Latest / New Teacher Talk / Ep 196: You're Not Failing, You’re New: Overcoming Imposter Syndrome as a First-Year Teacher

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Ep 196: You're Not Failing, You’re New: Overcoming Imposter Syndrome as a First-Year Teacher · New Teacher Talk

• My name is Dr.
• Alisa Ross,
• and I'm the Interim Dean of University College and Student
• Success at Southern University and A&M College.
• Today,
• I'm going to talk about Imposter Syndrome and Confidence.
• As a new teacher, you may have asked yourself,
• am I cut out for this or everyone else seems to know what
• they're doing?
• What am I doing wrong?
• Or, oh my goodness,
• I am afraid of making mistakes in front of my students,
• parents, colleagues, or administrators.
• What do I do to show everyone that this is where I belong?
• May I share a bit of information with you?
• Please note, you are not failing.
• You're just new.
• Once again, you are not failing.
• You are just new to the profession, new to your district,
• even new to your students.
• I will share with you resources and strategies that you can
• use to help you as you embrace Imposter Syndrome as a new
• teacher.
• Have you ever stood in front of your students?
• If so,
• the first thing I would encourage you to do is to name the
• feeling.
• Is it self-doubt?
• Is it comparison?
• Is it fear of being exposed?
• Once you've named the feeling,
• the next step is to normalize it.
• Guess what?
• Most effective teachers felt this way at the beginning of
• their career, so you are not alone.
• Next, you may be asking yourself,
• what does Imposter Syndrome looks like for new teachers?
• The research indicates four common signs.
• Number one, over-planning every lesson out of fear.
• Number two, comparing yourself to veteran teachers.
• Number three, taking student behavior personally.
• And number four, believing your mistakes equals failure.
• So let's examine those four common signs.
• Over-planning every lesson out of fear.
• I would encourage you to begin thinking of ways to maybe
• incorporate student choice in how your students can
• complete various assignments instead of over-planning.
• Also,
• you may want to consider incorporating checking for understanding
• segments throughout your lessons.
• This would give your students an opportunity to demonstrate
• their learning.
• They could also review and assess each other as a way for
• checking for understanding.
• This will help you to minimize the over-planning and
• instead make sure that your structure of the lesson is
• relevant and practical and most importantly,
• student-centered.
• Number two, comparing yourself to veteran teachers.
• If veteran teachers have been teaching for over 10 years
• and this is your first year,
• why set yourself up to feel defeated by comparing yourself
• to him or her?
• Instead,
• I would encourage you to take notes after observing the
• veteran teachers.
• What are some strategies,
• some skills that they implement in their classrooms that
• you can take back and begin to implement in yours?
• Number three, taking student behavior personally.
• I get it,
• this may be one that is very difficult to do because the
• infraction was said or committed towards you but
• unfortunately,
• some of our students live in traumatic homes or they've
• experienced traumatic events and
• unfortunately, they're not willing, able or even feel safe enough to share those with us. So try to remember the misbehavior that your students may display in your classroom should not be taken personally.
• And finally, believing your mistakes equals a failure.
• No, instead,
• you are encouraged to learn from your mistakes.
• Once you have recognized the error in your ways,
• what could you do to one,
• not repeat it again but most importantly,
• what did you learn from that mistake?
• Because that's what's gonna help you to develop your
• skillset.
• I want to encourage you to think of these words.
• Confidence doesn't come before experience.
• Instead, it comes from experience.
• And I'll say it again.
• Confidence doesn't come before experience.
• Instead, it comes from experience.
• You may be asking yourself,
• why are new teachers especially vulnerable to imposter
• syndrome?
• Well, the research indicates the following.
• Number one, teaching is highly visible work.
• There's a possibility that you may have had at least one
• classroom observation during this academic year.
• So when you were observed, your students were observed,
• your teaching definitely was observed and even your
• classroom setup was observed, right?
• So what you do in your classroom, it's highly visible work.
• Number two, there's little room for training wheels.
• We don't get many, many,
• many months to prepare for student teaching or residency
• before we are assigned our own classroom.
• Number three,
• there are high expectations and limited feedback.
• K-12 teachers have specific standards that they are
• required to cover each academic year.
• Individuals teaching in higher education have specific
• student learning objectives they must cover every semester.
• So there are high expectations and limited feedback.
• The K-12 teachers are probably hoping someone would give
• them feedback on their weekly lesson plans.
• Sometimes you may get it, other times you may not.
• The higher education faculty may want feedback on their
• course syllabi.
• Sometimes they get it, most times they don't.
• And lastly, social media highlights perfect classrooms.
• Have you ever found yourself scrolling through various
• social media platforms and you see the classrooms where the
• students are highly engaged, they're participating,
• they're attentive, they're alert and you're like,
• oh my goodness,
• my students are doing the complete opposite.
• Well, guess what?
• The system expects mastery before growth.
• The teacher who you see on social media was once a first
• -year teacher just like you and he or she had moments of
• learning, moments of mistakes,
• but they capitalized on those and they did not allow those
• mistakes to define who they are as a teacher.
• So how do we reframe the narrative?
• Some of these strategies I would like to suggest to you are
• as follows.
• Number one, powerful mindset shifts.
• How about changing new does not equal not capable.
• Unfortunately,
• some new teachers may believe because I'm a new teacher,
• I'm not capable of being
• effective. Well, starting today, change your mindset. Just because you are new, you can still be capable of making a difference in the lives of your students.
• Number two, veteran teachers aren't better.
• They're farther along.
• Let me repeat that.
• Veteran teachers are not better.
• Instead, they are farther along.
• And the third mindset, every mistake is data,
• not a diagnosis.
• Every mistake is data, not a diagnosis.
• Another strategy I would like to offer for my new teachers,
• keep a wins file wins file.
• Yes.
• Those small victories that you will receive daily, weekly,
• or maybe even monthly.
• For example, you may receive a note from a colleague,
• from an administrator, maybe a student or a parent,
• a note just thanking you for something amazing that you
• did.
• Someone may have left you a note.
• The note could be about a lesson that they observed you
• teach.
• The note could be from a parent, a student,
• a fellow colleague, or maybe even administrator,
• or you could have received an email highlighting something
• amazing that you did in your classroom.
• So I encourage you to keep a wins file, save all of those,
• because eventually when you stop and read them,
• it's going to remind you of how amazing you are as a
• teacher.
• Next, I encourage you to reflect daily,
• not on what went wrong, but instead, what did I learn?
• If it's no more than taking 20 to 30 minutes before you
• leave your classroom at the end of each day,
• reflect on what did I learn today?
• What did I learn about my students?
• What did I learn about myself as a teacher?
• Also,
• you can even include any small wins that you received that
• day and also ask one trusted colleague questions that you
• may have.
• If you're fortunate to have a mentor,
• meet with him or her on a regular basis to discuss your
• concerns or any questions that you may have.
• For my leaders and mentors,
• please normalize struggle and conversations.
• Share your own early career mistakes with your colleagues
• and give feedback that focuses on growth, not comparison.
• Gentle reminders, you are not behind.
• You are just beginning.
• Struggle is not a signal to quit.
• It's a signal to grow.
• And you don't need to look confident to become confident.
• Before your next class, ask yourself,
• what would it look like to show up as a learner today
• instead of a performer?
• I'll ask you that again.
• What would it look like to show up as a learner today
• instead of a performer?
• There are a few books that you may want to check out to
• help you in this area.
• The First Days of School by Harry and Rosemary Wong.
• Teach Like a Champion by Doug Lamone.
• And Mindset by Carol Dweck.
• Thank you and I wish you the best.