Balance Between Success and Failure

Learning to deal with failure is important for every student. Successfully dealing with failure requires a sense of confidence in one's self. Most children need to be supported in their failure, and taught how to learn from failure. I have personally come across too many children who freeze up because they are afraid of doing something wrong (whether it be math, writing, or art.) Children need to be encouraged to take risks in their creativity and thinking (academically speaking.) At the same time time, students need have successes so they don't come to believe they are failures. Especially for struggling students, finding success is critical. If you have a struggling student work with their teacher to find ways for them to find, experience, and feel successful. Find ways to tie writing, math, or any other area of struggle to things they are interested or passionate about. The more successful they feel, they more confident in what they know, the more successfully they will deal with mistakes and failures. Failure is a part of life. We have to get away from stigmatizing failure and mistakes. Aside from leaving sponges in patients, driving on the wrong side of they road, running the fuel tanks dry on an airplane, or pranking 911.