Learning should be the "Constant," not "Time."

This morning with my advisory I shared a video featuring Natalie Gilbert, a teenage girl who forgot the words to the National Anthem in front of 20,000 people at an NBA playoff game in 2003. She was not a professional singer; she was a young lady who won a contest giving her the opportunity to "feel like a star." And while I'm sure she would have preferred to have had a perfect performance, the result of her "failure" was a response that makes you feel good about being a human. If you would like to check that video out, you can view it here:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4880PJnO2E 

This video is one of my favorites on You Tube because it is not just a video that shows humans reacting kindly to one of their own in her time of need, but also because it is a video that I can relate to in a lot of ways, as an educator. About 48 seconds into the video, the look on her face is one that I have seen many times before. This is the point where Natalie Gilbert recognizes that she has absolutely no idea what to say next. She is embarrassed, and she feels like a failure. You can see it in her eyes. Here at school, we see that same look in our students' eyes sometimes. We get that look when we call on a student who has no idea what the answer is, yet he is on the spot in front of his peers. We see it when we hand out tests when a student looks at it and knows she is not prepared for it. 

However, our role as teachers is that of Maurice Cheeks, the coach in the video who runs to the aid of Natalie. He doesn't let her give up. In fact, he pushes that microphone right back into her face a couple of times to let her know that quitting is not an option. He scaffolds a little and gives her a little boost with the words to get her going again. Then, when it's all over, he gives her a little hug to let her know that she accomplished something just by hanging in there. We, as teachers, strive to be like Mo Cheeks when we encounter failure on a regular basis. 

Failure is a funny thing because we likely learn the most from our failures. And if the goal of school is to teach our students as much as possible, it should be accepted that failure is going to happen along the way. However, students don't look at it that way. They feel embarrassed when they fail, just like Natalie. I'm not sure why Natalie failed, but it wasn't because she couldn't sing. There are a couple of points in her song where she really sounds great. Most often, when our students fail, it is not because they can't "do math" or "do science." Instead, it's because they didn't get it the first time around. And while we're going to keep striving to help our kids get things the first time around, we want them to know we're not giving up on them when they do not.

One of the advisory teams we have formed for our "Borgia and Beyond" continuous improvement initiative is focused on "learning" being the "constant" in school and on "time" being the "variable." Traditionally, in school, it has been the opposite. However, we're trying to change that. We want the Natalies of our school - those young men and women who have talent and are putting in the effort to be great, but haven't got there yet - to find success. If you're willing to help us get there, I hope you will contact me to find out how you can be a part at kevin.mabie@borgia.com. The group focusing on "time to learn" will first meet on September 19 at 6:30.

If you research Natalie Gilbert's story, you will learn that she was invited to sing the National Anthem again, about five months later, and she hit every word, and every note, just fine. She found success, and we want our students to find success in the same way.