I make 99 mistakes a day...

The reality of teaching is it is always changing. We may have done something one year but the next it just may not work. Perseverance is something every teacher needs to have or they are going to get burned out real quick. I’ve been in those positions where I felt like I’ve tried everything and even been in those situations where I know I need to constantly change things up because that is what works. It can be exhausting but it is worth it when you’ve accomplished your goal and students are learning. As I’ve grown I’ve learned that making mistakes is a reality; it’s the only way I’m going to learn. For some reason my mistakes stand out more than my successes. I feel like I learn a lot more when I make a mistake which makes it even better the next time when I (hopefully) don’t make that mistake again. I think it is so powerful when I make mistakes in front of my students.

            I tell my kids I make 99 mistakes a day and embrace them when they point out my mistakes. I tell them we are all here to learn from each other so it’s great if you help me fix something I’ve made a mistake on. Of course the students love it when they find a mistake I’ve made but it also gets them thinking instead of always going with what I say is correct. I’ve also used the words “you’ve made a smart mistake”. At first they are confused by it but they realize that making mistakes is part of learning and it’s normal in our classroom. It is always better to make mistakes than to not try at all. Through this modeling and talking my students learn about perseverance and know it’s ok to make mistakes. Sometimes I think it’s important to explicitly model perseverance through an activity (that usually is non academic like solving a rubix cube etc). This way we can always come back to this activity and talk about how they pushed through and those actions will be instilled in their mind.