A recent article on Mindshift
caught my attention as it raised some interesting ideas about teaching young people
the definition of success. The article reports on an interview with Madeline Levine, psychologist and author
of Teach Your Children Well: Parenting
for Authentic Success. Two particular points resonated with me because of their
correlation with my own observations and reading.
Dr Levine made a point about praise echoed by Carol
Dweck and others: that too much praise can be counterproductive. She states,
“The reality is that self-esteem comes out of competence.” Earlier in the interview
Dr Levine argues it is important to let
kids fail as it is one of the chief ways for children to make progress,
such as when they are learning to walk.
Dr Levine sums this up well in her op
ed piece in the New York Times:
The small challenges that start in
infancy (the first whimper that doesn’t bring you running) present the
opportunity for “successful failures,” that is, failures your child can live
with and grow from. To rush in too quickly, to shield them, to deprive them of
those challenges is to deprive them of the tools they will need to handle the
inevitable, difficult, challenging and sometimes devastating demands of life.
This accords with my own reading and observation: few
students are ‘left to their own devices’, and this new way of being may be
undermining the kind of thinking needed to engage resiliently with the world.
This is also relevant for teachers. How do we
intervene when we see students not succeeding at a task? Do we let them finish
it and then give feedback? Do we tell them straight off that they are on the wrong
track and that, in this case, their response does not meet the criteria? When
time is available for students to complete extended compositions, do we ask questions
during the process about how the product is developing and meeting the criteria?
How do we avoid being the hovering teacher?
In group work, leaving students ‘to their own devices’
is essential for generating ideas and getting them started. Refraining from
hovering is essential. Occasionally, engaging in the critical conversation
mid-composition can help students to realign their focus. If a group is
off-task, asking pertinent questions can result in members of the group recognising
that their developing product could be altered to better meet the criteria.
Many of us are creating rich tasks where there is enough
time for students to try and fail, and then make adjustments if needed before
submission (write, edit, and rewrite). And many of us are inviting students to
assess their success against the intended goals whilst in the process of
composing. Hopefully, their learning will be much more effective.
