Failure Preferred?

This week I'm reposting a piece I wrote in early September.  It's a reflection of an observation I did of Assistant Principal, Marie Soucy teaching a lesson to fifth graders in our math/science enrichment class.

When students arrived to class they began a "do now" question that dealt with calculating average speed.  As Marie was reviewing the answer to the question, she asked the class, "who got the answer wrong?".   I was surprised by how many students eagerly raised their hands.

Marie went on to ask students to explain their thinking, the algorithm they used, and the process they followed to arrive at the wrong answer.  I often observe teachers going through a similar process when students answer questions correctly.  It's common for teachers to ask students to explain their reasoning for a correct answer.  This was a bit different.

The discussion that followed proved to be extremely valuable to all students in the classroom. Through dialogue, students who answered incorrectly were able to share their thought process, explore alternative ideas and arrive at a new understanding of the concept.  This is where true learning takes place.  In order to learn something effectively, students must make mistakes and learn something from those mistakes.  There is a huge body of research that supports this.

Students who answered the question correctly also benefited from this discussion.  Several students in the class could select the correct algorithm (speed = distance/time) and do the computation.  The discussion however, helped these students develop a deeper conceptual understanding of the concept of speed. The rate at which an object covers distance - a scalar quantity.

The real value in what I observed had very little to do with students developing a conceptual understanding of the concept of speed however.  The value was in students recognizing that it's okay to fail.  This is about fostering a classroom culture in which students feel empowered to share and learn from their mistakes.  This is the way true learning happens.  Students must have the opportunity to fail, to reflect on their mistakes, and to revise their thinking.  Failure should be seen as a necessity - a celebration of learning.

Please take the time to read the following article by Rick Wormeli.  Although teachers are the target audience, the article is a great read for parents or anyone else who is interested in teaching and learning in our community.  Womeli includes several suggestions that teachers can use to promote a culture in which failure is a valued and encouraged in all classrooms.  I hope you enjoy the article.

http://www.stenhouse.com/assets/pdfs/failure.pdf