It’s time for the latest prompt from my new book “A Reflection Journal For Teachers”. This time, the prompt is “How do I respond to failure?” and here’s my answer…

I was speaking to a colleague once and he asked me how l dealt with lessons that went completely wrong. I didn’t really know how to respond because I felt that never really happened to me. He was a bit incredulous, understandably. 

I think there are three possible reasons for this. Firstly, he was a much worse teacher than me. Secondly, he was a bigger risk taker. Thirdly, I expected some degree of failure, so when it happened, it didn’t bother me that much. I’m certain it wasn’t the first two reasons, and I’m fairly sure it’s the third.

So that’s my method. Expect that failure will happen at some point, reflect and learn from it, and don’t dwell on it. Then move on. Sometimes this is easier said than done!

What’s your answer? Leave a comment below, or if you want to go into more detail, you can send your reflections to me and I’ll gladly publish them on my blog. Email me at t.made.english@gmail.com or send me a DM.

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The book is available as a PDF and in print in certain countries. Go to my website taylormadeenglish.com/reflect where you can find all the links to get hold of the book.

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