Failure by Ted Sizer and Alfie Kohn

Joe Bower has included a quote by Ted Sizer. He says:

"....good schools promote displays of incompetence (strange as that may sound) in order to help students find their way to competence".

Alfie Kohn is also quoted by Joe. He says:

"teachers who want to encourage intellectual growth give students time to be confused and create a climate where it's perfectly acceptable to fall on your face".

These quotes make me feel really good about my classroom. Every single day I talk about the cool things we try and every single day I admit that I am failing to some degree. I love to toss around the big ideas in my head and try like crazy to incorporate them into my classroom. Some days it matches what is in my head and some days doesn't.

As I reflect on the importance of failing for teachers and for students, I am happy to say that my classroom looks very different from what it looked like five years ago. I need just a little more time....