Mistakes are to learn ...

Recently while browsing internet, and skipping through YouTube, I came across a video of TED where Brian Goldman, a doctor by profession was talking about his mistakes. Very sincerely and emotionally, he was sharing his experiences with the audience where he described some costly emergency room mistakes, and then talked about how admitting these mistakes can change the way medical professionals work. According to him, if doctors will accept and discuss their mistakes without judgment, medicines will improve, as doctors will learn from each others. Further he commented that as mistakes are doctors’ enemy, so they get scared to discuss mistakes, and continue with blaming each others.

We are human being, and somehow, according to me, we abide to commit mistakes. I personally believe that one learns in a better way when he or she commits mistakes. I have committed a lot of mistakes in my life, and so does everyone. If I have to classify mistakes, I would classify them in:

1.    The mistakes that I hid

2.    The mistakes I learnt nothing from

3.    The mistakes I learnt from

4.    The mistakes I learnt from and shared my knowledge with others (which I usually do with my students)

According to me, last two classes have a great potential when it comes to life-time learning.

In an era, where parents pay hefty amount to schools to get good education for their children, teachers are expected to be ‘mistake free’. Parents, Principals, their colleagues, the management, everyone looks at them very negatively for making mistakes. Yet, when a teacher forms a good rapport with other teachers or his or her colleagues, he or she shares his or her problems, asks for advice, give advice, and thus, learn from each other. In schools, generally it happens, where a mentor teacher shares ideas with the new teachers. But what would happen when not only mentor teacher but everyone (including Principal, Management, Administrators, and other teachers) shares ideas with each others?

The entire concept of sharing mistakes, discussing them, is to change the perception of the mistakes. This is not the change only in teachers’ but also students’ perception. When teachers make students aware about teachers’ own mistakes and how they learn from them, they set a true and genuine example before children. Students might learn from their own mistakes after that.

Mistakes can improve learning. In almost every part of the world, in education scenario, mistakes are evaluated as poor performance. Students are told not to make mistakes as it may affect their grades. For me, as a new age world teacher, this is an absurd belief. Because if I look at my own journey, at those all mistakes I made, I have learnt everything from them. The bigger the mistake, the more the learning. I learnt less from my success but more from my mistakes, from my failures.

With students, problem doesn’t lie in making mistakes. The real problem lies is teachers not using the mistakes to promote learning. The word SHAME is attached with mistakes, so no student takes chance to explore and think beyond the box. If done the survey, again it my opinion, and not a fact, it will be seen that most of the brilliant students in the schools are not risk-takers, not unique thinkers, not creative in their expressions. They are the ones who scored maximum in standardized tests or assessments. Thus, we label them as gifted students (who commit fewer mistakes). I think that it is a mistake to think of a mistake as a mistake in learning. Everything changes when mistakes becomes learning opportunities. Mistakes and their acceptance lead to students taking more risks, thinking in new ways, cheating less in the examinations, etc.

We should stop marking errors on exam answer sheet without explaining why the answers are wrong. We should give enough explanation, and for that matter, enough time, to understand what went wrong and how to fix it.

We should give them a chance to correct their mistakes and redo their work. This will create learning opportunities for them.

Grades shouldn’t be given or marked on the basis of exam performance, but on the rate of students’ improvement of their mistakes. The more the student improves, the higher his or her grades.

Never say in front of students, “No, your answer is wrong. Can anyone please help him/her with this?” Instead of that, ask questions like: Why do you think so? Can you elaborate it a bit?

There should be a concept of HELPER. A helper is a student who helps the one who commit mistakes. The helper works as a personal consultant. If a student commits a mistake, let him/her chose his/her helper.

Instead of a wall displaying students’ achievements, an ideal classroom should have a wall where students should talk about their mistakes and what they learnt from their mistakes.

A school should have a sign at the very entrance, which says: Everyone who enters here will learn.