This module you read about risk taking and perfectionism. Fear of failure is a crippling cognitive state of mind that prevents many gifted and talented students from achieving high levels. Watch this video and describe how you can create a classroom environment that teaches all students how to overcome fear of failure.
Sunday, August 9, 2015
Perfectionism and Risk Taking
This module you read about risk taking and perfectionism. Fear of failure is a crippling cognitive state of mind that prevents many gifted and talented students from achieving high levels. Watch this video and describe how you can create a classroom environment that teaches all students how to overcome fear of failure.
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Force failure. Wait what?! Exactly. Gifted students are used to doing most things they attempt, very well. With this perspective, the fear of making a mistake looms large over these students - people may think students are not "smart" or not gifted if they fail at anything. But, the last statement reveals the entire problem - other people and what they think. Gifted kids enter classrooms and are classified as such because they have achieved levels high enough to be considered for such programming. After entering gifted programs, it is incumbent upon educators to identify the specific gifts and talents of each child in order to find ways to both interest and challenge them. Additionally, these same educators must help to develop a self-efficacy within the child/student - a notion of not only what he/she wants to achieve, but also what he/she is capable of achieving. To do this adequately, instilling the quality of a risk-taker - someone who is not afraid to try something new, even if it means they will fail, is paramount. But how does this get done? How does a classroom, which is competitive by nature, advocate for forcing failure? In my classroom, I think there are some specific ways I can incorporate this. A portfolio to document progress throughout not only an academic year, but also the length of an academic program is critical. The opportunity for reflection demonstrates that perfection is never attainable and something can always be learned. Offering various methods to turn in products that demonstrate understanding as well as encouraging new and innovative methods of the demonstration of mastery (which also shows innovation and creativity) is another way to force students to try new things. Part of stretching the gifts and talents of students is to have them operate in environments in which they are unfamiliar, sometimes with little to no direction on how to find their way out. Imposing scenarios where they are forced to use what they know and do well in such a foreign environment helps the student to see how talents transcend across subjects, and activities can be used across a spectrum. I also think there needs to be a good deal of emphasis placed on teamwork and team building. The fear of failure is never more evident when a student is counting on someone else to perform or when they are placed with a group of people who strengths may be their weakness. Force failure. I think I would like to rephrase it to force the unfamiliar. Force students to see the beauty in the journey, not in their final product. Take the emphasis off the end grade, and put the spotlight on what is learned and how much is gained through the process. Nick Saban talks about The Process. He is a classic example of someone who puts the best college football players in the country in an environment where failure will happen, but the expectation is that you rise every time you fall, learning, growing, and developing into the type of player who actively seeks challenges to continue The Process. This is what I hope to do for my students – engross them in the learning process to so much of a degree that their quest for knowledge, growth, and development overrides any fear of making a mistake. After all, life is a learning process until our final breath, and the joy is certainly in the journey, not the destination.
ReplyDelete“It’s better to do nothing than to do something wrong.” This description of perfectionism really resonates with me. It is a frame of mind that is absolutely rooted in fear and as Dr. Besnoy aptly describes, is crippling. Unfortunately, so many people, gifted or not, live their lives below their potential due to this fear. They develop negative, risk-averse, habits that prevent the manifestation of opportunities for growth, creativity, innovation, and success. I believe these habits begin very early for gifted kids and are continually reinforced by external and internal pressure to live up to their gifted label, or to satisfy the constant expectations that come with “being the smart kid” or actually being called “perfect” by peers (this is probably more true for girls). This brings up another excellent point brought up by the video, “Perfect is the enemy of good.”
ReplyDeleteWe should be intervening with kids early (Kindergarten, 1st grade) to begin actively instilling the values that discourage the development of perfectionism, such as “Your best is success”. We must help kids understand that most of life consists of grey areas. I think grading in different ways that allow for flexibility and recognition of the frequent subjectivity of “rights and wrongs” teaches kids to not only think critically, but to explore and accept the vast space between black and white.
I’ve made the point before that failure should be forced in gifted classes. Learning how to fail is one of the best skills one can develop. So, yes, I definitely see the benefit in “practicing failing”. I think, after these exercises, further emotional development could take place by engaging the class in a group discussion in which they feel safe talking about their own experiences of perfectionism, as it can be a very isolating, pressurized feeling that may be helped by peer/teacher recognition and social support. The students can brainstorm together about how to cope with failure and redefine failure.
The repercussions of perfectionism are immense, really. I consider it a form of self-abuse. The perfectionist will spend so much time revising/perfecting things it becomes akin to obsessive-compulsive disorder. This is often to the detriment of a student’s own health (social, mental, emotional, and even physical). There is also a lot of negative self-talk that goes on whenever the slightest mistake or misstep happens and this becomes habitual as well. This is something that kids/people will never tell you because they’re even ashamed of how much they beat themselves up (this is not perfect). So, it’s essential that gifted teachers address solutions before the students have a chance to really ingrain this negative position toward him/herself.
We can talk about loving oneself and treating oneself gently. I’ve asked perfectionists before, “What you said to yourself in that situation: would you have said the same to another person for the same mistake?.” The answer is always “Of course not!”. Sometimes people need to literally be told that they are worthy of the same respect they give to others. Points like these cannot be taken for granted.