Fail Forward

Failure is an essential 21st Century skill. I know that this sounds like an odd statement, but we need to do a better job of teaching our students how to fail ... and fail forward.

C.S. Lewis, coined the phrase, "fail forward" with his quote on success:"Failures, repeated failures, are finger posts on the road to achievement. One fails forward toward success." 

Failing Forward

Adults often rush in to "save the day" for children. This is an inherent quality of parents and teachers ... we hate to see children fail. However, by interceding too early and too often, we eliminate powerful life lessons for children. I'm concerned that our over-protective, "everyone gets a trophy" society is going to produce adults who do not know how to learn from failures. In fact, we fail to learn (pun intended).

Can you imagine a future world where scientists don't learn from their mistakes?  Einstein and Edison were two who knew the power of failing forward. We need to ask why we failed, what caused our failure, and how to improve in the future ... and that learning only happens after we fail.

In her book, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success (2006), Carol Dweck presents the difference between a growth mindset and a fixed mindset. In a very short summary, a growth mindset is one that wants to fail forward and grow from mistakes. Check out Dweck's 10 minute Ted Talk on the power of a growth mindset in school.

The word "failure" has such a negative connotation (especially in schools), and a person who fails is seen too often as a "loser." How can we celebrate failing forward in schools? Carol Dweck, in her Ted Talk, refers to a school that has replaced an "F" grade with "Not Yet." What a powerful, growth mindset message this sends to students! Students need to realize that failure is part of the process of learning, and when they receive a "Not Yet" grade, they need to keep working. A "Not Yet" mentality encourages grit/perseverance, an essential characteristic for success.

So, how do we teach students to fail forward?

Classroom Applications

1. Reflect on what some of these "losers" had to say about "failure"

Write one of the following quotes on your board tomorrow morning, discuss the potential learning power of failure, and share how to fail forward.

• "Failure happens all the time. It happens every day in practice. What makes you better is how you react to it." -Mia Hamm
• "Failure isn't fatal, but failure to change might be." -John Wooden
• "I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work." -Thomas Edison
• "Success is not final, failure is not fatal; it is the courage to continue that counts." -Winston Churchill
• "Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm." -Winston Churchill
• "The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing." -Henry Ford
• "Failure is only the opportunity to begin again, only this time more wisely." -Henry Ford
• "There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure." -Colin Powell
• “It is fine to celebrate success, but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure.” -Bill Gates
• “I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” -Michael Jordan
• "Failure is success in process." -Albert Einstein

2. Create a safe environment

• Ensure students have the opportunity to express ideas without ridicule
• Implement risk-taking and problem-solving into your curriculum
• Focus on formative assessment; provide regular "not yet" conversations with students and provide meaningful feedback on how to improve.
• Provide opportunities for students to collaborate with others to correct work, peer edit, and revise "not yet" work.

3. Change your educational paradigm to encourage Failing Forward.  Here are a few articles/websites to get you thinking.

• Growth Mindset Education Resources 
• MakerSpaces in Education 
• Tinkering in Education 
• Problem-Based Learning (PBL) in Education

Go fail forward with your students this week!