Sunday, April 28, 2013
Beginning with Failure
"Take a deep breath and jump, or there will never be another swimming lesson." Words spoken by a frustrated father to his 7 year old daughter. This poor father had paid for the beginning level swim lessons twice the summer before. This would be his daughter's third attempt to pass the dreaded "tread water for 30 seconds" test. In her defence, it wasn't the treading that caused the dreading; it was the 12 feet of space between the top of the water and the floor of the pool. Did she pass? Yes. Did she go on to be an olympic swimmer or a life saving life guard? No. But she swims. Her technique may not be graceful or powerful, but it is enough that she has explored lakes in Texas, rivers in Alberta, oceans (Pacific, Atlantic), and seas (Carribean, Mediteranean, Red). This frightened little girl has even jumped off the side of a boat to snorkel off the coast of Florida.
For me, every new beginning holds an element of fear. It usually takes me a while to figure out what it is. Even as the little girl above, I was not convinced that I was capable, but the fear of disappointing my father was greater than the fear of all that water beneath me. This blog is a new beginning and it is part of parcel that comes in a university course called Innovative Curriculum and Assessment. Like my father, Susan Drake is pushing me to step beyond the fear of failure and move into the 21st century.
Blogging, tweeting, creating google docs (This I have done before.) are requirements for class participation. I have colleagues who have been trying to get me to explore more, but it takes more than that to push me past the fear of looking foolish. For me to step out past the possibility of failure, it takes the fear of disappointing myself and those closest to me. In this case, it is my husband, who has shown confidence in my ability to complete an M.Ed. degree and who is helping to provide the financial means to make it happen.
As a teacher, I have been struggling with the balance between innovative practices, standards based curriculum and assessment, and the mixed messages coming from the school board and the ministry. Wednesday, April 24, 2013, the first class of Innovative Curriculum and Assessment, was the first time I felt energized and moved enough to push myself into the 21st century and to say "ENOUGH!" The syllabus asked us to be open to failure. Truly, can you imagine. It was vague, open ended, and required class participants to co-create lesson goals and criteria. I could hardly believe that it was a univeristy class. Finally, I was participating in the design of my own learning.
Student constructed success criteria is one of the current professional development plans for the school board I am with. It sounds wonderful, but I have not been experiencing success. In fact, I would say that many of the criteria my students and I have created have been utter failures. Why? After last Wednesday, I believe it is because I am not simply asking them to help me design the assessment, but I am not including them in the decisions about what will be assessed. They are not participating in the design of their own learning. That is still being forced upon them by me. This has been the part that frustrates me. How do I get away from this?
A first step is to stay in Susan's class. I left scared to death -- me blogging and tweeting -- yet energized and excited. I teach the arts K-8 and cover a few other subjects for colleagues. Thursday, I entered the grade 3 media studies class singing. I know, so what? I was singing and humming in excitement for the possibilities, in the knowledge that I didn't have any answers, in the fact that my plans for this lesson looked alien to what I had done before, and in joy that I would be constructing the actual learning with my students.
I am not sure how to close the blog other than to say, please accept that it is a work in progress. I have included a link to a blog from the Canadian Education Association blog site. It speaks to the idea of learning through failure and the seeking out of failure to learn. Please let me know what you think. It resonated with me because, as a teacher, I should be seeking failure out more often instead of trying to avoid or prevent it.
Mixed Martial Arts and Life Long Learning
http://www.cea-ace.ca/blog/brooke-moore/2013/04/1/mixed-martial-arts-and-life-long-learning
Okay, here is one of the many failures I am and will experience as I try to learn how to blog. I am not currently able to create a successful link that you can just click on. I hope that you will take the time to copy and paste the address into your brouser. This is an article well worth the read.
Beginning with Failure
"Take a deep breath and jump, or there will never be another swimming lesson." Words spoken by a frustrated father to his 7 year old daughter. This poor father had paid for the beginning level swim lessons twice the summer before. This would be his daughter's third attempt to pass the dreaded "tread water for 30 seconds" test. In her defence, it wasn't the treading that caused the dreading; it was the 12 feet of space between the top of the water and the floor of the pool. Did she pass? Yes. Did she go on to be an olympic swimmer or a life saving life guard? No. But she swims. Her technique may not be graceful or powerful, but it is enough that she has explored lakes in Texas, rivers in Alberta, oceans (Pacific, Atlantic), and seas (Carribean, Mediteranean, Red). This frightened little girl has even jumped off the side of a boat to snorkel off the coast of Florida.
For me, every new beginning holds an element of fear. It usually takes me a while to figure out what it is. Even as the little girl above, I was not convinced that I was capable, but the fear of disappointing my father was greater than the fear of all that water beneath me. This blog is a new beginning and it is part of parcel that comes in a university course called Innovative Curriculum and Assessment. Like my father, Susan Drake is pushing me to step beyond the fear of failure and move into the 21st century.
Blogging, tweeting, creating google docs (This I have done before.) are requirements for class participation. I have colleagues who have been trying to get me to explore more, but it takes more than that to push me past the fear of looking foolish. For me to step out past the possibility of failure, it takes the fear of disappointing myself and those closest to me. In this case, it is my husband, who has shown confidence in my ability to complete an M.Ed. degree and who is helping to provide the financial means to make it happen.
As a teacher, I have been struggling with the balance between innovative practices, standards based curriculum and assessment, and the mixed messages coming from the school board and the ministry. Wednesday, April 24, 2013, the first class of Innovative Curriculum and Assessment, was the first time I felt energized and moved enough to push myself into the 21st century and to say "ENOUGH!" The syllabus asked us to be open to failure. Truly, can you imagine. It was vague, open ended, and required class participants to co-create lesson goals and criteria. I could hardly believe that it was a univeristy class. Finally, I was participating in the design of my own learning.
