Building Strong School Communities: Educators who Own their Mistakes
"What are your strengths and weaknesses" is a question often asked in an interview or on a job application. And for many of us, the advice on how to answer this question was to be honest about your strengths, but to reframe your weaknesses in such a way that it could be questioned as to whether the quality shared is indeed a weakness. Thus, to admit to a professional mistake or mishap would be an absolute 'no'. However, as I now sit on the other side of the interview table, listening to the responses of various candidates, I find myself disagreeing with this approach. I believe there's something about a person's ability to be honest with themselves and the way they respond to and deal with that honesty in a professional setting that is a good indicator of the type of educator they truly are. I would argue that one foundational pillar to building a strong school community is emotional and physical safety. Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs provides a theoretical ...