Failure Is Impossible

Madison author Dean Robbins admitted to the second graders who'd gathered to hear him speak at Stormonth this week that as a boy he'd been a devoted fan of Superman. But he said that his ideas about heroes had changed over time. The non-fiction children's books he writes today are about real heroes of American history like Frederick Douglass and Susan B. Anthony - people who saw problems and worked hard for change. Their spirit, determination, and creative thinking are their super powers and what makes them heroes, he told the boys and girls.

Robbins ended his talk with a quote from Susan B. Anthony: "Failure is impossible." He asked the children to repeat the words three times loudly, which of course, they were only too happy to do. Back in the classroom, I asked the boys and girls what they thought "failure is impossible" meant. Surely, we all fail sometimes, I argued rhetorically. "But it's not really failing if you keep trying," one child said. "If there's something you really want to do or need to do, you have to keep going. You don't just say, 'I failed' when one little thing goes wrong," said another.

Classrooms are always a mix of success and struggle, and ours was no exception this week. Some children drafted, revised and edited their final opinion pieces with ease; others made several false starts before hitting on the right ideas. Some breezed through new chapter books I'd given them to read and write about. For others, this work took more time. In math, some children were able to read word problems and recognize almost immediately the steps involved in finding the solutions, while others had to wrestle with the numbers.

Behavior goals are not so different. For some children, it was relatively easy to listen respectfully and earn the check marks they needed for our class reward. For others, containing their energy and ideas for even a few minutes is like trying to hold back a flood.

All students are challenged in various ways. For most children, some things in every school day are easy and some are hard. Not everything can or should be a challenge. But there's a growing awareness among the boys and girls that the challenges are where the real growth lies. School should be about embracing the challenges. Each child believing that he or she has what it takes to be successful at even the hardest things - maybe not today - but eventually, with time and effort and others to help point the way. This is the message at the heart of the popular notion of a "growth mindset." And many second graders will tell you that it's probably what Susan B. Anthony was thinking when she said "failure is impossible" almost 150 years ago.

As the second trimester comes to an end and I work on report cards and prepare for conferences, thoughts about how students learn and how they view their successes and struggles are much on my mind. I want each student to have the mindset to look past disappointments and mistakes, to keep pushing through the hard parts, and to keep reaching for goals. It's asking a lot of second graders, but I see signs of this kind of thinking every day. I see heroes in the making.

Mark Your Calendars:

Mon., Mar. 6 - Report cards are sent home.

Wed., Mar. 8 - First day for parent-teacher conferences (3:00-6:30 PM)

Thurs., Mar. 16 - Parent-teacher conferences (4:30-8:00 PM)

Wed., Mar. 22 - Early Release Day for students; parent-teacher conferences (3:00-6:30 PM)

Mon., Mar. 20 - The real first day of Spring (It just seemed like spring this week and we took advantage of the warm weather with an extra recess.)

Sat., Mar. 25 - First day of Spring Break