Faith: Fuel to Persist in the Face of Failure

If I had to pick one thing that has been a consistent theme in this blog it would be failure. Maybe that sounds negative. There are two types of people in this world in regards to failure. There are the people who see failure as a label and those who see failure as an opportunity. This blog has really been about my learning to see failure as an opportunity.

Learning that lesson has changed everything about me as a teacher.

This blog has been about times that I failed. This blog has been about times I thought I was a failure. This blog has been about people who made me feel like a failure. This blog has been about people who believed in me when I didn't believe in myself.

One of my failures is that I haven't always been the teacher who believed in every student. That's changing about me.

I've been boarded up writing a report on reading interventions for struggling readers at my school. In this intervention, we were highly effective. Nineteen of our twenty-four third graders are now on target to be at grade level by the end of the year. I have faith that the others can do it and we can do it. The kids know this and they verbalize it. They've been telling us they are better readers.

All I can say, and this is in a cosmic way because the people I am talking to don't read this blog, is thanks to those who believed in me in failures. It is so hard to keep trying when you wonder if your failure makes you a failure. Thanks to those who believed in me. Because you didn't think I was a failure, I am a better person. Because you didn't think I was a failure, I am a better teacher. Thanks for the lesson, and I promise not to forget.