My daughter and I are learning to cook together. My mother’s most
essential cooking utensil was a can opener so it’s an area in which I am
lacking key skills, but my daughter has a creative streak with food so we are trying
to figure it out together.
We trawl through online recipes, choose one that seems most appealing
and challenging, shop for it and do our best to follow the instructions. Many of our cooking adventures result in epic
fails but we enjoy the process of experimenting, tweaking, adjusting and
ultimately learning. Failure holds no fear for us, indeed it spurs us on to do
better, and it occurs to me that I need to fail epically more often in the
classroom .
My students brainstorming skills are improving. They are at the
point in the year where they have established trusting relationships, and they
more familiar with the routine of trying to generate 100 ideas in ten minutes
with no holds barred. It is moving from ideas to action that seems to pose the
greatest problem. As soon as they begin to consider their ideas they can
generate just as many, if not more reasons why their ideas won’t work. They
reach an impasse quickly and will tend to descend into a dulled state of defeat
and inaction. Rather than attempting a challenging solution and learning from
their mistakes they prefer to choose not to try at all.
The question is, how do I help my students attempt to solve a
problem with the same fearless enthusiasm that my daughter attempts a new
recipe? I need to make my classroom more like my kitchen; a fun place for messy
experimentation, a safe place to make mistakes and a place to celebrate
success. I can make a start by modeling failure more often.
Instead of being just a coach and guide I am going to try and
become more of an active participant. When I ask students to solve challenging
math problems I am going to attempt solve some myself. When I ask them to build
something, I will build too. When I ask them to play a game, I will play too.
Being an active participant will enable me to demonstrate what it looks like to
take risks, to dive in, evaluate, consider alternatives, rethink and try again.
It will also provide opportunities for open and purposeful conversation about
failure, about redefining success and about character traits like grit,
determination and perseverance.
As educators we constantly hear that it’s not about the tool, (the
iPad, the interactive whiteboard…the can opener) it’s what you do with it. Well
my new learning tool is going to be failure, maybe my plan will fail fantastically,
but the process will be epic.
