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Astro Teller, a Google engineer, in his 2016 TED talk on failure, highlights the necessity of failure for innovation. He claims there are two aspects that go into every dream which interplay dynamically. The first is "unchecked optimism" , which fuel our visions. The second is "enthusiastic skepticism" which breathes reality into our visions. Teller elaborates on this relationship by describing his fellow engineers procedure of "creating" and "killing" ideas inside his moonshot factory. The unchecked optimism is what generates the elaborate and revolutionary ideas. Their next step is what seems rather contradictory-- their next task is to try as hard as they can to find evidence against their ideas, thus killing the project, and moving on. This way, you get to know the flaws of a a project at the beginning, rather than in the ninth inning. This is the "enthusiastic skepticism" that Teller described earlier. Now, this may seem rather counter intuitive, as it did to me at first. However, Teller elaborates on how establishing an atmosphere where it is safe to fail, and even encouraged, is where he truly sees progress in his moonshot factory. When someone feels safe to fail, it opens up many more possibilities that they may have shot down in their head. Ultimately, this is the atmosphere I want to create around my students. One with unchecked optimism paired with enthusiastic skepticism, and where the fear of failure is shrunken by the courage for exploration.

Comments

  1. BeckyJanuary 29, 2018 at 7:58 PM

    I love your last phrase: "the courage for exploration." How can we help kids find that courage?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Kelsey NuddJanuary 30, 2018 at 1:27 PM

    I also believe that the idea of failure should be embraced in schools. I love how you want to make that environment where is it ok to , "fail" in your classroom. How do you think you would go about making it a safe environment where students feel free to express their ideas, even if they may be, "wrong"?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Madison NewmanJanuary 30, 2018 at 3:51 PM

    I also used the ideas of optimism and skepticism in my blog post! I fully agree with what you are saying here: its so important that students dream, but also are aware of what is possible. I think taking this idea into the classroom will be so beneficial for students. How do you think you will encourage students to accomplish this?

    ReplyDelete
  4. UnknownJanuary 31, 2018 at 12:22 PM

    I really like how you mention the importance of "establishing an atmosphere where it is safe to fail." This idea reminds me a lot of the conversation we had in class after watching the "Critical Friends" video on revising students' papers. The student whose work is being critiqued needs to feel comfortable enough to take risks, try new things, and be open to new perspectives. Do you think working in groups makes students feel more comfortable with the idea "failing?"

    ReplyDelete

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