COMPELLED: Week 3 - Overcomer

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As I started working on this 15-week series on characteristics of a compelled educator, I knew that I wanted the word "Failure" to be a part of it. However, framing a characteristic as simply "failure" was not exactly what I wanted to share. It's not the failure that defines us a compelled educators, it's really two things that are related to failure. 

First, we know that it is part of our journey. We accept it and learn from it. 

Second, it's what we do AFTER the failure that's important. 

So how do I say all of that (and more) in just one word. I chose overcomer as the characteristic for week 3. 

Maya Angelou goes on to say, "In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it."

It's important that we separate our failure from who we are as a person. Maybe we didn't handle a situation the best that we should have. Maybe we tried a new activity in class and it bombed. Maybe we should have been kinder in the meeting. 

The more we try, the more we'll fail. But we can't forget that when we learn from our mistakes, we get better and make them less and less. 

"failure is an imperfect word"

- Brene Brown

Brene Brown was interviewed by Inc. a few years ago, and it was shared in an article titled, "3 Tips From Brene Brown About Failing Brilliantly." (Isn't that an incredible outlook? Failing brilliantly!)

She shared that when we learn from failure, it's no longer failure. It's a lesson. 

And as educators who understand the importance and value of failure, we don't just model recovery for our students, we let them fail, too!

Jessica Lahey wrote a great book called The Gift of Failure, and Betsy Lancy did an awesome job of summarizing Jessica's book and why failure is a good thing for teenagers. 

1) Failure increases intrinsic motivation and leads to greater academic success

2) Failure teaches students to become more organized and responsible

3) Failure helps teenagers become socially adept

4) Failure helps teenagers cope with the inevitable frustrations of life

“If you're not prepared to be wrong, you'll never come up with anything original.”

- Ken Robinson

Previous posts:
COMPELLED: Week 1 - Humility
COMPELLED: Week 2 - Compassion

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