The Value of Mistakes

Hi Everyone,

I recently read an article in Edutopia called Teaching Students to Embrace Mistakes at http://www.edutopia.org/blog/teaching-students-to-embrace-mistakes-hunter-maats-katie-obrien.

As classroom instruction begins to change in adult education with the implementation of the CCR Standards and new assessment tests, I was wondering how your adult students learn from their mistakes?  Do you use guiding questions in instruction?  If so, what types of questions are working the best for you and your class?  Do your students work collaboratively? Does making a mistake ensure that their work will be better?  What are your ideas on this topic?

I am looking forward to your thoughts on this subject.

Meryl Becker-Prezocki, SME

Comments

Hi Meryl and all, Thanks for posting about the value of mistakes. I thought one of the best lines from this short article is "Mistakes are the most important things that happens in any classroom, because they tell you where to focus that deliberate practice." There is a great teaching channel video (My Favorite No) that addresses the value of mistakes in math that was discussed on LINCS here https://community.lincs.ed.gov/discussion/turning-mistakes-learning-opportunities.

On a related issue, ever since our Reading for Understanding book group on LINCS, I've been thinking about the role of confusion in the learning process. The authors of Reading for Understanding argue that confusion is actually an important starting place for learning. This paragraph with the subtitle "Building Safety: It's Cool to Be Confused" is worth quoting:

"It's no secret that students will go to great lengths to hide what they perceive as their own inadequacies and to avoid potential humiliation in front of their peers. By the time they are nearing adulthood, students have developed compensation strategies to avoid tasks they do not do well, yet these very tasks can stand in the way of advancement in college and the workplace. To help students become self-directed, strategic readers, teachers must find a way for them to feel safe voicing confusion about what they are reading" (p. 67).

It would be great to hear from members about ways to create a community in the classroom, the kind of community that makes it safe to acknowledge confusion. How can we make it "cool to be confused"?!?

Cheers, Susan

SME Assessment

 

 

Hi Susan and others,

Thanks for your insight on this topic.  I am very familiar with My Favorite No from the Teaching Channel and have shown in during professional development sessions.  I think that it is a brilliant strategy for instant reteaching done in such a positive manner.  Many of the adults come to us with considerable shame.  I like the question you asked.  What do you do to create a safe classroom environment?  I am looking forward to hearing from LINCS Community members.

Meryl, SME

 

I've found the best way to make confusion "cool" is to let my students see me confused, to "own up" to mistakes I make. After I "confess" to my mistake, I point out that it might be a common mistake, or try to explain why I made it- what I was thinking when I made it- and hopefully illustrate that making mistakes is part of the learning process.

 

Hi, Meryl -

Thanks for sharing this article.  I think it's so valuable for our students, and ourselves, to embrace our mistakes.  I try and model this by being honest about mistakes I've made, and sharing how I processed those mistakes, in order to learn from them.  If we're truly honest with students about our mistakes, we need to talk about the feelings we all have when we make them - confusion, embarrassment, frustration, even anger.  By acknowledging these emotions, we're able to move past that part where people often seem to get stuck, missing out on the opportunity to learn from their mistakes. 

If students are writing as part of the class, I have them practice reflective journaling.  I've even my own read journal entries to students, in order to model how I went from my initial feelings about a mistake (confusion, embarrassment, etc.) to a more reflective space, where I've learned to think more critically, ask better questions, and even laugh at myself.  I think that last one - laughter - is really key.  Being able to laugh can be so healing, and make what we learn both personal and memorable.  An extension idea of that is having students share songs - with lyrics - that deal with the mistakes many of us make.  Students are able to identify songs easily, because there are so many of them that deal with making them. 

If others have suggestions for finding the humor - and learning - in our mistakes, it would be great to hear about them!

Mike

Hi Mike, Thank you for posting about how you create a safe space for mistakes by being open about your own mistakes. The humorist, John Cleese in a brief essay, "The Importance of Mistakes," that Arlyn Freed posted in another thread, argues that fear of embarrassment holds all of us back from acknowledging our mistakes. I know that's true for myself. I want to become more aware of how allowing myself to admit mistakes can allow for that safe space for everyone to make mistakes in my classroom and learn from those mistakes.

I really appreciate your emphasizing humor and being able to laugh at ourselves. Also, you mentioned music. It would be great to hear members' ideas for songs that get across this message. Music is such a powerful way to communicate!

Cheers, Susan

SME Assessment

Hello everyone,

I agree that humour and laughter can be a mechanism to create a safe environment for students (and teachers too) to make mistakes and learn from them. I openly laugh at my students sometimes while reading their essays or marking their tests. But don't get me wrong. These are my good students. I've been teaching them for a couple of years since they were 13, so we have a good rapport. When I laugh I explicitly tell them why; that it has to do with their writing, and nothing about them personally. They are ESL learners so when they write in English they directly translate the words from their mother tongue. Funny sentences are bound to happen. I guess rather than it being something embarrassing, they take it positively. Explicit feedback is important to make sure that they understand it is not a joke, but rather a learning opportunity. I guess they are going to remember that for quite some time too.

Thanks,

Nurul

 

Nurul, I so agree with your comments regarding the use of humor as a means to create a safe environment. Laughing with students opens up great doors to learning. Research confirms that when we are laughing, we are learning. I even used humor in my testing questions and could see students chuckling as they answered test items. I would use their names in problems, for example, adding fun descriptions here and there. Try using Charades to reinforce sentence structure and watch people double over as they learn. And you are right that certain types of humor need to be taught. Smiling broadly, Leecy

Moderator, Diversity and Literacy and
Reading and Writing Communities

Hello Nuru and all, I can vividly remember using words incorrectly in my own writing over the years. It's amazing how this kind of thing sticks in one's memory. For instance, I recall using the word misnomer in a general way to mean something that was inappropriate rather than its more precise meaning. I'm sure my mistakes amused some of my teachers. No doubt, I still use the wrong word at times!

I think many teachers have experienced English learners choosing words in their writing (and speaking, too) that make us smile. Being sensitive in response to these mistakes, of course, is absolutely essential since -- as you note -- we would not want students to think we are laughing at them. These vocabulary issues can definitely be opportunities to learn. In fact, we know that making mistakes is a natural part of the learning process, so  treating mistakes as opportunities for learning and talking about this explicitly with adult learners is exactly right!

Cheers, Susan Finn Miller

Moderator, AELL, CCR, and Assessment CoPs