Life's Classroom - Mistakes

Mistakes Are Opportunities

Success is not about living a perfect life.

When you play it safe, you may avoid making mistakes,

but you'll also limit the chances of happiness that come from taking risks.

You are human. Sometimes you will do and say stupid things. You will play the fool in relationships.

You will miss out on opportunities and sabotage others.

Don't worry. It is normal and even healthy to make mistakes.

This does not mean that you shouldn't strive to be the best that you can be.

It just means that you shouldn't beat yourself up when you fall short.

Learning from mistakes often builds a solid and respected character.

Life is full of lessons that can be learned in no better way. (S. Finelli)

Activities

GROUP RITUAL

Part 1: Recall: Think about a time when you made a mistake that you regret. What lesson(s) did you learn? Write this down on a piece of paper ~ for your eyes only!

Part 2: Reflect: Are you willing to let go of any lingering feelings of regret so that what you learned is stronger than the mistake? If yes, move to Part 3.

Part 3: Release: Take a minute to rip your paper into tiny pieces and then add the scraps to the bowl (provided by your teacher). Watch as she mixes the remnants with those of your peers and then throws the bowl's content into the garbage.

ALL: Take a deep breath of gratitude for the lessons learned!

PROOFREADING

We all make mistakes, especially when writing. However, with the advances in today's technologies, there is no excuse not to find and correct them. Try running one of your papers/assignments throughout one of the following resources:

SAS Writing Reviser is a free add-on for Google Docs.

From Curriculum Pathways, the Writing Reviser add-on is a free suite of tools that provides guidance and support throughout the revision process. Using artificial intelligence, we analyze the student’s own writing—not generic examples—and we teach students the principles of effective writing rather than simply correcting their papers.

Grammarly is a writing assistantthat reviews spelling, grammar, punctuation, clarity, engagement, and delivery mistakes. It uses AI to identify and search for an appropriate replacement for the mistake it locates. It also allows users to customize their style, tone, and context-specific language.^{(Wikipedia, 2021)}