“Smart failure”

11 Apr


I watched this video by Eddie Obeng on TED talks titled Eddie Obeng: Smart failure for a fast-changing world and it made me think about the role a teacher plays in the classroom. How important are our roles as agents preparing children for a future that is changing as I write? Are we preparing children for their future or our past? This has been a question that has inspired me to reflect on my role in the classroom and the roles of the students in front of me. With information available at the press of a button what is more important: providing children with skills and strategies that can help them access and navigate though the tonnes of information or giving them that information.

  I strongly believe that providing them with the tools to access and process the information is a more important tool. Eddie Obeng says that what worked yesterday won’t work tomorrow. How important is it then to provide children with skills that will enable them to adapt, solve problems and prepare them for “smart failure”( as Eddie calls it) when they realize that they were not successful despite the fact they tried various strategies. How important then is it to prepare students to be risk takers?


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