Learning to Fail

To reward students for their hard work on the MCAs, and to take a break after such hard work, Ms. Leom introduced us to a new activity ...

One of our Olweus (bully-free program) goals is to build community and develop our social skills. If you asked your fourth grade student, "What have you talked about recently for your Olweus learning?" They might not be able to respond, because we make connections, discuss, and add one or two "small" learning opportunities into our classroom throughout each week. Today, our activity was a game.

Ms. Leom modeled how to do Cat's Cradle for the class. Then she sent us off into pairs to try it. She told us we would fail repeatedly. She told us that our strings would collapse, and we would have to try again. Our goals were to KEEP TRYING, laugh at our mistakes, ENCOURAGE EACH OTHER, and try again! The room buzzed with our efforts and confidence as we made our many attempts.

We even switched partners. So the students who were making progress might be able to provide support to the students who were still learning.

There were some laughs, some groans of frustration, many "Now what do I do?" We took a break and went outside for Recess. Tomorrow, if we work hard on our testing, we will try again.

When we have it mastered, we hope to expand our learning and share it with others.

Learning how to fail and keep trying ... with a little encouragement and help from our friends ... a lesson we all can learn from!






(For pictures and instructions, you can check out the following link, Cat's Cradle (or cut and paste in your browser: http://www.ifyoulovetoread.com/book/chten_cats1105.htm)