Teaching Strategies: Let Students Learn From Failure
Teach
Hub: 7.31.2019 by Jacqui Murray
Too
often, students -- and teachers -- believe learning comes from success, when in
truth, it's as likely to be the product of failure. Knowing what doesn't work
is a powerful weapon as we struggle to think critically about the myriad issues
along our path to college and/or career. As teachers, it's important we
reinforce the concept through our teaching strategies that learning has many
faces.
Here
are ten teaching strategies to teach through failure:
Use
the Mulligan Rule
What's
the Mulligan Rule? Any golfers? A mulligan in golf is a do-over. Blend that
concept into your classroom. Common Core expects students to
write-edit-resubmit. How often do you personally rewrite an e-mail before
sending? Or revise instructions before sharing? Or have “buyer's remorse” after
a purchase and wish you could go back and make a change? Make that part of
every lesson. After submittal, give students a set amount of time to redo and
resubmit their work. Some won't, but those who do will learn much more by the
process.
Don't
Define Success as Perfection
When
you're discussing a project or a lesson, don't define it in terms of checkboxes
or line items or 100 percent accuracy. Think about your favorite book. Is it
the same as your best friend's? How about the vacation you're planning -- would
your sister pick that dream location? Education is no different. Many
celebrated “successful” people failed at school because they were unusual
thinkers. Most famously: Bill Gates, who dropped out of college because he
believed he could learn more from life than professors.
Let
Students See You Fail
One
reason lots of teachers keep the same lesson plans year-to-year is they are
vetted. The teacher won't be surprised by a failure or a question they can't
answer. Honestly, this is a big reason why many eschew technology: Too often,
it fails at just that critical moment. READ
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