4 Steps To Curate A Safe Place To Fail: Engaging Screenagers
4 Steps To Curate A Safe Place To Fail: Engaging Screenagers
In school, don’t we teach students they are to give the right answer or they fail?
In life, don’t those who fail the most become the most successful?
Aren’t we somehow missing the picture in education?
Isn’t there a way to let students learn that failing is just learning what doesn’t work?
Why is this important?
Michael Jordan and Jack Ma are both famous for failing and they are both quite successful because they learned to turn failure into learning and kept trying.
As a trainer and university lecturer in the USA, I had great success in my training and classrooms by engaging my learners in ways I had learned from my Dale Carnegie Instructor Training.
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After earning my Doctoral Degree researching engaging instruction in adult education and training and development, I started a training business in Hong Kong.
But something was wrong, I was struggling in this new culture (I’me a cattle rancher’s son from Colorado, USA) to find ways to inspire and motivate my students in Hong Kong.
In the classroom, I preferred having students engage in learning activities instead of lecturing.
One of the learning activities I liked was to ask learners to go out of the classroom and find supporting materials for their speeches.
Guess what happened to those students?
Yes, most all of them would come back showing excitement as they were sharing their findings.
The problem was travel time going to the library, etc. to curate examples, and therefore we could only engage this exercise 1 or 2 times a semester.
The problem was travel time going to the library, etc. to curate examples, and therefore we could only engage this exercise 1 or 2 times a semester.
When the smart phone with the ability to search the internet came along, I could see my students were curating(searching, finding, collecting, commenting, changing, and sharing.)
I thought, “Why not do that for learning?”, so I started asking them to go find supporting material for their speeches using their mobile devices.
This was much more efficient as students were able to go beyond the classroom walls and curate new and different supporting material for their assignments.
But some students did not find material and I wanted to know what was happening as maybe I could guide them like my graduate advisors had guided me in graduate school.
Again, I struggled through trying several paper worksheets and workbooks to guide students, but I wasn’t getting the results I wanted. (junk engagement)
I began to search for alternatives and I struggled testing new apps, etc., until I found eWorkbooks, and after testing, began to use them full time in class.
Then we used eWorkbooks (Google Forms with the training slides as well as interactive questions, curating links and tasks, example images and videos, etc. which students [Engaging Screenagers] completed using their mobile devices) for interactive learning.
Students used eWorkbooks to answer questions, interact, etc. while I lead the discussion, and after they submitted their answers, they would get their responses sent to their inbox so they could review their learning Moments of Growth. (optimal engagement)
Because the students’ responses from eWorkbooks go right into a spreadsheet in real-time, as the teacher I can monitor what students are doing to give them guidance in the moment, as well as track their learning development over time.
Step 1) Curating
At the beginning of the semester when students first started curating, I noticed they would most often do a quick search, find an example (the first one they saw,) curate it, and say, “I’m done.”
Of course, I would encourage them to dig deeper and find better examples, so they could meet more of the criteria or solved the challenges the exercises outlined.
After they curated their example the were to explain, to their group mates and me, how it met, could be adapted or synthesized to fit the criteria or solved the challenges outlined in the exercise.
Here in Asia, we have great social pressure around this idea of “saving face” or not failing and being shamed or embarrassed in front of peers.
Step 2) Failing
At first, my students were fearful if they didn’t curate the first example they would be seen as a failure.
In the strict sense, every time you find something that doesn’t fit your criteria you’ve failed, but that doesn’t mean you’re a failure.
You have simply found one more example that doesn’t work as well as you would like.
What I wanted my students to feel is not they have failed but they can find better, as this is a life skill they could apply to improve in most every area of their lives. (optimal engagement)
Step 3) Failing over and over
After only a few weeks, my students began to dig deeper on their own (without my encouragement) to find examples that met more of the outlined criteria, because they had learned that curating creates a safe place to fail. (optimal engagement)
Basically, they were learning to fail over and over again to find better and better results that fit the criteria or solved the challenges.
Interestingly, as they shared their curating experiences with classmates, I saw they were even counting their failures, but now the failures simply transformed into attempts as in, “It took me 9 searches to find this example.”
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Step 4) Curating better results
StrengthsFinder 2.0
Step 4) Curating better results
After they had learned and practiced failing over and over, my students were curating many more examples that fit the criteria or solved the challenges. (optimal engagement)
Also, they were becoming much more articulate at explaining, to their group mates and me, how their examples met, could be adapted to, or synthesized to fit the criteria.
Concluding
I’m sure you are thinking, “Curating isn’t the only activity where students can learn to fail over and over.”, and I agree but in curating, students keep the curiosity and spirit.
How many of you struggled learning math and even though you passed your math classes, to this day math is not your favorite subject because you failed over and over?
Isn’t curating a much better way to let Engaging Screenagers learn to fail over and over to get better results?
Wouldn’t this be a much better way to help learners develop their persistence and higher level thinking skills?
In the future, won’t these skills be even more vital for success, and aren’t we killing our learners’ growth by not letting them curate and explain to others?
Curate to learn to fail for deeper learning and more growth.
Remember, come join tomorrow to see more Improving Your Engagement with Screenagers and others inspirational experiences and ideas for Optimal Engagement in the ScreenAge.
Remember to engage tomorrow.
Following with you.
Keep it simple.
All the Best, Warren
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