The Fear of Putting Pen to Paper.

The fear of putting pen to paper.

If I’m completely honest I’ve been anxious and scared about posting on LinkedIn. Writing and publicising myself on social media is something that is utterly out of my comfort zone. Yes, I’ve been confidently and successfully teaching and tutoring for many years but posting about it on social media quite frankly has taken me time to pluck up the courage. It has been the encouragement from friends and families and some marvellous coaching that has given me that little boost, push and injection of confidence to make the leap.

This fear of putting pen to paper is something I often come across when teaching children. So many children have brilliant ideas, they may know the answer to a tricky comprehension question and the have the ability but they lack the confidence to write it down or verbalise it.

'The Dot' by Peter Reynolds is a marvellous little book which celebrates having the confidence to give something a go, have a growth mindset, and to inspire others. A simple story of a child who dislikes her art class because she is convinced she can't draw. Her teacher gently encourages her to begin with a single dot and her creativity takes off.

I really believe that breeding confidence in children is the key to helping them learn and this will master success. As a tutor and teacher my main drive is to encourage and build confidence. This to me is more important than solely achieving high grades. It is seeing confidence blossom in my pupils that makes me feel my teaching is worthwhile.

Words of gentle encouragement, praising effort rather than just outcome, and showing children that it is ok to make mistakes and that in fact we can learn from them is important. Everyone has potential and I really believe that showing children that we believe in them is the key to unlocking learning potential.