Fighting the Downside of Failure

This may be a little more personal than any of the other post, but believe it fits into the realm of what Education needs.

Recently I had an interview for a Principal position that would involve teaching physical education. It was located in a smaller Midwest town. In my view it would be perfect for me. Teaching PE is something I enjoy, and was my major in college. Being a principal is something I am aspiring to do. Plus, it was smaller so it would give me the training I would need if I did move onto a school that is bigger. But, I did not get the job. They offered it to someone else. I do not know how many other individuals they were considering or where I would have ranked against the others. I do know I was called the day they made their decision. It did hurt. Although I would have to move, and leave my current school, I thought it would be a perfect fit for me. I had to fight the feelings of failure.

I teach third grade, and I do have to say it is probably the hardest grade for any student. Not that the content is too hard, but the method of learning is different. Students are no longer learning how to read, they are reading to learn. Students need to be very responsible for the first time in their life. Students have to think and read in-between the lines in their text books. They have text books that they need to remember to take home for homework. The F word is a big word in 3rd Grade, I "FORGOT" this or that. What F word were you thinking of?

One constant issue I have with parents is them complaining or questioning what is being taught or learned. Parents come to me and tell me, my student was a straight A student their whole life, now they are getting B's and C's. But, really their whole life, which is 1st and 2nd grade? Parents do not seem to realize the transformation their children are partaking in. They do not realize in the power of failure. Let me clarify that, the power in working failure. I am not talking about a student who does not do any of their homework. I am talking about students who work hard, try, and still seem to be off a little. I try to remind them over and over again, it is OK to get some problems wrong or fail a little. It helps us to learn and relearn what is important.

We need to get off that B's and C's means either my child is stupid or the teacher is an idiot. For me, the reason for grades is to gauge the progression of a student. They should be working to improve. B's and C's just mean they are a work in progress and aren't we all? Should we all be life-long learners?