I have this really smart class called Eldorado 2a월. The students had a debate speech test today, and so they embarked on a project to try to keep me distracted and conversational in hopes of delaying the inevitable start of the speech evaluations.
Somehow, we were talking about self-confidence. Unlike most of my classes, there was no need to spend time explaining what self-confidence was, conceptually. Someone asked, "Are you self-confident?"
"I am in some things, and not in others," I offered.
And rather to my surprise, one student asked, "Do you feel confident about teaching?"
It was a penetrating question from a 6th grader. It was not being asked in a hostile tone, so I answered honestly: that in fact, I don't always feel confident about teaching. I said that in teaching, I was always feeling I could do a better job. Yet in that moment, in that class, I felt really pleased with how things were going. I wasn't "fishing for compliments"… and none were offered. They just nodded as if they understood.
The tone felt a bit serious, so Candy lightened the mood. "I feel really confident about eating," she said, with a wry smile and a dry tone.
"Yes, me too," chorused some of the others.