anything to shift the blame from ourselves. However, as difficult as it can be to admit to our mistakes, it is important to own up to them.
What if It's Not My Fault?
I want to clarify something before I move on. There are times when failure is truly not your fault.
Perhaps no one told you about certain expectations, and you legitimately had no way of knowing what you were supposed to do. Maybe another teacher failed to fulfill their responsibilities, but you're the one who looks bad because you have to present the information.
You don't need to shoulder the blame here.
The purpose of this article is not to tell you to take the fall for someone else or take responsibility for something you didn't do. The purpose is to tell you why you should take responsibility for yourself - your mistakes.
You Can Only Change You
There can be many factors that lead up to a mistake. Other teachers, school policies, and administration oversight all play a part in how well we are able to do our jobs.
Although these things influence our ability to be good teachers, they are outside of our control. However, we are still responsible for the choices we make. This is on us.
We need to take responsibility for ourselves in every situation, even when our colleagues or principals may also share in the responsibility. We are not in charge of them. We cannot change them. And we cannot improve our situation when we shift the blame toward them.
Although it can be difficult to admit to our mistakes, this is the only way we have the power to make our situation better.
If the principal made a mistake, we're in a fix.
If another teacher made a mistake, we're in a fix.
If we made a mistake, we can fix it.
The point is to take responsibility for yourself -- for your part -- because this is the only part you can change.
You cannot control the other teachers in your building or your principal, you are limited in how much you can control your situation, but you can control yourself: your actions and attitudes.
Even when others make our lives harder, we can still choose how we respond. So, while these things impact us, they do not own us.
Growth Follows Ownership
While it may seem easier to blame your mistakes on anything but yourself, it is better to own up to your failures. If the mistake is the responsibility of others, you cannot do anything to make the situation better, but if you can figure out what you did wrong, you can make changes so that you do not make the same mistake.
The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing.
John Powell
If you take responsibility for your mistakes, you have the opportunity to grow and improve.
If a mistake has been made, you should find the aspects of the mistake that you can change: your actions and attitudes. What can you change to ensure that the same mistake does not happen again?
You cannot change others. You cannot change your circumstances. So, find the things that you can change and grow. Take ownership of your part so that you can grow from it.
Create SMART goals around these areas that are causing you to make mistakes so that you can improve yourself and limit your failure. It will not help you to blame things that are outside of yourself. The only way you will make forward progress is if you change what you can: yourself.
Respect: A Side Effect
At the beginning of this article, I stated that it may feel like others will respect us less when they see we've made a mistake. This might be true - when they find out about our mistakes on their own. However, when we are forthcoming about our mistakes, we gain the respect of our coworkers and principal, rather than lose it.
When you admit that you made a mistake, it shows that you are trustworthy. This is not an easy thing to do, and people get that. The teachers you work with will appreciate your willingness to be vulnerable and take the blame for your mistakes. Your principal will see your integrity and admire you for it - especially when you show that you are willing to fix the mistake or grow from it.
In short: admitting your mistakes inspires respect from those around you.
Goal to Growth
Remember our goal is to "take this year head-on -- to learn, to grow, and to excel as a teacher." When you own up to your mistakes, it leads to this learning, growing, and excelling.
Know that this is a journey. Do not be disappointed that you do not see significant growth in a short time. You will continue to make mistakes, but take ownership of them. Learn from them.
Then, compare yourself to who you were yesterday and see the growth you've made. Over time, your growth will be significant -- "all because you made the choice to grow just a little bit every day."