Be confident and believe in your own success

This has been in my draft box for a while and finally got it written and posted. The second year teaching in my current workplace seems to be very smooth. Even my colleagues often comment that I smile more and look much less stressed than last year. And...so are my students. There's no doubt that teacher's confidence is contagious. Students are more willing to seek help, challenge themselves, and have a stronger believe that they will succeed.

Picture from http://www.dumblittleman.com/

Confidence is not arrogance. It is not believing in that I am more right than the students. Contrarily, it is a sense of adaptive control of the classroom. I know how to deal with a situation of misconception, or a situation that I can't answer student's question but can guide them towards the external resources. I know what to expect in the classroom and have a stock of appropriate strategies to adapt to a particular situation. My confidence also allows me to interact with my students more, listen to their needs and make the learning environment more flexible for students.

"If you want to feel confident, act confident." My personal implication of this is, if you want to act confident, say you are confident, if you believe in students' success and your own success, say that in the class or to the students.

Sources:Teaching with Confidence  http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/teaching-professor-blog/teaching-with-confidence-advice-for-new-faculty/