Failure and Mistakes Are Part of Learning

 

Is your child allowed to make mistakes in school without being punished with poor test scores and bad grades? Research and common sense tell us that making mistakes is a natural part of learning and good teachers know that paying attention to the errors students make is an absolutely key aspect of effective instruction. After reading this post you will understand something that even some teachers have yet to comprehend and with this knowledge you will be able to ensure your child’s educational needs are being met.

The following scenario demonstrates how important it is for teachers to allow their students to make mistakes in order to help them:

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Practicing and making mistakes are vital aspects of learning to do anything.

Lisa stood just the way her coach had taught her to stand and held the bow carefully. She eyed her target, drew back the string, steadied her arms, aimed and released. The arrow flew straight and struck the target five inches low and slightly to the left. She drew another projectile from her quiver and followed the same process. The second arrow found its home slightly closer to the red center of the target but it too landed low and left. The coach signaled Lisa to pause and she lowered her bow.
                “Nice shooting Lisa! You’ve improved a lot since we first started last month. I think you can hit that bull’s eye though. What do you think?”
                “Well,” Lisa said thoughtfully, “yes, I think so…but I am not sure what I’m doing wrong.”
                “Oh, it’s not about what you’re doing wrong,” said the coach with a smile, “it’s about what you can do better. I’ve been watching you shoot now for several weeks and there’s one more thing I’ve noticed we can improve. We need to work on your breathing.”
                “Breathing?” restated Lisa in a slightly surprised tone.
                “Yes. You are standing very still and you’ve learned to hold your arms steady and I can see you’re aiming the way we talked about but you’re not controlling your breathing. Your breath can cause very small movements that can make a big difference in where the arrow lands. What I want you to do is breathe in and out, in and out, and at the bottom of the breath—when all the air is out of your lungs and you’re the most still—release. Right at that small moment, gently release the string. Do you want to try that? Remember, no one expects you to be perfect, it’s all about practice. The junior beginner’s tournament isn’t for another month, so we have a lot of time to practice.”
                “OK, I want to try.” Lisa looked thoughtful and eager.
                “All right, let’s see how that works!” exclaimed her coach enthusiastically.
                Lisa drew an arrow, notched it, drew back and aimed at the target. She paid attention to her breathing and at the bottom of her third breath, she gently released the arrow. Thunk! The arrow struck the target and this time it was just outside the bull’s eye. She repeated the process and the next arrow landed right in the bull’s-eye. She lowered the bow and couldn’t contain her smile.
                “Wow! That really works!”
                “Nice shooting!” Now, let’s see it a few more times. It doesn’t guarantee a bulls-eye every time, but I think we can get pretty close most of the time. Coach couldn’t contain his smile either.

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Now, let’s think about some of the things Lisa’s coach did to help her. First of all, he taught her the fundamentals of archery. Secondly, she had time to practice without penalties. Finally—and this is the key point for our purposes—the coach allowed his pupil to make mistakes and then he showed her what she could do differently to increase her achievement.

A natural part of learning is making mistakes. We’ve all heard about how the greatest leaders and inventors failed many times before they succeeded. So, the question I pose for us is this: are our children allowed to make mistakes in school?

Typically children in the public school classroom are not allowed to make enough mistakes. Often the teacher designs a lesson—or more likely opens up a textbook and looks at a particular activity or skill (a set of math problems or a reading selection)—and teaches a skill and then turns time over to the students to practice. Here is where students are supposed to make mistakes, ask questions and get help. Often, however, there isn’t enough time or sufficient instruction for them to demonstrate what it is exactly that they misunderstand. 

After some class work, students are assigned homework. Numerous studies have determined that homework should be synonymous with practice and students should only practice what they already understand. So, if a student is given homework regarding a concept or skill they haven’t nearly mastered, it generally ends up not getting done or a parent has to complete it to ensure it is done and completed correctly.

