The other day, when I mentioned my
fear of failure to my father, he said: “Welcome to the club.” I don’t know if
he meant to say that this was an inherently McLean tendency, or if that’s just
part of being human. Maybe both.
I discussed in last week’s post how
important it is to let students play in the classroom. Part of playing,
however, is the inevitability of failing. If you play video games, which statistics
indicate you do, you know as well as I do that a game where you can’t fail is
too easy, and gets boring fast. On the flip side, a game that is too hard will
lose our interest. We have to find the sweet spot of difficulty in playing, and
it’s the same in education. Part of playing in the classroom is the acceptance
of failure from time to time.
It’s easy to say this from the
lofty pulpit of a teacher. I’ve told my students many times that it’s alright
to fail, that failing is how we learn, and that the greatest minds in the world
accept failure as part of the process. But still I feel that anxiety when I try
a new lesson, or when something goes wrong in the classroom. I used to think
that working with failure means to ignore it, but now I’m not so sure.
I think that to really harness the
full potential of playing then we need to create environments where failure is
acceptable, and not just ignored. There is wonderful energy in the fear of
failure, and if it can be harnessed towards improving for the next time then it
can be a force for progress. An essential aspect of this is creating a safe
environment to fail, from the administration all the way to the students. If I
am afraid to fail in my environment as a teacher, I will not play with new
ideas, and the class will stagnate. If I am afraid to fail, my students will be
too.
It’s important for students to
fail, but it’s just as important for teachers to as well.
Be sure to head on over to the Little Mountain website for more information, and read up on our awesome teachers!
Be sure to head on over to the Little Mountain website for more information, and read up on our awesome teachers!
One of my favorite things about the improv and theatre sports classes I've taken is the mandate to fail joyously. The idea is repeated throughout Keith Johnstone's book IMPRO FOR STORYTELLERS.
ReplyDeleteFailure is seen as a positive thing, both for the players and the audience. Sure, it's impressive to see the actors succeed at a difficult task, but it's a lot more fun to see them struggle. How liberating is it to not expect perfection of yourself--to step forward with an idea proudly, belting it out, despite the risk?
This is just as important for teachers and students, although harder to embrace. In order to get better at anything, a person must take chances. Students are students because they want to learn something. And every teacher I've ever met wants to be better at something: explaining ideas, connecting with students, creating a fun environment, etc.
I don't want to fail every day. It's exhausting, and it's not failure itself that I'm after. But I do want to improve, I want to try new things, and I want to keep my style alive.
As long as I want those things, failure will be a part of my life.