Humility

I have a long history involving this very subject. When I was younger I was always the cocky little guy that no person could argue with because I literally was always right or did things in the right way. This continued throughout my elementary years until I reached the junior high level. When this happened I hit a great wall. I was literally at the bottom of the totem poll and to top it off I had next to no friends. I believe this was all because of my complete lack of humility. My dad is one of my greatest role models and he always said, 'he who builds the highest pedestal for himself has the furthest to fall.' Because of this simple saying I have tried as hard as I can to stay humble about everything in this world. In my mind there is always bound to be someone better than myself in every way shape and form of my being. Therefore I should always take any advice I can find and hopefully apply it to my life. I should especially do this if I know that person is a lot better than me at something. I have been wrong quite often but I always take criticism and use it for making myself better be it constructive or destructive criticism.

I think the best way for teachers to balance between being humble and being confident in what they know is to always recognize that you could be wrong. However, you should present anything you presently hold as fact without a doubt. I believe that anyone who is unwilling to take advice or take into consideration that they are wrong are setting themselves up for not ever learning and for being passed by in our technological age.