"If
we only did things that were easy, we wouldn't actually be learning anything.
We’d just be practicing things we already knew.” – David Dockterman
Everyone
has heard the saying “nobody’s perfect, we all make mistakes.” Reality is those
who are afraid of failing are afraid of learning something new, taking a risk,
or thinking outside the norm. In schools, students have been conditioned to
define success as achieving the highest mark on a test. Failure is a topic that
is shushed out of classrooms and one that student’s fear being brought up
discussion. For my eight years of elementary school and four years of high
school, I was this student. I was the student who did not receive a grade below
90% and the word failure did not exist in my academic world. Until my first
year of university, I possessed what is known as a fixed mindset.
Students
who experience learning with a fixed mindset have the belief their success is
the result of their natural or genetic intelligence. When individuals with a
fixed mindset encounter failure, they become discouraged and feel incapable. In
comparison, when students develop a growth mindset, failure is seen as a
temporary condition and with effort, they believe they can overcome setbacks
(Drake, Reud & Kolohon, 2014, p. 21).
Without the experience of failing
multiple times in University, I would never have understood the deeper importance
of making mistakes. As a future educator, I need to be able to put myself in
the shoes of the students in my classes who don't succeed, the students who fail
over and over again. Throughout university, I have heard countless times that
we, the future educators need to “teach for change.” By developing a growth
mindset and understanding the importance of failure, I am ready to take on this
challenge.
I have developed a great acceptance for
the value of creating relationships in order to understand each student’s
individual preferences and needs. As a teacher, my goal is to motivate all
students, including those who sit at the bottom of the bell curve. I will need
to be prepared with various strategies to help students who are facing pressure
from their parents because their grades are too low. According to Alina Tugend
(2011) in her article The Role of Mistakes in the Classroom, studies
demonstrate when students are taught about growth mindsets and the plasticity
of the brain, their motivation to learn noticeably increases. As a future
educator, I need to find a way to encourage my students to embrace their
mistakes. Once students are able to accept that making mistakes are
inevitable, they will be able to transition this mindset to other aspects of
their life. The following video demonstrates how success does not come easy to
even those who are the most successful.
For more examples of famous failures like
these, visit Ruban Garcia’s blog on The Most Inspiring Famous Failures
Failure is not the end but the beginning
of a new opportunity, the beginning of the learning process. Marc Smith (2012)
explains Why Olympians and A-Level Students Need to fail. He mentions that
when we praise inherent abilities, this leads to a fix mindset. In contrast,
when we praise the effort that was put into a task, success becomes about hard
work and continuously growing. Corresponding to the idea of the fixed and
growth mindset is the idea that abilities are flexible as opposed to being
fixed. As I continue to grow as a future educator, I will strive to assess
students in ways that focus on the student’s mindset and visible actions as
opposed to assumed actions (Drake et al. 2014, p.21). By providing students
with supportive feedback that assess their special abilities, every student has
the potential to develop a growth mindset.
Retrieved from https://www.pinterest.com/pin/530510031077081298/
Last year, I stepped out of my comfort
zone by assisting with the CHARM program here at Brock University, a program
strictly designed for youth at risk. The boys in this program had faced
setbacks their entire life. Personally, I don't think I would have been able to
help any of them if I hadn’t understood how failure felt. A teacher who teaches
with a fixed mindset will subconsciously employ their preconceptions onto the
student.Although it took me a few failing grades
and many years to realize the importance of failure, I challenge you to fail. I
challenge you to develop a growth mindset.
References
Drake, S. M., Reid, J. L.,
& Kolohon, W. (2014). Interweaving
Curriculum and Classroom Assessment:
Engaging the 21st Century Learner. Don Mills, ON:Oxford University Press.
Garcia,
R. (2013). The Most Inspiring Famous
Failures. Retrieved from http://blog.megafounder.com/blog/most-famous-failures/
Tugend,
A. (2011). The Role of Mistakes in the
Classroom. Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/blog/benefits-mistakes-classroom-alina-tugend
Smith,
M. (2012). Importance of Failure: why
Olympians and A-level students all need to fail.
Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/2012/aug/16/a-level-student-success-failure
