Sunday, October 14, 2012
A Few Lessons from J.K. Rowling
I came across this today and it resonated with me for a few reasons. J.K. Rowling talks about the "importance of failure" and "the crucial importance of imagination": two things that have been really important themes for me this morning.
The video I found can be accessed here.
J.K. Rowling talks about how she had to experience "failure" to realize what she wanted to do. She persevered through many struggles in her life and wrote some of my favorite fiction of all time. It reminds me of Carol Dweck, who wrote about the importance of praising children for their efforts and perseverance. Instead of saying "you're so smart!", Dweck's research suggests that we should be saying something more along the lines of "it looks like you worked hard at that!" or "good job putting so much effort into that!" This article was really interesting, and showed how children who are praised specifically for effort are more willing to try harder tasks and are not as anxious about making mistakes.
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Lovely. I think of all the children who cannot yet imagine what's waiting on the other side of failure at something, and who cannot yet distinguish between "I failed at this" and "I'm a failure".
ReplyDeleteCan we teach children these things or is it mainly a matter of being mature enough to have context of successes when we do run up against failures?
Your comment gave me a lot to think about. I think a big part of being able to keep trying after feeling like you've failed is having the confidence to try again. I think both are so important! It would be my hope that all students feel they have a context of successes for those inevitable times they will feel that they've failed at something. I think we can build up students to recognize their accomplishments, so that they gain the maturity of having that context of successes.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if it is possible to teach children that mistakes and failures are okay (and important! and good! and to keep trying!) if they aren't getting those messages or support outside of the classroom?