This weekend I had the opportunity to attend my daughters first dance recital.
During the course of the recital, one of the dance groups had a small flub. What they did was not important, or the point of this post, but what the crowd did as a reaction is.
When the mistake was discovered, the lights were dimmed and the music stopped, the class was brought back to the side.
When the lights came back on, the music started to play again and the students came on to start their routine again.
The crowd cheered! They just didn't politely clap, the hooted and hollered and brought smiles to the faces of the young girls as they started their routine once again. At the conclusion of the routine, the crowd cheered some more and the girls ran off the stage with huge smiles.
It was very cool to see parents be so enthusiastic in celebrating the mistakes and successes of the class. They could of been polite, and let them come back on stage to only politely clap at the end but they choose to be encouraging to the students and help build their confidence for what became a perfect routine .
How do you celebrate mistakes? Do you use it as an opportunity to teach and help students master the skill that they are having difficulty with, helping to build their confidence so that they can build upon those successes?
One last thought, my kids' teacher tells them that "If you can't make a mistake, you can't make anything!" What is the learning environment in your class?
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