Final Destination… Success!

Failure is just a resting place.  It is an opportunity to begin again more intelligently.  Henry Ford

What we teach our students about failure is what we believe about failure.  In pursuing a goal, there are many certainties and one of them is that we will fail at least once along the way.  When we begin the process of working with our students on new concepts, do we teach them that failures are necessary for success? Many times, failures help you appreciate the success that is sure to follow.

This lesson is learned the hard way by many students because they don’t realize that in order to appreciate any success, they must respect the process.  One essential aspect of that process is the emphasis placed on continuing when failure ensues.

When a student fails at a math problem, it simply means that he or she has missed a step along the way.  When a student is not successful on a test, it doesn’t mean that the student will never be successful at anything, it simply means the student needs more opportunities to succeed.

Henry Ford asks that you allow failure to be a stop on the road, a “resting place,” but not a destination.  Failure is never a destination that we want for our students, but if we don’t teach them how to continue moving towards success, they will surely make failure their home.

What we teach our students about failure is just as important as what we teach them about success.  These two experiences are one in the same. As we begin to cultivate learners, let us remember that many of our best stops along the road, our most important “resting places” were failures.  However, those were only “resting places”, not our final destinations.