This past weekend I had the opportunity to attend the GAFE Summit in New Orleans with my tech team, the gifted and talented coordinator, and two principals. It was definitely an awesome opportunity.
When we arrived at the airport, we had to wait on our rental vehicle. It was being cleaned and wasn’t ready. It was still dirty when we received it with some gum-like substance on the back of the front passenger seat. After speaking to the attendant prior to exiting, I was instructed to pull over so the car could be taken back to be cleaned. The barrier that typically raises up and down was being repaired. I looked over and asked the attendant again, “pull over?” She replied, “yes.”
I bumped the lower portion of the barrier. Yes, a fender bender before even leaving the garage. After getting the situation squared away with the manager, I thought about how mistakes are a part of the learning process.
Are we teaching kids that sometimes doing it wrong can be a means to getting it right? The accident was a simple miscommunication that if used effectively by the company could result in a powerful customer service learning experience. If the company is truly progressive, this could even lead to development of a policy on how to handle issues with rentals prior to leaving the lot.
As teachers, we should be helping students to develop solutions. Some of them will go on to develop solutions for problems that don’t currently exist. In order for this to happen, mistakes play a very important role. What’s your response when a student gets it wrong? Do you encourage them to ask questions so they can see why their error was made? How often do you consider allowing them to re-take quizzes or tests? What about resubmitting a project?
Mistakes also allow for collaboration opportunities that extend learning. How much more powerful would reteaching be if we allowed students to take ownership of their learning? With strategic grouping, you’re a teaching ninja that just made re-teaching meaningful.
Maybe being wrong isn’t so bad after all.
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