This Champion Learns From Failure

Philadelphia Eagles quarterback, Nick Foles, was voted "most valuable player" of SuperBowl LII. He is also two years removed from contemplating leaving the game of football entirely after being traded, benched, and cut. As well as he played last Sunday, Foles's post-game comments reinforced the power behind what many educators are channeling to students as "growth mindset." The backup QB who became SuperBowl MVP provided us with a meritorious message of humility and learning, along with a rock-solid game plan for life.

Foles said, “The big thing is don’t be afraid to fail. In our society today with Instagram and Twitter, it’s all highlight reel. All of the good things, but when you look at it, and failure is a part of life. That’s a part of building character and growing. Without failure, who would you be? I wouldn’t be up here if I hadn’t fallen thousands of times and made mistakes.”

“I am not perfect, I am not Superman. I may be in the NFL, and we just won the Super Bowl, but I still have daily struggles. When you look at struggles in life, know that it’s an opportunity to grow. If something is going wrong in life, embrace it because you’re growing.”

“We all are human and have weaknesses. Throughout this, being able to share that and being transparent. I know when I hear people sharing those things I am listening because I can resonate.”

I'm a Chicago Bears fan, but as an educator tuning in to learning, I couldn't help but be impressed with the insight shared by Nick Foles last Sunday night.

** Cue "Gonna Fly Now" from the movie Rocky! **

Photo Attribution: Zennie Abraham, Flickr; CC-BY-ND 2.0

Comments

Self-Directed vs. Self-Determined Learning; What's the Difference?

"We need to move beyond the idea that an education is something that is provided for us, and toward the idea that an education is something that we create for ourselves." - Stephen Downes In this age of abundance of information, shifting classroom pedagogy isn't nearly enough to make learning in school more relevant and authentic for the learner. Self-directed learning ( andragogy ), and self-determined learning ( heutagogy ) are the ideals necessary in making students " future ready " to live and learn in a web-connected world. While original research applied these concepts to mature learners, it has become apparent that even young children have an abundant capacity for recognizing and directing their learning. Anyone who has observed toddlers learning how to walk and talk understand the motivation and skill development that quickly develops during these processes. Considered by some to be on a learning continuum, self-directed learning, and self-determined

Board Games in the School Library: 3 Reasons Why It's a Winning Play

"Play is the highest form of research." - Albert Einstein “Play is the work of the child.” – Maria Montessori In our recently remodeled school media center, we have a space dedicated to active engagement in fun learning activities. Part maker space, part literacy lounge, board games are being incorporated to promote a culture of joyful learning. Whether it's a game of Rummy , Yahtzee , or Scrabble , family game night serves as a communication elixir and solidifies our domestic climate of togetherness. Shouldn't similar opportunities for interaction, challenge, and fun exist somewhere in our schools? Broken families, cultural fragmentation, and poverty are impacting opportunities for children to play. As we unpacked and tagged our new media center games, I was more disappointed than shocked by the number of students who had never played Monopoly , Boggle , or Sorry . One skeptical teacher commented, "Oh great, now we're letting students pl

The Classroom Experiment - Strategies to Promote Engagement and Learning

Dylan Wiliam is a prominent educator in the United Kingdom. His ideas and strategies are consistently mentioned in education reform circles. On an uncharacteristically quiet evening at home, I stumbled across these BBC videos, The Classroom Experiment . Although it took nearly two hours to get through the videos, I came away thinking that the teacher is certainly the most important factor in student learning, and that student learning can be improved with persistence and a willingness to become better at failure. For those folks that feel that teachers can be replaced by technology, these videos suggest otherwise. The Classroom Experiment - part 1 (58:00) The Classroom Experiment - part 2 (59:00) Dylan Wiliam at The Schools Network Conference (38:00) Here is a summary of the strategies and changes that Dylan Wiliam instituted to increase student engagement and advance student learning. No raising of hands - use Popsicle sticks, or some other mechanism to randomize th

Nocking the Arrow

Search This Blog