# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Edutopia is a free source of information, inspiration, and practical strategies for learning and teaching in preK-12 education. We are published by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
What Are Habits of Mind? - The Institute for Habits of Mind

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
For Teachers Ever find yourself doubting whether you are creative? Many people assume that creativity is a rare commodity that someone is either born with or not and that it is reserved for the elite among us: artists, writers, and composers, or the likes of Miles Davis, Steve Jobs, or Frida Kahlo.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The version of the browser you are using is no longer supported. Please upgrade to a supported browser. Dismiss

# data[].attributes.headline
3 Activities that Help Students Overcome Making Mistakes

# data[].attributes.subject
3 Activities that Help Students Overcome Making Mistakes

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Have you ever had a student burst into tears over a seemingly insignificant mistake? What about a student who erases over and over and over again until they wear a hole through their paper? Or, maybe, you've even had a student who straight up refused to make anything in your classroom.

Students who exhibit this kind of behavior often have one thing in common: They're afraid to fail.

They are so caught up in doing everything right; they can't do anything at all. It's heartbreaking, and it can be difficult to find ways to reach them.

However, there is one theory out there that directly addresses situations like these and has been shown to help students develop perseverance and grit-growth mindset.

The Growth Mindset Theory

The theory of growth mindset comes from Carol Dweck, a professor at Stanford University. Over 30 years ago, she began researching failure. She found some people bounced back much better from setbacks than others. She described those who failed well as having a "growth mindset" and those who had a hard time with failure as having a "fixed mindset."

If you're interested in learning even more about this topic, be sure you check out the Promoting a Growth Mindset in the Art Room Learning Pack. You'll learn how to tweak both your teaching practice and classroom setup to foster a growth mindset in your students. Plus, learn how to apply what you learn to your own life!

Dweck's research eventually led to her best-selling book, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. In the book, she describes the differences between the two groups which you can see outlined in the chart below.

Furthermore, Dweck found cultivating a growth mindset can have major implications for learning and achievement. In short, "When students believe they can get smarter, they understand that effort makes them stronger. Therefore they put in extra time and effort, and that leads to higher achievement."

So, it's pretty clear a growth mindset is something we should all try to instill in our students. But how?

3 Art Activities to Help Your Students Deal with Mistakes

While digging into the research behind growth mindset, one thing I found fascinating was the fact that it only takes a lesson or two to start opening students up to the idea that they can improve with practice. This is great news because we all know art teachers are short on time! Below are three simple, one-day art activities to start to teach students how to get through the act of making a mistake.

1. Losing Control

Many times, it's not even the fact that a student has made a mistake that sends them into a tizzy. It's the fear that they will make a mistake. So, why not encourage them to do so? Allowing them to practice making mistakes, brainstorming solutions, and carrying out a plan to fix things can ease students' anxiety down the road.

1. Only allow your students to draw with stubby crayons or small bits of oil pastel.
They will be frustrated by their lack of control, but it may lead to some new discoveries!

2. Make your students tape their art materials (drawing pencils, paintbrushes, markers, etc.) to long sticks for an entire class period.
This idea comes fromJulie Read, and really forces students to get out of their comfort zones.

3. Try ink drawings with nib pens.
If you've usednib pens before, you know they can splat at a moment's notice. Letting your students try their hand at these is a great way to help them work through mistakes.

2. Art Hospital

Sometimes, all it takes is putting a humorous twist on things to create buy-in from your kids. Why not try turning your art room into an "art hospital" for a day?

Before your students arrive, prep various pieces of paper with "mistakes." Blobs of paint, rips, pieces of tape stuck in weird places, holes, etc.

Your students will love turning these papers into masterpieces! And, they will see they have the power to take something traditionally seen as a mistake and make it into something beautiful.

Start with Beautiful Oops! by Barney Saltzberg if you're doing this activity with younger students. Older students will enjoy The Book of Mistakes by Corinna Luyken.

3. Drawing in the Dark

We're all familiar with the power of blind counter to improve drawing skills, but this exercise takes things a step further.

Instead of doing a quick blind contour study, have your students create art "in the dark." Then, have them turn whatever they create into a finished piece. You can go about this in a variety of ways, but the idea is to create limitations that may lead to undesirable results.

1. Turn off the lights.
Turn off the lights for the first five to ten minutes of class. Creating in the dark will make color choices less apparent and details more difficult to see. After the time is up, turn the lights back on and have students take what they've created and make it into a finished piece.

2. Use only white crayon or oil pastel.
Challenge your students to draw something using only a white oil pastel or white crayon on white paper. Have them use the last ten minutes of class to add watercolor to reveal their marks.

