I am not a risk taker in most areas. Forget skydiving, mountain climbing, or
anything involving eating strange foods. Serve me up traditional, please.
People who can do some of these things amaze me. Just like some teachers I know
who put it on the line in the classroom. They climb outside their comfort zones
and may dress up as a book character, talk in funny accents to match the
characters, act out scenes, employ new ideas that may not work, or ask students
for input The more I've seen them, the more convinced I am that teachers
who are risk-takers engage students more deeply in the learning process.
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Photo courtesy of https://www.flickr.com/photos/41673401@N07/3841653574/ |
So what are risks to take in the classroom? One common
thread I've seen is that teachers who go outside the lines aren't afraid to
fail and they encourage their students to do the same--fail. Not the class but
the idea. Maybe the idea falls flat, but they try. When asked how he felt about
being the all-time leader in throwing interceptions, Brett Favre responded that
he felt okay about it. "It shows I was trying." Favre is a three-time
MVP winner who led the legendary Green Bay Packers to a Super Bowl win. Most in
the sports field regard him as one of the best quarterbacks of the game. Favre
was risk-taker. Sometimes those chances paid off, sometimes they didn't.
He didn't view interceptions as failures; instead he looked at them as
positives--he was trying.
What if we took that attitude when students want to try something new outside
our "box" of what school should be? What if we shared failures with
students and showed our human side? What if we gave our students permission for
an idea not to work? What would our classrooms look like?
Dr. Alice Dregger, Lyman Briggs School at Michigan State University, believes
there are several ways
to take risks in the classroom. A couple of them are to try new teaching
approaches and assess "on time." Trust their opinions and implement
their ideas when possible. My students complete unit reflections where they
evaluate their learning. What worked and what didn't? What ideas do they have
to make it a stronger learning experience? Some of the best ideas I've gotten
to strengthen what I teach and how I teach it has come from students.
Another point Dr.
Dregger makes is that risk taking for teachers involves trusting students with
their learning and being willing to learn from them. No one knows everything,
although some of my students think they do. After researching this topic of
risk taking, I realize I need to change. Instead of getting mildly irritated
with these students who "know it all," why not allow them to teach
the rest of the class? I have smart kids. They may not know Shakespeare but
they are smart in other things. Why not make connections so they can teach me?
I have a student who's terrific with cars. He works for a local dealership in
the lube department. When something we read didn't make sense to us because of
the reference, he clarified by explaining what was happening. It was a
mechanical reference, one I knew nothing about then. Now, I'm educated because
of this student.
Maybe it's time
we loosened up in the classroom and invited ourselves and our students to take
more risks. Failure is a part of the learning process. Just ask Thomas Edison.
Without failure, he would have never invented all that he did. It's something I
need to learn to do more consistently.
Being a teacher
is an ever-evolving profession. Although I may never launch myself from an
airplane, I know I will start to take more risks in the classroom. I've always
been a fan of Brett Favre. Maybe interceptions aren't bad after all.