Failing Forward: Lessons from the Classroom

I looked around my classroom to a cornucopia of chaos.

I officially lost control. Two of my students embedded themselves behind the curtains in an attempt to disappear, man kids are fucking stupid, while three had just wandered off to the toy section. The others were sitting in their chairs or in some varying pose near their chairs watching the 4 run rough shot over me and my 3 coworkers.

This sounds like chaos, which it is, but it’s actually just a normal Thursday. My class is known as one of the most difficult to manage.

Call in the Sub

Second only to a class of students one year older than mine. I substituted for their teacher today, he is out with a broken rib.

The assistant teachers wouldn’t let them out of their chairs to dance, I naively said,

“they can get up and dance.”

Big mistake!

After the 20-kid pile-up, the haymakers started flying.

I spent 30 minutes with them and messaged my coworker to lament,

“I would break my ribs to get out of there too.”

Back to Class

My class is made up of 16 3-year-olds. Enough to frazzle the Zen-ist of Monks.

Ray bit Ryan, Ryan punched Holly, Luna slipped in the bathroom, Hertha crapped herself, and Lucas didn’t pee himself today, way to go Lucas.

“Where’s Henry?”

“Oh Doris, I know you keep crying for Momma, I have some bad news, She brought you here…”

Bruce and Quentin blindly follow their ring leader, Justin, laughing and giggling at their own jokes.

Jasmine, sweet Jasmine, she’s only interested in the pretty colorful dresses her mom sends her to school. She never participates in class, but occasionally gives me a genuine impromptu hug that’s good for the soul.

I have a wild bunch, they are all amazing little humans and I see sparks of brilliance in them. I try every day to connect with them using a language that is not their own and teaching overly ambitious subjects that the school thinks are somehow appropriate and possible.

I am humbled by the sheer untamed and unpredictable nature that engulfs our picturesque room overlooking a lake with 360 degrees of ceiling-to-wall windows.

The curriculum dictates I create a storyboard and teach the students the concept of the beginning, middle, and end of a story.

Ok, when Hertha gets cleaned up we will work on that.

After slogging through a tumultuous 45 minutes of elevated cardio I came to an interesting realization.

Sometimes we just fail forward.

Everything doesn’t have to be an accomplishment. Every day isn’t a success. Sometimes we fail, miserably, and move forward in the process.

The kids didn’t, I did. They were successful, they wasted enough of my time with distractions that they did not have to sit quietly and learn boring stuff.

My coworkers can work wonders with a camera, throw in some buttery language from yours truly to the parents and it will appear that we had an incredible day in class.

The reality is, unbridled chaos ripped through our corner of China for 45 minutes, stopping only to sing “Wag wag wag your tail” Like I said, kids are fucking stupid.

Sometimes, failing forward is what we do.

Here’s to Friday

What I am reading in Illumination

Simon Theakston writes a thought-provoking story about mental models. Some of these you may already apply in your everyday life without realizing them.

“A mental model is a way to simplify the situation and allow our brains to get a grip on what’s going on.”

Read the Story here: