Methods at SSA: Teaching Students to Embrace Mistakes

This article was originally published on Socratic Summer Academy’s blog.

• Mistakes are part of the learning process.
• We create a safe space where mistakes are seen as an opportunity to learn and grow.
• Find out more on our blog!

Mistakes Are Opportunities to Learn!

Mistakes are essential in learning

I think the most important element of the way that we teach at SSA is let the kids know that this is a safe space to make mistakes. I always say, not only to the kids I’m working with but also to the teachers I’m training, “Even if you make a mistake, it’s fine. It’s part of the learning process.” Learning is about taking a thing that you know nothing about and ending up knowing more.

Part of recall is being confused. “Wait, where do I apply this particular thing? Does this work in this sort of situation? I half remember it, but maybe I don’t remember the full thing. Maybe I’m getting it kind of confused with this other thing that’s sort of similar, but not really. Or maybe I’m not sure that I remember the name of it and I remember a few details, but I totally missed the rest of it.” All of that is ok.

We create a safe space to learn and grow

In fact, when we did training in June of 2020, the teachers said to me specifically: “I really appreciate how much you make it ok to get stuff wrong.” They said: “we do a lot of professional developments and we don’t feel like this, but with you I feel like it’s ok to get stuff wrong. You’ve been so encouraging.” And I give them all the reasons why it’s alright: it’s just part of the learning process. It would be crazy for me to expect you to get everything right that I’ve said the first time around, since that’s a lot of information. So that’s just normal.

Making this part of the learning process is the same thing that we do at SSA when we’re working with our students. We let them know that everything is ok. I can’t tell you how many students I’ve met that are so scared to give an answer in class because they feel like they’re going to be wrong and that their peers are going to laugh at them and that their teachers are going to roll their eyes at them and think that they’re dumb.

So by eliminating all of that, we get kids to take risks, and kids taking risks is the thing we really want. Because if we’re trying to create that feel of an experiment, where people are working together to solve a problem they don’t know how to solve, students have to be willing to take risks and say things that are “silly” or “wrong”. Like I always say, the only bad question is the one you didn’t ask, because if you have it, somebody else probably has it. So we endeavor to make our space a completely safe space to ask questions and get stuff wrong.