How do you feel when you do not accomplish your goal? Or in other words “fail”? When I was growing up anytime I “failed” at something I thought I was no good and would just want to give up. As an adult, the same feelings are still there and embarrassment occurs at times when I am not able to accomplish my goal. The difference between then and now is that I have learned to pick my head up, to take my failures, and innovate new ideas that could lead to solutions.
Learning to do those things was not easy. It took a lot of practice and many failures to build up my confidence to keep on trying. Even today there are still times when I struggle with this. A more recent failure where it was hard for me to pick my head up and try again, happened during my first year teaching. I went into my first year of teaching with a lot of confidence, I had gotten hired at the school I student-taught and for the same grade that I had student-taught. So, I had a lot of confidence in myself because I was already familiar with how things were run in my school and the grade-level curriculum.
The class I had was tough. They liked to try and push any button they could. However, from my perspective, I thought I was doing a decent job with my classroom management and presenting successful lessons to my students. When it came time for my first evaluation, I was nervous but still felt good about what I had prepared. I must have gone in with too much confidence though because when it came time for the post-evaluation conversation I had learned that I received a minimally effective rating and that crushed me. I thought, am I really cut out to be a teacher? After taking a step back and talking with some of my colleagues I took the notes from my evaluation and advice from my colleagues and tried again.
Having this drive to try again and improve on what I had already tried is an idea that I like to share with my students. I want my students to take this idea so that they can “take control of their own learning” (Bransford et al., 2000, p. 12). According to Ackermann (2011) “learning is less about acquiring information...than it is about finding one’s own voice, and exchanging our ideas with others” (p. 2). I believe that when students are able to have their own voice in the classroom or express their ideas on a certain topic then students are able to have a greater understanding of the material. When students have a greater understanding then they are able to take their ideas. They learn to “make” their ideas into new ones or innovate new strategies to accomplish their goals.
According to Resnick (2017) when students are able to become makers or “[make] things [it] provides a rich context for learning” (p. 50). This rich learning context can be supported by teachers through the idea of constructionism. Udacity says, “constructionism is about putting the learner at the center of the learning activity and having them actively construct an understanding” (0:28). After my failure of an evaluation, I learned that I could grow as an educator by including this idea of student-centered learning. I dove into discovering what this would look like in my classroom and have worked on implementing student-centered learning when applicable.
This is not to say that student-centered learning is the only approach that an educator should use. There is still a time and place for teacher-led learning, but when students are able to have that control over their learning and construct their understanding I have found they are more engaged. Students gain a greater understanding of a concept that can help them move forward because they know that they have the tools to learn. They know that even if they fail that does not make them a failure. If they keep trying, making, and innovating new ideas they will also be a maker.
References
Ackermann E. (2001). Piaget's constructivism, Papert's constructionism: What's the difference. Future of Learning Group Publication.
Bransford, J., Brown, A.L. & Cocking, R. R. (2000). How people learn: Brain, mind, experience and school. National Academy Press. http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?isbn=0309070368.
Jansen, C. (2020). Failure or Maker. [Image]. Easel.ly
Resnick, M. (2017). Lifelong kindergarten: Cultivating creativity through projects, passion, peers, and play. The MIT Press. http://web.media.mit.edu/~mres/papers/CulturesCreativityEssay.pdf
Udacity (2016, June 6). Constructionism. [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qsiqetMlCg