Friday 12 February 2016

Don't Fear Failure, Let Failure Fear You!

I have failed! 

During the holidays I started reading a book called The Gift of Failure by Jessica Lahey. My new year post was suppose to impress you with what had I learned...but I failed to finish it.

That doesn't mean I gave up... I am still reading. From the first few chapters I can tell you that The Gift of Failure is very well written with great advice for both parents and teachers. Lahey states that we have taught our kids to fear failure, and in doing so, we have blocked the surest and clearest path to their success. Instead, we need to allow our kids to fail and even enforce the mindset that it is okay to fail; that failure is good. Ironically, we often learn more when we fail. As educators we need to be mindful of teaching for autonomy, independence, and resilience or we will create students who refuse to take risks or stick with a task. Hence the recent focus on patient problem solving in math. 

How many times have you rescued a student from potential failure or a "teachable moment"? It feels great to save a student but, unfortunately, what feels good for us isn't always what is good for our children. The failure, Lahey says, our children experience when we back off and allow them to make their own mistakes is not only a necessary part of learning; it's the very experience that teaches them how to be resilient, capable, creative problem solvers. Given support, love, and a lot of restraint, kids can learn how to engineer their own solutions and pave their way toward success that is truly of their own making.(Lahey)

Failure happens all the time, tweeted Mia Hamm. What makes you better is how you react. Elite athletes know this well. How failure is interpreted ultimately involves mindset. Students, just like athletes, need to know that failure is natural and an important part of the process, it is not necessarily the end. Competence comes out of our own efforts. We have to run our own race. Consider Michael Jordan. In his career he has missed over 9000 shots, lost 300 games, was trusted with the game winning shot 26 times and missed. Yet he says "failure makes me successful". His view of failure was a challenge to do better; productive not limiting.

It's time to get gritty - teach your students not to fear failure but to let failure fear them!  Welcome to a new year. Rise and shine new teachers!

Nike Commercial MJ and Failure

1 comment:

  1. Great post Kerri! I love that you "failed" to finish a book on "failure" . Thanks for the post!

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