I personally think it’s good for students to see their teachers and leaders figuring it out.
The idea of the teacher/leader as a fount of knowledge, issuing decrees from a position of authority and wisdom is tempting, but it isn’t very realistic.
We are all human, we are all figuring it out as we go.
If we can find ways to bring that humanity into our teaching – show our students a little bit of our own struggle, a bit of our curiosity and seeking and striving, I think our students are better for it. They will see growth and learning as a process that doesn’t end just because school does. They will see music as a practice that you continue to grow into, not as something that you either know or don’t know.
Perhaps that’s an unexpected gift of teaching and learning through a pandemic. Our students had no choice but to see us figuring it out in real time. Flaws and all, we are continuing to figure it out.
I hope this leads to more patience and more empathy for our teachers, and also more self-patience and more self-empathy in our students. When we see that our leaders aren’t flawless, it should make us more willing to accept our own flaws.