Failure

I strive daily to provide my students with authentic learning experiences. Since this is my first year teaching technology, I am constantly referring to my network for ideas and advice on the latest and greatest tools out there. In preparation for this week, I planned to introduce a new Web 2.0 tool, one I hadn’t worked with before. Almost immediately, I started to feel frustrated. What was I doing wrong? Why wasn’t it doing what I wanted?  It started off as frustration, but as I got deeper into the problem, I began to sense something different, something very uncomfortable.

I was failing at a task I was supposed to be good at!

As a teacher, I was failing. But as a learner, was I really?

Even as adults we struggle to be part of the elite few who seldom make mistakes. Luckily, mindsets concerning failure in the classroom are shifting. I am becoming more aware that failure is not only acceptable but necessary for authentic learning experiences to take place.

Where does this sense of pressure to always be successful first begin? In the home? At school? Or within ourselves?

Samuel Beckett tells us to, “Try again. Fail again. Fail better.”

What can we do to ensure that these words are taken to heart each and every day by young and old learners alike?

About the Author: Kara Koetter (@KKoetter) is a Florida native new to the Atlanta area. As a relatively young educator who is also a self-proclaimed perfectionist, she is working to fail better.