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To fail is scary for most people. It means we have messed up! We fell short. Did not accomplish or succeed.
Most of us were also taught, through observation and experience, that failure should be avoided at all costs - both in education and in life. "Experiencing failure is hard; it hurts and should be avoided at all costs". Sound familiar?
As we move forward through this course together, one of our goals is to acknowledge that failure is an incredibly important part of the learning process. And, at times, we often learn MORE by failing than succeeding.
Academic culture causes us to be fearful of making a mistake and trying new things. To grow, we need to normalize failure and experimentation as part of the learning process, make space for risks, develop competencies, discover the right environment, feel confident, and level up.
What if we reframed failure? What if 'to fail' meant:
F: first
A: attempt
I: in
L: learning
Giving yourself permission to fail and understanding that failure is the first step in the learning process will allow you to experiment in your classes further. Being less concerned with the immediate outcome provides the ability to focus on achieving a long-term goal.
SELF-REFLECTION: How would reframing failure change the learning experience for your students? How would reframing failure change what you try in your classroom/job? Think of a task/lecture/class activity you attempted and totally bombed - what could you have done the next time to improve?
Pancakes are delicious. And, they can be a learning experience each time you make them. Fabiola Torres (Ethnic Studies Faculty at Glendale College) presented "The Pancake* Loop" at the Puente Conference, as a way to discuss how pancakes could help us normalize failure.
(*And, pancakes could be swapped out for anything that takes a couple of tries to achieve mastery).
The Pancake Loop (as defined by Fabiola Torres):
The First Pancake: There is a lot of anticipation with this pancake. It is high-risk and high-stakes. Is the batter the right consistency? Is the pan the right temperature? Did you flip the pancake at the right time? Did you get the right amount of batter in the pan? Is the pan greased enough? Did you let it cook for the right amount of time? There is a strong fear of evaluation with this pancake -- will your family let you keep making pancakes if this pancake turns out poorly? Will you ruin the meal if the pancakes don't turn out just perfect? And, what usually happens with the first pancake? It is usually a little wonky-- maybe a bit over or undercooked. Maybe it got stuck to the pan. Maybe you made it too big. Maybe you burned it.
Academic culture (and American culture) would tell us to stop here, and not try to make more pancakes. If failure is bad, we should just stop when we do not live up to the expectations. We fear making a mistake, and we certainly don't want to repeat the same mistake, so our culture tells us to not do this activity again. But, what happens when we don't listen to our cultural training?
The Second Pancake: The second pancake is a chance to try again. You probably adjust your technique or batter, to try and fix the problems encountered with the first pancake. This pancake might not be perfect, but it is probably better than the first one.
The Third Pancake: You continue to improve your pancake success. You've adjusted your technique and the batter until you are confident that you can produce a great pancake. You have discovered the right conditions for success and are feeling deep satisfaction about your pancake prowess.
The Fourth Pancake: Now that you are a pancake master, you are ready to experiment. Maybe mix in fruit (or chocolate chips or sprinkles). Maybe you try to make silver dollar-sized pancakes or an extra-large pancake. Maybe you try to make a face with the pancakes. Whatever you try, you are experimenting and trying something new. You have creative freedom because you have learned from your initial failure. However, is the first experimental pancake likely to be as good as that third pancake? Not likely...so, now you are on the pancake loop, as you go back and tweak your technique again.
Helping Students Become Independent Learners
Helping Students Become Independent Learners
Experiencing failure can help people develop into independent learners. How?
Dependent learners are those who are typically highly motivated by grades. They are afraid of poor grades and fear penalties. They want to be told what to do, what to study, and what to know. They do not have the skills to figure out how to learn or interact with the material. They become stuck and are just waiting for the next set of directions.
On the other hand, independent learners understand that both failure and experimentation are a part of their learning journey. Due to failure and experimentation, they have the confidence and skills needed to direct their own learning and navigate themselves through challenging learning opportunities. Independent learners are well-equipped to self-assess their own learning and make changes if they see that something else might work better.
Portfolio writing, ungrading, or contract grading are all tools that independent learners are confidently able to succeed with. However, for the dependent learner, these things may cause frustration and suffering.
Imposter Syndrome, sometimes "perceived fraudulence" are feelings of self-doubt and incompetence, within certain situations - despite your training, education, expertise or accomplishments. While our students may certainly feel this in our courses (especially students who are new to college), this is also a very common feeling for us to have in our jobs.
Have you ever given a presentation to your peers and doubted that you were really the expert on what you were presenting? Have you ever turned down an opportunity because you didn't think you had enough experience, knowledge, expertise, and thought someone else would be better equipped to handle the position or opportunity? Imposter syndrome comes from our fear of failure.
SELF-REFLECTION: How would you introduce the topic of being a Dependent Learner vs. an Independent Learner to your students? What are some classroom strategies you could implement to help guide your students to be Independent Learners? Think of a time when you experienced Imposter Syndrome, would normalizing failure combat imposter syndrome in the workplace?
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