Although this TED Talk was not directly related to education in a classroom, one can learn some valuable lessons from it. As educators, we need to learn how to fail. As Teller stated, failing opens doors for success because you are able to see what your flaws are, then fix them. This is completely applicable in a classroom. A teacher needs to have a multitude of approaches to teaching to fit every student’s learning needs. Trying something new and crazy in the classroom, although scary, may end up being the right approach. It has the possibility of benefitting not only one student, but all of them.
For example, in my eighth grade Spanish class, my Spanish teacher decided she wanted to use iPads and iMovie for a year long video project in which we imitated the show “Survivor” in Spanish speaking countries. This was her year long course plan, and she was the only teacher doing it. Needless to say, she was absolutely terrified. She took a moonshot, as Teller would put it, and it ended up paying off. Not only did it work, but our class ended up being a phenomenal group of students. We learned so much Spanish through conversation, we used technology in a new way, we had fun, and we really learned a lot about teamwork. Now, my teacher does a unit like this every year where she incorporates skits and such with technology. The kids love it.
For example, in my eighth grade Spanish class, my Spanish teacher decided she wanted to use iPads and iMovie for a year long video project in which we imitated the show “Survivor” in Spanish speaking countries. This was her year long course plan, and she was the only teacher doing it. Needless to say, she was absolutely terrified. She took a moonshot, as Teller would put it, and it ended up paying off. Not only did it work, but our class ended up being a phenomenal group of students. We learned so much Spanish through conversation, we used technology in a new way, we had fun, and we really learned a lot about teamwork. Now, my teacher does a unit like this every year where she incorporates skits and such with technology. The kids love it.
Relating this back to Astro Teller’s TED Talk, my Spanish teacher prioritized what was most difficult and really threw herself into it. In this case, it didn’t fail, but she had obviously had experiences with failure in the past that had made her want to try something so different to see if it would succeed. This to me is a very valuable lesson. I want to try exciting new things like she did in her classroom, and I want to make it a safe space for failure not just for me, but also for my students. Like me, they too will try something new and at some point, fail in their effort. However, I want them to learn from those experiences, and improve what went wrong. There truly is value in failing, you just have to decide if you’ll embrace it or not.
