Is it okay to fail?

Have you ever woken up with a smile on your face and said to yourself, “Today, I am going to fail?” Can we encourage kids to ask questions, take risks in their writing and embrace making mistakes as a route to learning? More subtly put, how can we praise accomplishment, and simultaneously offer critical critique? According to Routman (2005), all students rise to be capable writers when we hold our expectations and at a level that is “reasonable and rigorous.” How do we get there? We can listen. We can scaffold. We can guide students to talk ahead of time, to help get their ideas flowing. We can lead guided writing activities.

We can encourage kids to try with out fear of failure by structuring routine; vocally sharing student work and publicly displaying published writing. Spending time on the task of writing is good advice. To be a writer we must do what a writer does and write everyday. A short, three sentence exit strategy before heading out to recess. Writing about our feelings if I feel silver or gold today and why.  Opening the day by writing about what I noticed on the way in to school. Daily free-writes can build fluency and endurance. Accomplished writers share a unique voice, are legible, add interesting detail, and use correct spelling, grammar, and punctuation. Good writers, listen, interpret, explain their thinking and share original stories. They write with purpose and audience in mind.

This week, while teaching a homophone lesson, a student shared through written language, “I too, want to find two gold and bronze bars.” We should hold a gold standard of expectations for all of our students.

Taking risks with language and being willing to fail, however, is not to be confused with giving students permission to fail. Show me your best effort and I will show you a better way. There is always room for improvement and a way to add spit and polish to the final published product. If we demand success, correct spelling, encourage rereading and editing, and add a healthy dose of praise along the way, we will help students to believe that they are writers. Failure is not an option if it is left unchecked. Making mistakes is okay. It is how we learn.