I am curious how you view incorrect answers, imperfect strategies, and mistakes of all kinds in your classroom. It was early on in my career that I knew that I had to let go of my pride, and admit to my kids that I was an imperfect being, and I was going to make a lot of mistakes as we went a long that year. I remember it clearly, on that very day is when we began to really, truly learn!! I look back and I wish I could have swallowed my prided and opened myself to corrections from my students and freely admit my mistakes so that I could tell them that it was ok to make a mistake!
Every year after that year, (my fist as it happened to be) I openly welcomed mistakes. I told me kids that I encouraged mistakes, and you can imagine the looks on their face when I said it. I would very quickly add that I also expected that they learn from them.
I am curious what your philosophy is about how your kids "fail", or make mistakes. What do you tell them. What is the climate of your classroom?
The quotes above are some of my favorites. the lessons from our mistakes are truly just as valuable as our successes. The signature in my school email will be my final thought for this post which is, "Success can be a barrier to growth if we teach that it is a destination and not a journey."
How you do your kids view failure?
I hope you have a great week and I will hear about your many successes this week!
Eric.
