Mistakes in Life: Celebrating Failures

While reading the chapter on mistakes and struggles, I couldn't help but think about young math learner Carlene, teachers' college, and Numeracy teacher Carlene.  As a young learner, I always struggled with math; a language that intrigued me. I don't recall worrying about failing anything because my parents were very supportive and always encouraged me to do my best, but I was worried about my peers knowing about my struggles with math especially K.W.  Everyone knew K.W. got perfect on every test/quiz.  I am that student who needs time to think and to discuss my ideas and hear other's ideas. We always worked independently. I use to look for the answers at the back of the textbook and then try to figure out how to arrive at the answer.   I admired K. W. and wanted to understand math just like him.  Fast forward to teachers' college where my path to becoming a math teacher began.  Dr. Andrew Allen is the math professor at university of Windsor who changed my perspective about mathematics.  I clearly recall him telling us that we should celebrate failures with our students just as we would their successes.  When I was hired to teach in PEEL, I struggled with teaching math, the way Dr. Allen talked about, through problem solving in a collaborative community of learners, mainly because I didn't have a partner with similar philosophy.  I had such a hard time with parents not understanding the approach; one even wanted their child removed from my class. I refused to conform. I did a lot of research on my own which I used as talking points with parents, have had supportive administrators and would eventually meet Shannon Lee.  As a Numeracy teacher I encourage students to own their mistakes and share their struggles.  It's not enough for students to say "I made a mistake" or "I can learn from my mistakes." I challenge them to dig deeper and explain what they mean.  How do you know that you have made a mistake? What did you learn from someone else's mistake or your own? How did you overcome your struggles?  It use to be hard to watch students struggle, but now I smile every time I see it or hear it cause I know they'll be stronger learners because of it!