Life Savvy. That's one of the three strategies around which I wrapped
classes: building lifelong communal, personal, emotional, and social skills.
One of "Schmier's words of the day" that I write on the whiteboard to help
students become both what I call "class savvy" and "life savvy," and we discuss
in class during the first week of the term is crucial. It's a wholesome, wrap
around: "Just because you've failed, it doesn't mean you're a failure."
If there's one skill set almost all of us don't address, it is to help
student learn how to deal with being wrong; how not to feel like a screw up
just because they screwed something up. We let them struggle to be something
they're not: perfect. We don't let them be something they are: imperfect
human beings.
Is failure a reason for shame? Is it a cause for eroding
self-confidence? Is it deleterious on self-esteem? Is it sand in the gears?
Should it be seen as a sign of weakness? Should it be salt poured in a wound?
Is it a referendum on ability? Is it a signal for condemnation? Is it
evidence for weeding out? Or!!!!
Or, is it a tool for discovery, the first of which is to be reminded
that you don't know it all. Is it, then, a practice step on the way to
achievement? Is it, as Einstein said, an indication that you're doing
something? Is it, as Henry Ford said, a means to begin again better informed?
Is it a way, as Thomas Edison said, of finding out what won't work on the way
to discovering what will?.
You know, I always expected students to get things wrong. And, when
they did, I didn't punish them. I didn't lower their grade or fail them. t
just calmly and caringly took the time to show them what they had done
correctly, told them to add to that, raised a few questions, gave some
guidance, and encouragingly said, "You can do it. Do it again." When they
wince, I told them, "Look, I've written and published a lot. But, there was
never anything that I've published, not an article or book or encyclopedia
piece or anything, that wasn't sent back with a bunch of suggested 'do it
again.' And, sometimes I had to do it again, and again, and again before it
got into print."
What I discovered was that if our answer to their question, "What if I
get it wrong," is "Well, you'll just do it again," if our answer to their
question "Will this affect my grade" is "no," if we encourage students to go
ahead and give it a shot, if accept that students will miss a lot of practice
shots in order to learn how to make the shot in the game, if we become a heap
of unpenalizing "do it again" second chances, students will discover that
there's nothing more empowering than successfully doing something they thought
they could not do. When they were able to get passed that one assuming
"cannot," when they took the "not" out of their "cannot" and kicked themselves
in their "can," they slowly began to question other limiting assumptions. When
they stepped out of their comfort zone and tasted success, they were suddenly
confronted with a whole new level of exciting possibilities. Their whole
concept of what is possible changed; their confidence levels skyrocketed; and,
their self-esteem when sky-high.
Our job is to help students help themselves get there. Our job is to
edify students, not to berate them. Our job is to build them up not tear them
apart. Our job is to help students loosen up and accept their fallibility, and
not get uptight and tied in knots about it. Our job is to help them use their
inner power against the hold of that dreaded feeling of uncertainty. Our job
is to show them that a mistake offers a beautiful insight not an ugly sight.
Our job is not to let a mistake suck out their daring and dreaming. Our job is
not to let a mistake be a drag. Our job is to help them see that a mistake can
be a fire-starter "wow," not a dousing wet-blanket "ugh." Our job is to help
them let mistakes propel them high in the sky, not over an emotional cliff.
Our job is to instill self-confidence, not self-doubt. Our job is to help them
not let mistakes suck out curiosity, daring, and dreaming. Our job is to
constantly remind them that the greatest mistake they can make in life is to be
continually fearing that they will make one. After all if anyone one is
afraid to fail, if anyone thinks a mistake attacks and undermines her or his
womanhood or manhood, she or he won't try anything new or strive to achieve.
Our job is to show them that achievement is a matter of going from "oops" to
"oops" without loosing enthusiasm. But, then, of course, we have to know that
ourselves.
Make it a good day
-Louis-
Louis Schmier
http://www.therandomthoughts.edublogs.org
203 E. Brookwood Pl http://www.therandomthoughts.com
Valdosta, Ga 31602
(C) 229-630-0821 /\ /\ /\ /\
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hills" - / \_
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