One of the most important lessons that I teach as a teacher is that no one is perfect. It is okay to be wrong. So many young people are scared to take chances because they fear getting an answer wrong. I want to challenge students and put them in situations where they can't know everything. I am not trying to put them to the point of frustration, but I do want to put them to a challenging place where they have to take a chance and risk being wrong.
Out of these challenges comes a willingness to be wrong and try again. It is important to releasing the stress of trying to be perfect. It is also important to unlocking the vulnerability that students need to have to reach their full potential. When they reach this point it makes learning more interesting and they tend to key in to what I am teaching even more. The greatest accomplishment someone can have in my classroom is to reach the point where they are comfortable enough to be vulnerable and ask questions when they don't understand during my lessons. When students reach that level, we all benefit because I can often answer a question that multiple students have when one student brings it up. Students can often learn just by the sort of questions their peers are asking.
I will keep pressing on because I think creativity, academic vulnerability, and perseverance are among the greatest traits we can develop in the classroom. Just today, I was able to praise a few students for taking a three minute writing prompt and thinking outside the box to write something very interesting. I love watching students looking at every angle to solve an academic challenge. The puzzle of teaching them to do it is what brings me back every morning excited to start the day.
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