Using Mistakes As Part of the Teaching and Learning Process

      My father taught me two valuable lessons in life early on: 1) never  "one up" anyone and  2) admit it when you have made a mistake no matter who the other person is.   The first lesson I consider not to be too difficult.  If someone is telling me a story, I have learned to keep quiet and not compare their story with a similar or greater one of my own.   However, the second lesson is the one that I struggle with.  When I read Dr. Richard Curwin's article, It's a Mistake Not to Use Mistakes as Part of the Learning Process, in Edutopia, it struck a cord with me. 
     Dr. Curwin suggests that the mistakes we learn from and the mistakes we learn from and share the knowledge with others have the greatest potential to increase learning and teaching.  When teachers build relationships with other teachers or with a mentor teacher, there is often a sharing of advice and learning from each other.  "An important side effect of discussing mistakes might be to change the perception of mistakes..for teachers...and students as well." Teachers share their mistakes with other peers but what about sharing with students?  Dr. Curwin suggests that changing perceptions about student's mistakes is the second way the mistakes can improve learning.  Since mistakes are typically indicative of poor performance, students get a low grade and are encouraged in report cards and conferences with the teacher not to make mistakes.   Dr. Curwin believes that this system is ridiculous.  Learning from past mistakes was invaluable to him, while what he learned from his successes was not as meaningful.
    The problem is not that student make mistakes but that teachers don't use those mistakes to promote learning.  Rather than put shame on the mistakes and have students fearful of taking chances or thinking for themselves, teachers should take mistakes as opportunities so that students take risks and solve mysteries.   This reminds me of Mrs. Frizzle and the Magic School Bus when she challenged her students to "Take chances, make mistakes and get messy!" 
      Here are 9 suggestions by Dr. Curwin to change the way teachers think and evaluate: 
1) Stop marking errors on tests and papers without explaining why they're wrong. 
2) Give students a chance to correct their mistake and redo their work so that mistakes become learning opportunities. 
3) Improvement needs to be the focus. Nothing shows more learning than student improvement. 
4) When a student makes a mistake in a class discussion ask refocusing questions like "Why do you think so?  Can you give an example?"
5) Don't say "You're wrong" when a student gives an incorrect answer.  Instead focus on the positive and find a positive connection to make to the student's answer and then ask another question to lead the student in the right direction. 
6) If a student needs help with an answer, suggest asking a classmate or "Ask 3, than me". 
7) Rather than fill the walls with student achievements, have students brag about their mistakes and what they learned from them. 
8) Host bi-weekly meetings where students can share mistakes, what happened after and what they learned. 
9) Most importantly, tell the students about your own mistakes, especially the funny ones of the past and if you make a mistake in class, admit that you made a mistake.  
      Teachers should want learning not to be about being afraid to make mistakes but to think that producing a mistakes makes something to be learned from, improved upon and feel good about.  

Curwin, Dr. Richard. "It's a Mistake Not to Use Mistakes as Part of the Learning Process." Edutopia. N.p., 28 Oct. 2014. Web. 29 Oct. 2014.