How am I resilient?

"The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing." - John Powell

"You miss 100% of the shots you don't take." - Wayne Gretzky

"If at first you don't succeed, try, try again." - Thomas H. Palmer

These are all famous quotes that I often hear and have often said. I've often read about and heard talks on helping students in our current classrooms to be resilient. Merriam-Webster defines resilient as "tending to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change".

However, making mistakes, failing, rejection... these concepts are often associated with negativity in our own lives. How many people are anxious just reading these words? How many of us are resilient when faced with these ideas?

I write this post as I ponder on my own resilience. 

Today, the 3rd cohort of the Desmos Fellowship was announced and I was not one of the lucky 40. I am disappointed and wonder what I could have done differently in my application.  So how am I going to be resilient? 

I fret hitting the "Publish" button on this post. How will I be resilient if someone challenges one of my ideas? 

If I want my students to be resilient, should I not be modelling resilience as well? In my teenage years, my father would often be heard saying "Do as I say, not as I do." This was especially true when I was a young driver and my dad was nervously sitting in the passenger seat. If I am not able to be resilient, am I not just telling my students "Do as I say, not as I do."? 

So what does resilience look like for me? Just a few things would be...

I will re-apply next year for the Desmos Fellowship and for other PD opportunities. There is still great learning from the application process and reflecting on my teaching practice. This would be similar to a student not making the team and trying out again next year.

I will teach with my classroom door open and invite colleagues to visit my classroom as often as possible. I don't just want feedback when I think the lesson is perfect - I want continuous feedback along the journey. This would be similar to students showcasing their work and not just focusing on the perfect product. Using VNPS in my classroom allows this to happen frequently.