Making
a Point to Fail
Failure. To
some, this word is big and scary. To a lot of children, it means they aren’t
good enough. To me, it means I have another challenge to conquer. How could I
change my little darlings from thinking failure is a bad thing to a good thing?
Simple. Make it a point to fail in front of them. Yes, my friends. I fail in
front of my students. I mess up. I fumble. I stumble.
Why would failing be beneficial to model in front of
our impressionable kids, you might ask. To show them how to
pick themselves back up and try again. I’ve noticed that many of
our kiddos don’t know how to go back to the drawing board and reflect on the
strengths and weaknesses of their approach, make necessary changes, and then
try again. So, like any good teacher, I make sure to model this process for
them.
Let me give you an example. Technology. I may have
grown up with technology and know how to use it relatively well, but, boy, do I
fail a lot when it comes to technology. But, no bother. I show my
students how I troubleshoot the problem. An app isn’t working? No problem.
Let’s try swiping up. Still not working? Let’s do a hard reset. Still not
working? Let’s ask our tech department for some help. Sound bar going haywire?
No problem. Let’s try turning it off and back on. Not a fix? Let’s try
restarting the machines. As you can see, we keep trying! If
one thing doesn’t work, we move on to the next strategy. They see me handle a
problem with calmness and they never see me give up or throw in the towel.
The best thing to come out of this is creating my own
little technology-troubleshooting team. If anyone, including myself, has a
problem, I have my troubleshooters help fix the problem. I would love to have a
building-wide group of technology leaders next year. They could go to other
grade levels and help out when there is a problem…#ideasarebrewing. Another great thing that has
come about is my kids aren’t afraid to TRY! They feel safe in our classroom and
they know that nothing bad will happen if they aren’t successful the first
time.
I fail in reading. I fail in math. I fail in STEM
activities. I model how to self-reflect and ask questions. Questions like,
“What worked?” “What didn’t work?” “Have I considered doing more research?”
“What have I missed?” “Did I understand the question?”
These kids are living in a world with information at
their figure tips. So what’s going to separate them from others when it comes
to getting jobs when they get older? Test scores? Nope. Grades? Nopey nope. It’s
going to be their problem-solving skills. It’s going to be how they handle
tough situations. It’s going to be how they overcome failures.
So, go ahead. Fail. Do
it right in front of the students. Because failing is the only way to succeed.
