Success, Failure, and Learning: An Educator’s Perspective on Risk-Taking
From Director of Technology and Guest Blogger John Hummel
Failure is one of those things that can really paralyze you as a educator. We are constantly worried about the effectiveness of our instruction, not only for the student’s sake but also for how it will look in the eyes of administration. This leads many educators to just play it safe and not take risks.
To take a risk means that you might fail. Failure is something that is just not allowed. We need to be perfect or our students will not take our instruction seriously. I recently attended a training session and our instructor Sandye Brown highlighted the statement:
“You are not really willing to succeed, if you are not willing to fail.”
This really resonated with me. We as educators need to be willing to fail. Failure is one of the fastest ways of learning (Kimsey-House, Kimsey-House, Sandahl, & Whitworth, 2011). It has been my experience that I learn the most and retain knowledge longer from my failures. Of course, like everyone else, I would rather not fail. Failure is hard: you lose confidence, and you worry about what others might think of you and your abilities. However, it is in these moments that I embrace the opportunity for growth. “Failure is not a sign of stupidity, but (rather) a lack of experience and skill” (Dweck, 2006). This is very important to remember. Even as an educator, we need to be willing to learn and grow. If we are asking our students to learn from their mistakes, we need to be able to practice what we preach.
As a Director of Technology, I experience failure daily, whether it be something with my servers, something wrong with the firewall or filter, or just trying to show a teacher how to integrate something new into their curriculum. The more I fail, the more I learn and the more I know what does not work. I then gain this abundance of knowledge and experience to share with my staff about what not to do and how to overcome these obstacles. When they see me, the “expert”, failing, it reinforces the notion that they do not need to be perfect.
I really want this year to be amazing for my teachers and their students. The only way that this is going to happen is if teachers start taking more risks. Similar to when I fail, the teachers need to know that their failures are learning experiences for themselves and their students. If their students see them taking more risks, having some failures but continuing to moving forward and grow, they will embrace this model, too.
Not every risk you take will end in failure, and that’s okay. The fact that you are taking the risk is really what matters. Some risks will be successes and some will be failures. It is what you do with these failures that determines whether or not you will grow as an educator. Take this blog post: it might be an epic failure, but I took the risk and I am gaining the experience of writing for a learning science company. If I had taken the easy way out and not written this post, what type of model would I be to my teachers? If I am asking them to take more risks, I need to be willing to do the same.
My name is John Hummel. I am married and have three wonderful kids. I have a Master’s degree in European history from Roosevelt University and a Master’s in Education in Instructional Technology from Northern Illinois University. I currently hold the position of Director of Technology for Center Cass School District 66 in Downers Grove, Illinois and I am an adjunct faculty member at the University of Phoenix, where I teach U.S. History. I am always on the lookout for new avenues of innovation and collaboration. I cannot wait to see what my next adventure might be, risks and all!
References
Kimsey-House, H., Kimsey-House, K., Sandahl, P., & Whitworth, L. (2011). Co-Active coaching: Changing business, transforming lives. Boston, MA: Nicholas Brealey Publishing.
Dweck, C. (2006). Mindset: The new psychology of success. New York, NY: Random House Publishing Group.
You can view the McGraw-Hill Education Privacy Policy here: http://www.mheducation.com/privacy.html. The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the author, and do not reflect the values or positioning of McGraw-Hill Education or its sales.
