"Fear of Failure"

In my position, as a mentor, I often model lessons in classrooms.  Truly, I love engaging with students in the classroom.  It keeps me fresh and honest! 

A recent experience has led me to articulate one of my biggest frustrations.  I encounter large numbers of students of all ages and abilities who have an overwhelming fear of failure and a mistaken focus on getting “the correct answer.”

I have found that many students are so afraid of sounding stupid or dumb that they won’t even attempt to answer a question or begin a task.

When I probe as an attempt to get a student to delve deeper or to justify his or her original response, I am amazed at the change in body language and tone of voice, as if the student automatically assumes I do not agree or accept the response.

Sadly, in too many cases, we have programed students to give back to us, the teacher, the response we want, as if there are no alternative or divergent responses.  Equally, disturbing, too many questions may only have a single close ended response; thus, requiring very little thought.

My mother always said, “You learn from your mistakes,” which was why she probably allowed me to make them and problem-solve a bit on my own.  It may sound trite, but if most us would think back and identify the most meaningful learning in our lives, a few mistakes probably played a role in significant learning experiences.  We must make our students comfortable in this type of thinking.  Questioning, risk-taking and yes, mistakes are okay!

I always liked Larry’s story with respect to this subject.  It’s about a guy we’ve all admired as one the world’s greatest athletes.

"I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."
…. Michael Jordan

Of course, Michael Jordan led the University of North Carolina to an NCAA championship during his sophomore year in college.  He led the Chicago Bulls to five NBA championships.  Jordan's individual accolades and accomplishments include five Most Valuable Player (MVP) Awards, ten All-NBA First Team designations, nine All-Defensive First Team honors, fourteen NBA All-Star Game appearances, three All-Star Game MVP Awards, ten scoring titles, three steals titles, six NBA Finals MVP Awards, and the 1988 NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award. He holds the NBA records for highest career regular season scoring average and highest career playoff scoring average. He was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2009.

Michael Jordan is a successful athlete, as well as a successful entrepreneur.  We might say his ability to take risks and confront failure fearlessly is unique, but it shouldn’t be!

We can start helping our students be fearless through a few simple first steps:

• Designing questions and tasks that open-ended.  In other words, there is more than one answer.  There is more than one way to solve the problem.  There are multiple perspectives.
• When a student offers a response we consider “off target,” be prepared to ask a second question to probe or draw on what you deem to be the student’s prior knowledge.
• Offer students choices in how they might demonstrate their understanding of important content and concepts.  It doesn’t always have to be verbal or written.
• Make certain we are practicing accepting and positive body language.

We must be intentional, consistent and reflective as practitioners if we want to successfully shift student attitudes and behaviors in a more positive, productive manner!