The next day students may correct this work together or, as is most often the case, with the teachers help. Sometimes the homework is graded without any additional help. If you find out this is the case for your child then seek help immediately (first ask the teacher and if your questions aren’t answered, seek out an instructional leader such as an assistant principal or principal). Homework should not be used as punishment or for a grade. Sure, students need to do their homework, but if they’re receiving a grade based on that work then it isn’t homework, it is an assessment/test and they should have already had time to practice and receive feedback.

After the lesson and practice and feedback, students should be given a quiz or two which don’t count for a grade but are designed to tell the teacher and the student what it is they have or have not understand. Finally, after receiving re-teaching and review lessons they confront the big test, or final, which counts for a grade. I’ve often heard students say, “I hope I do well on the test!” or “I wonder what the test will be like.” If your child is making statements like these, please take note because if his or her teacher is following the latest research then the teacher will have worked ensure that your child knows exactly what the test will be like and will have prepared them for it.

 

This doesn’t mean that your child knows what all the questions will be so they can memorize the answers; it means that your child clearly knows how the test will be set up and exactly which concepts and skills are going to be assessed. Remember, in an effective classroom your child will have already taken at least two tests that look just like the “final” and they’ve had a chance to make mistakes and the teacher will have used the results to inform herself regarding what your child and his/her peers need to review.

So, imagine that Lisa’s archery coach simply showed her all the skills necessary to become an accurate archer (lesson)  and then let her practice on her own (homework). Then, the next day he asks her to shoot ten arrows at a target. Then, after the assessment of her skills, he assigned her a score based on a 0-100 scale. Her score would depend on the natural talent she brought to the initial instruction as well as the level of help and practice she got at home. If the coach terminated lessons with all of the archers who scored below 60 then all he would really be doing is discovering which students are naturally good archers or have families who are in to archery. He’d be less of a teacher and more of a talent coach. Does your child have a teacher or a talent coach for math or science or English? What the coach did in our scenario, however, was assess his pupil and then re-teach based on the mistakes she made. That is what we’re asking teachers to do. Of course educators have fancy terminology and you should be aware of these terms so you can ask questions of the administrators and teachers at your child’s school.

A formative assessment is an assessment, or test, that does not count for a grade— or at least for a significant portion of a grade. A formative assessment is designed to form or inform the teacher’s instruction. In other words, the results from a formative assessment are used to design a re-teach or review lesson. In the “real world” this looks simple: your child receives a lesson, gets some time to practice with the teacher and her peers, does some individual practice and then takes a 10 question quiz. She gets 7 of the questions correct but misses 3 questions. 2 of the three questions she missed centered, say, on subtraction. Since she is not the only one who missed the subtraction questions, the teacher realizes she needs to spend some additional time going over subtraction again with the class and does so. The students take another quiz that has the same kinds of problems but with different numbers, etc. This time your child scores 9/10 and since the class average is about 85%, the teacher knows the students are ready for a summative assessment after one more brief review. Let’s say a student scored a 100%, then that student needs enrichment; a student who scores 0% may need some intervention, or specialized help.

A summative assessment is a test that counts for a grade. It looks very similar to the formative assessments because it is measuring the same concepts and skills that the students faced on the formative assessments. Because the summative assessment counts for a grade, it has more items, or questions, because we want to make sure your child’s subtraction skills are not being measured by just two questions. Perhaps there will be four questions on subtraction, but they’ll all be at the same level of difficulty (aka rigor) as those on the formative assessment.

The vital point that you need to understand as a parent is that your child deserves a chance to make mistakes without being punished. If school is confusing and scary, you need to ask tough questions and then, perhaps, make some tough decisions about the educational agency (e.g. school, school district, etc.) with which you’re entrusting your child. In most cases, effective principals want parents to help them put positive pressure on teachers to update their practice and ensure student learning is taking place. As I often tell my fellow educators, “You haven’t taught it until they’ve learned it.” If it were all about teaching and not learning, why not just put the Discovery Channel on all day and have the kids sit in front of it?

Don't take my word for it. Check out Rick Wormeli talking about the importance of formative assessments: