Don’t Be Afraid To Share Your Mistakes

This past week I was reminded of a saying I told my students almost daily… “choices have consequences.” I had to pay a fine for a red light I ran a few weeks ago. I don’t recall running the red light, but they caught me on camera, so apparently, I did. I made a mistake, and it had a consequence. It doesn’t make me a bad person; it simply means I made an error in judgment.

Teachers. Make. Mistakes.

But more importantly, we need to let our students know we aren’t perfect. We aren’t robots…we are human. I call many of my mistakes my “God Whispers” to do better. This mistake was a huge “God Whisper.” The fact that I don’t remember running the red light says I’m not focused while driving. I’m in too much of a hurry. Maybe I was on my cell phone and not paying attention. Perhaps my mind was preoccupied with all the “things” I had to do that day.

This mistake prompts me to slow down, pay more attention, and get focused. It could have cost my life or injured someone else’s from my careless judgments. I am blessed that my only consequence was a $50 fine. Learning from this fault is a time for me to reflect and alter my actions.

I can also help my students by sharing my mistake. This is a lesson that needs to be shared. This will enable students to understand the dangers in what I did, and how I made plans to change my behavior.

I can remember a time when I hated if a student saw me making a mistake. I took pride in the fact that students thought I had it “all-together.” I feared admitting my failures would make me appear weak. However, trying to be the “perfect” teacher to my students became stressful because I wasn’t being authentic and truthful. When I realized I didn’t have to be perfect, it helped build trust in my classroom because students understood I was human and honest.

Over time my students learned that sometimes Ms. Knox has to apologize. Ms. Knox has to take ownership for her actions. Sometimes Ms. Knox needs help from others. Admitting and correcting my mistakes established a culture where my students respected me more. It provided an atmosphere where we could learn together from each other and not judge each other because of our mistakes.

Many of our students haven’t developed the mindset that mistakes can be useful learning tools. The majority of students internalize their mistakes emotionally rather than thinking about them rationally as a teachable moment. Students face a great deal of peer pressure to always look “smart or cool.” If they get a bad grade, then many students will try to hide it. If you’re a middle school teacher, you know the pressure for “perfection” or “fitting in” is even greater during the teenage years. Failures at this age especially make students feel emotionally “shameful, embarrassed, and fearful.” Yet, it’s those mistakes that we want to help students to learn to embrace and learn from. That bad grade, an argument with a friend, or an office referral can be an important lesson if students reflect and learn from it.

We have to change our students’ mindsets on the way they view mistakes. I love education and I love teaching. But perhaps the best teacher is “a mistake.” One of my favorite quotes is… “Your best teacher is your last mistake” by Ralph Nader. Imagine a classroom of students who are consistently focused on how they can improve and grow from their mistakes. This is the classroom that embraces a “growth mindset.”

Letting students see your mistakes and failures is okay. It lets them know how you grow and learn too. Modeling your thinking processes about mistakes and the growth process helps students to do the same. We want students to be conscious individuals who are capable of recognizing when they need to reflect on their decisions and make wiser choices.

If you made mistakes this week, let your students know. If your students have made mistakes week…let them know you’re there to help them learn and grow from it. Take this week to embrace the mistakes…learn, grow, and share them.