I pledge to use my mistakes to thrive — this is the first line of the Indi-ED pledge recited daily at our morning meetings. This statement is powerful and one of the most important values that we as humans can embrace. I make mistakes daily, I know many people do. I don’t think that I really thought about how my mistakes have shaped me as an adult until I laid eyes on this line. It’s one I recite to myself so I don’t feel bad about my mistakes. I grew up feeling ashamed to make mistakes and embarrassed to admit I was wrong. This is still ingrained in my head and sometimes mistakes bring tears to my eyes. I have had to and continue to teach myself to thrive from my own mistakes. Mistakes make our brains grow in every way and are an essential part of learning. Teaching children to have a growth mindset and to have resiliency (another crucial value) is my favorite lesson, in part because no one ever told me that as a child.
We teach a growth mindset from the very start of the school year — day one! I want it implanted in those amazing brains that get so down on themselves for teeny tiny mistakes. Not only is the growth mindset a wonderful tool for kids who may struggle academically, it’s also important for those “perfect” students — the kids that have somehow picked up from life that they need to do everything right. It’s not anyone’s fault but as a country we run on being productive and perfect. It’s everywhere. Who is the best, fastest, wealthiest, strongest, smartest.
I don’t think we celebrate our mistakes enough and we don’t value where they have gotten us in life. It’s so rewarding to watch kids realize with visible relief that perfection is not expected. Mistakes are expected and accepted.
Sometimes it’s hard to make a kid really understand that you mean it when you say mistakes are okay, so I like to point out my mistakes to my students, which are often enough that they pay attention. This helps me to keep recognizing my faults so I can grow as an educator and it also shows the kids that I am a human, just like them, and I make mistakes. One child said to me recently after I admittedly made a mistake, “It’s okay, now your brain is growing!” And it’s true!
All that said, I once read a study that said mistakes do not make you learn after all. The authors of the study claimed that Albert Einstein and Winston Churchill were wrong when they said that you learn from your mistakes. The study stated that when participants were told they did something wrong they shut down and couldn’t complete tasks after that. I imagine that is true when you are told that you are wrong and that’s it, but that’s not how we frame mistakes at Indi- ED. We tell them that it’s no big deal, that they put the effort in and have tried their best. We ask them to reflect on what they learned from said mistake and how it has made their brain grow. And then we let it go and integrate the error as part of the learning process, reminding the students to use their mistakes to thrive!