It's okay to make mistakes
This is such a difficult thing for all of us. Often I talk to people who have thought about trying something different in the classroom, but they haven't yet, because they are afraid that it will flop.
And the problem with that is?
We think that flopping is unacceptable. Or we think that the powers-that-be think that flopping is unacceptable. There is a fear that our students will turn into the classroom of our nightmares if the lesson doesn't end in glowing lights and fireworks. Heaven forbid a colleague should walk by and hear me say...Well that's not working, let's try something else. Ding!! Ding!! Ding!! Ding!!! Failure in room 409!!!! Evacuate !! Evacuate!!! Eject the teacher!!! Hang her up by her arch supports!! The students are running amuck mmm or is that amok?)
Present-day reality is a moment by moment life via the poll report. Everything is evaluated and reported 24-7. The most popular shows on American television are those which allow viewer (or participants) to vote on (or off!!) the character of their choice. Less than an hour after the Super Bowl we not only know who won the game, but how many millions of Americans watched it and which commercial shown was the most popular. Every day we hear this poll this and that poll that. As if what the polls say really matters. It is easy to feel as if there are only places to be on the social spectrum...Winner or Loser.
Add to that the increasingly frenetic focus in education on data-based instruction and mass-produced evaluation and we end up in a classroom with 28 students and a teacher all afraid to step outside of their comfort zone.
Ugh.
It's time to make our rooms a safety zone for risk-taking. A practice field for mistake-making. A recovery room for practicing perfectionism. Even for ourselves.
It won't be easy. Even harder will be not apologizing for it. Not only should we (and or students) feel safe trying new things and occasionally feeling uncomfortable, we need to start seeing it, and the vulnerability that accompanies those efforts) as a gift, as a skill, as a celebration of being alive and of being human.
It's time to start believing that what the heart says really matters. That instead of the only two choices being Perfect or Wrong, that we stop labeling attempts and answers and instead start interacting with them. That laughter and awkwardness and silence and pausing and questions and wonder are incredibly more powerful than evaluation and judgment.
It's time to give students things to do in class that are interesting, interactive and engaging so that the goal every day is to get in there and get involved.
The mind already has intrinsic self-correction mechanisms for language. It's time to let them work.
It will take some time. It's not what we're used to . It's not what any one is used to. But what a concept!
with love,
Laurie
And the problem with that is?
We think that flopping is unacceptable. Or we think that the powers-that-be think that flopping is unacceptable. There is a fear that our students will turn into the classroom of our nightmares if the lesson doesn't end in glowing lights and fireworks. Heaven forbid a colleague should walk by and hear me say...Well that's not working, let's try something else. Ding!! Ding!! Ding!! Ding!!! Failure in room 409!!!! Evacuate !! Evacuate!!! Eject the teacher!!! Hang her up by her arch supports!! The students are running amuck mmm or is that amok?)
Present-day reality is a moment by moment life via the poll report. Everything is evaluated and reported 24-7. The most popular shows on American television are those which allow viewer (or participants) to vote on (or off!!) the character of their choice. Less than an hour after the Super Bowl we not only know who won the game, but how many millions of Americans watched it and which commercial shown was the most popular. Every day we hear this poll this and that poll that. As if what the polls say really matters. It is easy to feel as if there are only places to be on the social spectrum...Winner or Loser.
Add to that the increasingly frenetic focus in education on data-based instruction and mass-produced evaluation and we end up in a classroom with 28 students and a teacher all afraid to step outside of their comfort zone.
Ugh.
It's time to make our rooms a safety zone for risk-taking. A practice field for mistake-making. A recovery room for practicing perfectionism. Even for ourselves.
It won't be easy. Even harder will be not apologizing for it. Not only should we (and or students) feel safe trying new things and occasionally feeling uncomfortable, we need to start seeing it, and the vulnerability that accompanies those efforts) as a gift, as a skill, as a celebration of being alive and of being human.
It's time to start believing that what the heart says really matters. That instead of the only two choices being Perfect or Wrong, that we stop labeling attempts and answers and instead start interacting with them. That laughter and awkwardness and silence and pausing and questions and wonder are incredibly more powerful than evaluation and judgment.
It's time to give students things to do in class that are interesting, interactive and engaging so that the goal every day is to get in there and get involved.
The mind already has intrinsic self-correction mechanisms for language. It's time to let them work.
It will take some time. It's not what we're used to . It's not what any one is used to. But what a concept!
with love,
Laurie
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