Authored by Kari East
“Persistence and resilience only come from having been given the chance to work through difficult problems.”
― Gever Tulley
In my job as a middle school learning facilitator I typically spend my time working with those students that have difficulty completing assignments, turning things in on time, and prioritizing their work with their many extracurricular activities. It feels like a constant game of juggling. I often get so caught up in making sure my students are successful that I lose sight of the importance of letting them manage things on their own. I’ve come to realize that middle school is the perfect time to allow students to try on their own, even when I know failure is inevitable. Let’s be honest, the stakes in middle school are low which makes it the ideal time for students to learn through failure. “You bombed a math quiz because you didn’t do the homework to prepare?” Not exactly a life altering experience, but sometimes it’s all a 12 year old needs to make the connection that homework matters. Failures in school can teach our students so many things, both in and out of the classroom.
- Resiliency – When students fail it affords them the opportunity to problem solve. That’s where the learning takes place. Resiliency is that ability to work through challenges and adapt to situations in order to come out successful. There’s a direct correlation between successful adults and their ability to be resilient in times of difficulty. Resiliency is also an important part of a teen/adolescent’s overall mental well-being.
- Perseverance – Failure is inevitable at some point in life. This is especially true for students with learning differences. Despite the many barriers that may stand in their way, it’s their ability to dig deep and push through hard circumstances that ultimately leads to their success. I encourage my students to change their way of thinking when it comes to academic obstacles. Instead of saying “I can’t do this”, I challenge them to use the verbiage “I don’t understand this right now and that’s okay, but I’m going to keep trying”. Think The Little Engine That Could.
- Reality Check – There are going to be times in life when all the things are hard. As much as we’d like and no matter how hard we work, we are never fully in control. There will always be circumstances beyond our control and this is where resiliency is key. An example that I see quite often with students is complaints about teachers and the way their teacher does something. It’s vital that our students understand that they won’t always love their teacher or the way they run their classroom and that’s ok. But, it’s up to the students to adapt and figure out how to communicate their needs to the teacher. Healthy communication between teachers and students leads to successful outcomes!
While letting students fail is never easy, I’ve come to accept that it has far more benefits than one would think. If you truly think about what learning is in a neurobiological sense, then letting students fail seems sensible! Learning is just the brain processing information and adapting to experiences in order to reach the best possible outcome. Success isn’t always linear and it’s important that our students (and teachers and parents) understand this. Sometimes, failure really does equal success.