3. Block your students from seeing what they're doing.
Ask your physical education teacher if they have anybasketball dribbling goggles around. They're the perfect way to encourage your students to keep their eyes off their papers. Depending on your students, you could also use blindfolds or just trust them to keep their eyes closed! Once again, have students create for a short amount of time and use the remainder of class to work with their "mistakes."

No matter which activity you choose, teaching students that mistakes are part of learning will benefit them for years to come. Remember, presenting just one lesson on the idea of growth mindset can help students begin to see how their skills can improve with time and effort!

If you're looking for even more ideas for the classroom, including how to set up your physical classroom space to foster a growth mindset in your students, click here!
How do you foster a growth mindset among your students? Do you have any other activities to help students value failure?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
3 Activities to Help Your Students Overcome Making Mistakes - The Art of Education University

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Have you ever had a student burst into tears over a seemingly insignificant mistake? What about a student who erases over and over and over again until they wear a hole through their paper? Or, maybe, you've even had a student who straight up refused to make anything in your classroom.

# data[].attributes.headline
9 Ways to Help Students Learn Through Mistakes

# data[].attributes.subject
9 Ways to Help Students Learn Through Mistakes

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
contributed by bettermarks.com

Most people have heard the sayings, "You learn from your mistakes," "Adversity is the school of wisdom," or are admonished to 'fail forward.'

Meanwhile, it is a general consensus that making mistakes is an important part of the learning process. This is because if instead of giving up in frustration after making a mistake, we work constructively to understand the mistake, the strategy to solve the problem stays with us better than if we just memorize the solution.

Despite this, in our educational system, mistakes are more often punished than seen as an opportunity to learn. What then can we do to help our students learn from their mistakes? First, let's take a look at how mistakes can stimulate the learning process.

1. See mistakes as a source of understanding

When students are mindful of incorrect solution concepts while working on a problem, they are able to deal with the problem at a much deeper level than someone who is just presented with the correct solution and has to memorize it. Also, we should not just correct a mistake but make sure that students recognize and understand the reason for the mistake.

Only in this way can students arrive at a deeper understanding and correct solution method for the mistake.

2. Improve motivation and self-esteem by responding to and overcoming mistakes

A student who successfully fixes something incorrect experiences personal success. They experience directly how worthwhile their effort is and how their competence improves. Such an experience of success leads to the student being more persistent and putting in even more effort in the future when working on reaching a learning goal because they know that they can achieve it.

This is how to turn the motivation to learn into something intrinsic, which can be much more effective than incentivizing good grades for example.

3. Honor mistakes as guidance for the teacher, too

Wrong is just wrong? Wrong! Mistakes are multifaceted. They give the teacher information about the stand of the individual student and which incorrect ideas and knowledge deficits the student has hinder learning. Mistakes also show you whether the student understands the required prerequisites and how you can optimally connect the previous topics to the current topic in the classroom.

Mistakes give you, as the teacher, an important foundation for the lesson structure and individual student development. If they're learned from and responded to, mistakes are powerfully good! But which prerequisites have to be met so that mistakes lead to learning success and not to a dead-end?

4. Allow mistakes through the learning atmosphere

If students are to be allowed to learn from their mistakes, they must be allowed to make them! It should be clear to students that in a learning situation mistakes will be handled in a different way than in a performance evaluation where every mistake has a negative consequence.

Also, help to create a mistake-friendly learning atmosphere where students don't feel ashamed of their mistakes. Motivate your students to not give up and to continue to work on the correct solution. In this way, the reward for learning remains the focus and a constructive way of dealing with mistakes is an important foundation of this.

Failing forward is a mindset!

5. Allow a variety of mistakes

Students should not only be allowed to make mistakes, but they need to be able identify the different kinds of mistakes that can occur. Here the type of learning material plays a decisive role. Enable situations where your students can make a variety of interesting mistakes. In most cases, just asking for the answer or using multiple-choice questions will not give you insight into the reasons for your student's mistakes.

6. Provide timely feedback so mistakes can be responded to

If a problem with understanding is recognized late in the learning process and a lot of time has elapsed before the student discovers they must re-learn the topic, the incorrect thought processes may be firmly cemented in the student's mind. The learning process usually follows these steps in this order: practice activities, make errors, get feedback, think over the feedback, and try again.

The less this process is interrupted the more efficient and effective the learning is. The earlier a problem is discovered the easier it is to fix it. In the ideal scenario, a student will receive feedback on how close they are in terms of correctness immediately after giving their solution.

7. Analyze root causes and sources

There are different kinds of mistakes. Careless mistakes, systematic mistakes, misconceptions - the root cause of mistakes can have many sources. (Diagnostic teaching can help here.)

