One of the most important qualities we must have from before we enter the classroom to after we exit is confidence: confidence that our programs are meant to benefit the students, confidence that our lessons will facilitate learning and confidence that we are equipped with the experience, knowledge and tools to teach in a clear and inspiring way. Yet despite this paramount attribute, we’re confronted with maintaining these confidences due to situations we control and others we don’t. What can we do to enable ourselves to face the challenges in the classroom with confidence? How can we strengthen this load-bearing quality when it shows signs of cracking?
We will be talking about this key issue at a local TESL conference this week and would love to hear from you about your opinions!
Poll #1
Poll #2
How do you get your confidence as a teacher?
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Hi, I attended your workshop at TESL North York and have a few comments regarding the slides you used to measure your audience confidence. I must say your slides were very subjective and irrelevant to self-confidence. There are many elements involved before one decides whether or not to jump off a plane or if the flight is going to take off without any technical problems.I found those two slides totally irrelevant and would like to suggest that you consult a psychologist that improves self-confidence to improve the quality of your workshop.
Thanks and all the best!
Hello,
Thanks for your comments. Although I understand your point, I have a few comments with regards to it.
You’re completely right in suggesting that those two slides were irrelevant to self-confidence. However, they weren’t intended to suggest they were and I’m sorry if that wasn’t clear.
That section of the presentation, which included a series of images showing various situations, was meant as a light-hearted segue for the audience to have some interaction. More importantly, they demonstrated the three types of confidence mentioned during the Thanksgiving dinner slide:
1) confidence that things will turn out as they are supposed to
2) confidence in others’ abilities
3) confidence in our own abilities
When the airplane cabin was displayed, the question posed was “How confident are you that the plane will take off without any problems?” and for the second slide, “How confident would you be that your parachute would open without problems and your jump would go as planned?” By nature of the question content, I assumed it was clear that not self-confidence (#3) but confidence type (#1) was being measured by the hand-raising.
I hope this helps clarify the purpose of those particular slides among the overall presentation.
Cheers,
Tyson