Persistence is a simple process:
1. What's the next step?
2. What's in the way of taking that step?
3. Remove, disregard, or ignore the obstacle.
4. Take the step
5. Go to #1
~ source unknown
At The Learning Curve, Kern Kelley speaks of working/playing with his young son on putting puzzles together. The question is: When do we assist versus allowing others to learn from their mistakes? Where do we strike the balance?
A related question might be: How do we grow life-long learners who are able to persevere in solving problems and feel empowered by this ability?
Related Post
Perseverance Resources at LIM Resources Wiki
I think schools need to look systemically at how we allow for risk taking and mistake making. Currently in most schools mistakes are frowned upon and the "get it right the first time" philosophy prevails. Until schools and teachers take a hard look at their policies and grading practices and ask how they can encourage students taking risks, this will be an obstacle.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, we need to be sure that students are putting their best efforts forward in the classroom. I think schools and teachers need to focus on reflective learning as much as possible in order to emphasize that mistakes need to be analyzed and planned for in the future to gain successes.
If students perceive that only graded material is worth attempting, and parents perpetuate such foolishness then encouraging mistakes is almost impossible. There has to be a school cultural shift away from the current grade fetishes in order to offer an environment of sustained learning and embracing risk. As long as the culture perpetuates grades as the goal of school, you will get very few risk takers even if you design wonderful experiences.
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