Challenge your students to study/learn from their mistakes.
Don’t stick to failure - grow from it!
It was over 20 years ago. However, I remember it like it was yesterday. Following a “devastating” defeat, coach told our team, “every education is paid for one way or another; the mistakes we made this morning, and the pain we feel are the price of knowledge.” He would go on and say that we learn more from defeat than we ever do from winning, if we have the proper attitude. Today we refer to this as Mindset.
How do we work together to help students learn to love and embrace a challenge? Embracing challenge is at the crux of the Growth Mindset; without it, students don’t get the opportunities to take risks, learn to fail, and figure out how to pick themselves up again. We have the responsibility to,
“prepare our children for the road, not the road for our children.”
For young people, especially adolescents, mistakes can seem catastrophic. Misspelling a word, getting a problem wrong on a test, making an error in a game… all of these can be deeply troubling to a child, especially one who already might feel like they’ll never get better at the things they are struggling with. Mistakes and failures in these situations can feel embarrassing, frustrating, and intimidating, especially if they are worried about a negative response from parents, teachers, and peers. And while these emotions may be understandable, they can have negative consequences for students’ development. (Mindset)
Students with a fixed mindset often avoid challenging work or fail to give their best effort because they associate failure as not being smart or athletic.
My professional goal is to maximize the individual potential for every student. One of my biggest obstacles in educational leadership is motivating students to take a chance, and to put themselves out there with a full effort. Students too often shy away from challenges and avoid doing the hard work in school and life. It is easier and more socially accepted to not try, and to “be cool” rather than try and fail.
If students do not take on the biggest tasks and challenges, they will never realize their maximum potential and maximum growth. The old cliche, “nothing ventured, nothing gained.”
Our goal as a team (God, family, school) is to make your student think of being challenged as the new “normal.” We need to consistently push our students out of their comfort zone and into the growth zone.
Ms. Wood has the words posted in her room, “If it doesn't challenge you it doesnt change you!” So when you or your student make a mistake or fail, keep two things in mind:
- Mistakes are an essential part of learning and growing. The only way to avoid mistakes or failure is to never try. Bruce Lee has a poster which says “ A true master has failed more than most have even tried.”
- Challenge your students to study their mistakes. A mistake is a gift of feedback if you take time to learn and let it motivate you. Embrace mistakes because they give us opportunities to learn. Don’t stick to the failure - grow from it.
