How Do We Enter if We Know Failure is Inevitable?

It takes a certain kind of mindset to plow forward knowing you will have to begin again. To stay the course when you know things are not going to work out the way you planned. Forging ahead through the obstacles and road blocks only to make a u-turn and have to traverse them again. For some this resilience comes naturally, they often seek the opportunity to struggle because the journey is more rewarding then the solution. There are many however, that if they feel even an inkling that they will not succeed they will never open the door and venture inside. So how can we make sure that our students will face failure, not just be prepared for it, but actually live through it, embrace it, and rather than cower in the corner with frustration, run back in the ring ready for the fight?

As teachers we have to set them up to fail, make sure that they are put in situations that are not only challenging and rigorous but filled with anxiety and pressure. The reality of life is that there are expectations we do not meet. That we push ourselves to the limit and do not succeed. Children need to be pushed into similar situations, where they get comfortable and relax and then bam! surprise, a fork in the road that was not only unanticipated but that causes them to doubt themselves. Lose confidence temporarily. Only to find it two fold soon thereafter. If we teach our children that they can do anything, not allow them to see their limitations, we are not only setting them up for a frustrating life but an unhappy one. If we set up our students to succeed no matter what, get the A with little effort we are creating a false sense of identity, we are not perfections but humans. Humans by design are problem-solvers and as such understand that we will get cuts and bruises along the way and may never reach the summit. But also, we understand that if the summit is out of reach, we will find a different route because the view is what we are after, not the elevation.

Imagine, a place where voices linger long after students have left. The walls covered by their design, whisper their learning. Every day desks and tables are rearranged based on desire and preference. Activities and labs are performed not to succeed but to fail and be redesigned based on observation and reflection. Intuitively students know when they need to join a remediation circle for review or an enrichment circle for extension. Students collaborate with one another, willing to take risks and fail together because they know they have the opportunity to try different ways to accomplish the goal until they achieve it. Grades are necessary but flexible, based on growth not specific completion dates. Silence is optional. Mindful awareness creates a sense of identify and strength but also community and support. Listening is of the utmost importance, a focus, integral to the success of all. Every student knows they will fail. They will be faced with challenges they will have to accept not completing, that they will have to reformulate a plan that may cause them to go back to the beginning. They will get frustrated but use this as a stepping stone not a weight dragging them backwards. This classroom is student-centered, not smooth or wrinkle free, quite the opposite. Students revel in it. They do not enter it blind to failure nor are they unwitting participants, they open the door and instantly, because of their freedom and independence, feel right at home.