Student constructed success criteria is one of the current professional development plans for the school board I am with. It sounds wonderful, but I have not been experiencing success. In fact, I would say that many of the criteria my students and I have created have been utter failures. Why? After last Wednesday, I believe it is because I am not simply asking them to help me design the assessment, but I am not including them in the decisions about what will be assessed. They are not participating in the design of their own learning. That is still being forced upon them by me. This has been the part that frustrates me. How do I get away from this?
A first step is to stay in Susan's class. I left scared to death -- me blogging and tweeting -- yet energized and excited. I teach the arts K-8 and cover a few other subjects for colleagues. Thursday, I entered the grade 3 media studies class singing. I know, so what? I was singing and humming in excitement for the possibilities, in the knowledge that I didn't have any answers, in the fact that my plans for this lesson looked alien to what I had done before, and in joy that I would be constructing the actual learning with my students.
I am not sure how to close the blog other than to say, please accept that it is a work in progress. I have included a link to a blog from the Canadian Education Association blog site. It speaks to the idea of learning through failure and the seeking out of failure to learn. Please let me know what you think. It resonated with me because, as a teacher, I should be seeking failure out more often instead of trying to avoid or prevent it.
Mixed Martial Arts and Life Long Learning
http://www.cea-ace.ca/blog/brooke-moore/2013/04/1/mixed-martial-arts-and-life-long-learning
Okay, here is one of the many failures I am and will experience as I try to learn how to blog. I am not currently able to create a successful link that you can just click on. I hope that you will take the time to copy and paste the address into your brouser. This is an article well worth the read.
The 21st century is exciting, even though some of the new technology is stressful at times. I consider myself to be up to date on a lot of social media, resources online, other educational, and even exploring new resources. Blogger is one example of a resource online that I have never had to use, but it is a great way to voice opinions online and that is something that is interesting for myself. The first few blogs may not be the most visually appealing, but with time I will discover different ways to spice it up a bit.
ReplyDeleteIn my experiences teaching, one school I was at last year was an Inner City Buffalo School. They did not have a lot of resources available for students to be interactive, explore educational websites, or even complete some tasks online at home. I began to talk about innovation and standardization in my post, and it is important for students to have opportunities to open their eyes to new materials that are available to them online. The design of students own learning is important for the students to construct, but some opportunities available to some students may not be available to others.
I like the idea of using failure as a learning strategy, students have the opportunity to recognize their strengths and problem solve to find success for that particular situation their own way. At the same time when dealing with large groups of students may lead to the students giving up or feeling bad about themselves because they are not as successful as other students. Some students may possess a certain arrogance and link that to their personal success. This in my opinion is a great opportunity for teachers to recognize thee situations and guide students in a more appropriate manner that may not drag other students down as well.
Great thoughts!!
Travis Gibbons
Hey Judy,
ReplyDeleteAs I began reading your blog – I felt like you were talking about me! I had a very similar swimming experience, which resulted in that similar feeling thought… who will I disappoint if I don’t do this? Yes, disappointing family is definitely what I was thinking about when I younger, but now I know... deep down, I would be disappointing myself.
Taking the leap into the 21st century technology is something that is very difficult for many. Many people (speaking from experience of my parents and myself) resist change. We resist the knowledge, and the amazing things technologies can offer. Why? Is it because we don’t want to learn it because we are afraid we could fail? Of course! That isn't the only reason, but that is one for sure!
When you talk about student constructed success criteria, I’m not entirely positive if I understand your main concerns properly. I’m not teaching in a school, and have no plans to do so. However, your question of “how do I get away from this”? is vital. You have recognized an issue, and have given some tangible ways that you can solve that dilemma. Sticking with the course is a great start! And it is great to hear that you have many supporters encouraging you!
Your blog link was great. Don’t worry, you will get the hang of it! I can tell why you like the article. The comment “In addition to welcoming failure as his teacher” says it all.
Don't be afraid to fail. Don't waste energy trying to cover up failure. Learn from your failures and go on to the next challenge. It's OK to fail. If you're not failing, you're not growing.
- H. Stanley Judd
Sincerely,
Rox
Judy,
ReplyDeleteWow, your blog really touched me. I think it's amazing that you are so open and honest about your internal struggle, I never would have guessed that technological era made you feel uncomfortable. I want you to know that you do not have to feel that way! Technology is always changing and therefore you can never know EVERYTHING anyway. Go with the flow, figure it out as you go along, things will come together eventually.
I grew up somewhat in the technological era, it started to really take off when I was in high school. I have to say that I was never overly comfortable with using technology until a grade 12 technology class where I was able to experience hands-on learning with a computer. I think that being able to learn from a teacher was a wonderful experience, but it also goes the other way. Being able to learn from your students is crucial in continuing to grow as an educator. So don't be afraid to take risks! If you're not sure how something works technologically, ask a student! Odds are they know exactly what to do and you won't be hung out to dry. This not only proves to them that you are human but also allows them to explore the depths of their own understanding, giving them a chance to feel like they are important members of your learning community.
I'm excited to see you grow as a technological educator throughout this course, and by the way- your blog looks great :)
C
Hi Judy: What an insightful blog that addresses the very real affective states that go with learning something really new. It is a journey that involves unlearning and then relearning. Always a bit painful and sometimes seems easier to avoid change than jump in. I wonder if we need to look at failure as failure but as a stage of learning - maybe unlearning is involved. This is why resilience is important to teach - which can be done I think by focusing on effort and working hard etc. . But as your initial experience suggests learning something really new is energizing and exciting. Next time you could use the link icon to embed your links into the text - so an interested reader can just click and find it as they are reading and it becomes an integrated part of the blog.
ReplyDelete