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This blog is set up to give STEM Academy families tools to think about learning in positive ways both in and OUT of the classroom.

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November 2017 - Posts

This fall I have been thinking and reading a lot about failure. At Let Me Run practice last night we were talking with 5th and 6th grader boys about failure. Our words to live by were “failure is only failure if you fail to try again.” Each boy shared a time in their life that they failed, and then kept trying. We reflected on the season and how many of the boys couldn’t run continuously for a mile at the beginning of the season and tonight all but one of them ran a 5 K. We talked about how we can grow from failure, and the statement, “Fall down seven times get up eight.” As our conversation evolved at the end of practice, we talked about how we didn’t like the statement “Failure is not an option”  This quote is often attributed to Gene Kranz (foreground, back to camera), an Apollo 13 Flight Director.

https://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_2073.html



Many of the boys were uneasy with the quote. We fail all the time. What do you mean failure is not an option. If Apollo 13 mission’s success was determined by exploring a crater on the moon, then the mission failed. But if the eventual success of the mission was not giving up on the three Astronauts caught in space then the mission was a huge success. Failure is an option, it is essential to eventual success if you don’t let it define you.


We need to embrace failure as a crucial element of learning. The CEO of the KIPP organization interviewed by the New York Times shares,  “Learning from failure leads to humility, adaptation, and resiliency; unfortunately, most students are taught to fear failure from a young age. To combat this trend, educators can emphasize having a growth mindset, encourage learning from past failures, and ask students to reflect regularly on, rather than ruminate over, failures.”


I recently read an article that I shared with the teachers at the STEM Academy, and on twitter. The article was entitled, “Forget The 10,000-Hour Rule; Edison, Bezos, & Zuckerberg Follow The 10,000-Experiment Rule” This article outlines the importance of experimentation, in success in life, and in business. “Deliberate experimentation is more important than deliberate practice in a rapidly changing world.” The same is true of growing up and education. When things don’t go as planned, great! What have we learned, how can we do things differently? Embracing failure as part of growing up, learning, and growing is a key to achieving at a high level. One of the boys in Let Me Run chose a mantra, "I can, I am, I will" and he said this as he ran his 5K last spring. This experience has stuck with me. When I completed my first 1/2 ironman, traveling 70.3 miles of swimming, biking and running, this summer I would say these words to myself. I wanted to complete the event, I wanted to also do it in less than 6 hours. 6 hours and 9 minutes later I crossed the finish line.



Posted by Chris Chopp  On Nov 15, 2017 at 9:48 AM 90 Comments