Fruitful Failure

I hope to guide students further into a rich learning community by using my instructional role to model and embrace failure as a natural, beneficial component of learning. I have seen countless students who fear failure as a barricade to success, but I have found through my own writing and pedagogical research that it is advantageous to consider failure a path to better understanding and strength. My creative writing background has exposed me to the nature of viewing writing successes as the products of effortless talent, but I now see writing as a variable set of skills that require frequent practice and time. By utilizing and leveraging my own failure through anecdotal learning and through student-led assessments of my own teaching methods, I strive to create a space where failure is seen as a heavy-yet-liftable tool in a writer’s mental shed. The instructions for using failure are also be embedded within my courses through scaffolded assignments that require students to consider feedback, make time for revisions, and workshop in a friendly and patient environment. Often, I wish that I would have had someone to tell me that failure is acceptable and even expected in my undergraduate writing years; I feel that providing students with this knowledge helps them feel more at home in their own very human, very malleable, and very resilient skin.

Including Inclusivity and Empathy

I recognize that none of these goals would be accomplished without the creation of an inclusive classroom that fosters both individuality and respect for other learners; that is why I prioritize inclusivity and empathy in all aspects and extensions of the learning environment. Married scholarly duo Edwin and Shirley Ardener’s Muted Group Theory helps to inform my pedagogy as it reminds me that many areas within society subtly silence marginalized students’ voices, and I do not want my learning spaces to contribute to that silencing. In my syllabus and written communications, I avoid dichotomous language by utilizing “we” and “our” phrases and by basing activities in teamwork-related tasks. This adds to the sense of community that students experience, and it alerts students to the control and power they have within their education and their learning processes. Showing students their own agency can make learning a more meaningful and collaborative experience for them as they come to know the ways in which they can work effectively both as learners and as members of a larger field or profession.

Empathetic practices are also at the forefront of learning through my syllabus policies and my lesson structures. I believe that students should be given grace on assignments in order to truly progress with motivation and budding confidence. I allow for student extensions and makeup work so long as they communicate with me about their needs and with their peers about what they may have missed. Communication, after all, paves the way for camaraderie, and it guides them as stakeholders in their own education. Of course, I still like to help their learning become as meaningful as possible, and doing so requires clarity and attention to student needs. I make my course sessions organized-yet adaptable through providing welcoming warm-up opportunities and workable agenda outlines of daily class activities and expectations. I am constantly reflecting on the needs of my students, and I allow them extra time, extra help, and extra explanations when needed. I would always rather my students feel like they have learned something and had ample time to practice content application than I would stick to a rigid schedule; the schedule is simply there to help them transition their thoughts into what the course could hold for them with each new meeting. By making these transitional periods as easy as possible, I feel I am opening up the space to challenge them within their own learning.

Flowing Through Learning

As I, myself, continue to grow and learn in this powerful profession, I cannot help but equate teaching to a valley path and student minds to a river that runs through it. Valley banks and paths guide rivers as they flow, but the river is ultimately capable of carving out its own path. I believe in the capabilities of my students, and it is my hope that I can guide them to their own new paths—maybe even to their own larger oceans of thought and accomplishment.  I hope that my own lifelong learning and my acceptance of failure as a stepping stone will encourage and give rise to other lifelong learners who will eventually find their own way.