Friday, January 29, 2016

Let Kids Fail?



hybrid small.pngLike many of you, I have a young child at home. Watching him grow and learn has been one of the most meaningful experiences of my life. From teacher training and dad instinct, I know that letting him struggle with putting on his pants by himself, opening fruit snacks, and building Legos is best for his personal growth. However, whether it is to save time or avoid personal frustration or laziness, I sometimes “do it for him” and immediately regret that decision.


The patience and personal integrity it takes to let a learner struggle is difficult to achieve at times. This same difficulty translates to our Standards Based Learning classrooms. As my learners have zero extrinsic, mathematical motivation to complete a task or improve on already “proficient” work to achieve mastery, I am confident our assessment system is best for their learning. However, there have been multiple times this school year where I have had assignment X. For assignment X, we practice the skills necessary to succeed in class together with multi-faceted instruction, class wide feedback, multiple exemplars, differentiated instruction, and peer editing. In addition, learners have enough in class time (while I float around the room as a consultant to help) to finish 80% of the task, leaving about 10 minutes of at home time to finish. With respect to remembering due dates on assignment X, I remind the students verbally at the beginning and end of class, the date is posted on the board, and I send a text message reminder to their phone through Remind 101. On the due date of assignment X, 40% of the students complete the task on time. Many times, those that finish the task are often missing a key component or have a pronounced misconception within the task or merely replicate the exemplar.


Immediately, I turn the evaluative eye on myself and ask myself several questions about the task: Were the directions clear and given in multiple formats? Did the learners have sufficient background knowledge and practice of the standard(s) in a guided atmosphere in order to be expected to have some success on their own? Did the learners have equal and abundant access to resources that they needed in order to succeed. If the answers to these questions is yes, then I am left with the question of, “WHY?” Why did my learners not complete the task and/or struggle so prominently.


While there are a few possible answers, one of the first reactions in my head is to, “Just give them the right answer.” I know this would be the path of least resistance and easily put everyone on the same page. However, what does it do for the learner that got the right answer on his or her own on time? What does it teach the struggling learner about the standard(s) being assessed or about task completion? What will my child learn if I zip his own coat for him every time it takes his nimble little fingers an extra two minutes? The answer is, “Nothing.” In fact, just giving in, just giving the right answer, just having the teacher/parent do the work for the leaner/child is enabling, is placating, is condescending, is damaging.


If you are like me, you struggle with letting little people in your care struggle. However, you realize that this struggle is where more learning happens. If you are interested in hearing more about this idea, please email us at stemflowerlc@gmail.com or follow up with the following articles below.




“When, and how, to let students struggle”


“Constructive Struggling”


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