It is not enough that students know that they have made a mistake; they also need to receive feedback on where the mistake lies. This root cause analysis in connection with targeted individual support is the best way to change thought patterns and prevent students from making the same mistake again.

8. Encourage independent mistake correction as a matter of habit

Giving students the opportunity to find and correct their mistakes on their own immediately after they are made has a positive impact on their motivation to learn. At the same time, learning to look for root causes and sources of mistakes develops conceptual understanding.

For example, in mathematics, students often just learn solution methods for problems by rote rather than actually understanding the concept. However, when students look for the source of mistakes on their own, they realize the cause and improve their understanding independently. Things learned in this way are retained longer and are more easily applied to other mathematical topics.

If you want to help your students turn their mistakes into learning success in the best possible way, there are a number of challenges:

How can you keep an eye on all students individually?

How much effort must be put into the mistake analysis?

How can you give all students individual feedback?

How do you provide timely feedback?

9. Use technology that supports mistakes and personalized mistake analysis

We quickly reach our limits when we try to do justice to all the mistakes of all our students. Educational software can give some relief if it is able to analyze everything the student enters and give them direct feedback on their answer. In turn, you as the teacher should automatically get analyses on the strengths and weaknesses of your students.

There are hundreds if not thousands of educational software and platforms to choose from. To assist you in evaluating whether a technology supports you and your students in learning from mistakes we have created this checklist of requirements:

1. Does the program allow any kind of answer to be entered, or is it just multiple choice - can a student make a variety of mistakes?

2. Are there interactive input tools that are modeled after analog learning materials, for example, a compass or protractor?

3. Is feedback given immediately after entering an answer?

4. Does the student receive customized individual feedback with explanations?

5. Does the technology recognize recurring mistakes as knowledge gaps?

6. As a teacher, do you receive an analysis of the learning progress and mistakes of each of your students individually?

9 Ways To Help Students Learn Through Mistakes

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
9 Ways To Help Students Learn Through Their Mistakes

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
contributed by bettermarks.com Most people have heard the sayings, "You learn from your mistakes," "Adversity is the school of wisdom," or are admonished to 'fail forward .' Meanwhile, it is a general consensus that making mistakes is an important part of the learning process.

# data[].attributes.headline
Turning Mistakes into Opportunities for Learning

# data[].attributes.subject
Turning Mistakes into Opportunities for Learning

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.provider_name
Mrs. Winter's Bliss - Resources For Kindergarten, 1st & 2nd Grade

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Growth mindset ideas and activities helping students learn that mistakes are part of the learning process. Easy to implement classroom lessons perfect for busy teachers.
As September approaches and students return to the classroom many teachers will ask students to set goals for what they'd like to achieve this year. On the list you're likely to see things like, "make new friends", "get good grades," and "learn new things".

One you are less likely to see is, "make mistakes".

I guess that's no surprise. Students often feel shame when they make a mistake. Too often success in the classroom is determined by high marks and correct answers. Mistakes serve to evaluate what a student does not know. When that is the case, mistakes have no positive role for our students.

But "make mistakes" is a goal I would love to see my students set for themselves! Why? Because mistakes are the essence of new learning! As teachers, as we work to cultivate a growth minded classroom, it is important that we begin to normalize mistakes for our students. As students experience new things and develop new competencies it is inevitable that they will make mistakes. If mistakes and failure are seen as a sign of incompetence and something to avoid (rather than something to expect), our students will begin to avoid the challenges necessary for learning. We must show our students that mistakes can actually help us develop and improve our skills and abilities.

I love the way this middle school math teacher, Leah Alcala, has created a culture in her classroom where mistakes are clearly part of the learning process. I have used her " My Favorite No " strategy in my first grade classroom and it has made a huge difference. Grab a drink and commit yourself to less than 6 minutes to watch this video.

Are All Mistakes Created Equal?

In our growth minded classroom we are teaching students the power of mistakes and failure, but not all mistakes are desirable. Making a mistake can be unpleasant. It can leave you feeling frustrated and disappointed. It can mean you have to start over. We want students to understand what kinds of mistakes are most useful and how to best learn from them.

This image came from an by Eduardo Briceno on mindsetworks.com. I think he does an excellent job clearly defining the different types of mistakes.

1. A stretch mistake happens when we're working to expand our current abilities. We're trying something that is beyond what we can already do without help, so we're bound to make some errors. Stretch mistakes are positive! If we never made stretch mistakes it would mean that we were never truly challenging ourselves to learn new things. When we make stretch mistakes it is important to stop and reflect, see what we can learn, and adjust our approach to mastering the new skill. [spacer height="20px"]

2. The aha-moment mistakes happens when we achieve what we intend to do, but then realize that it was a mistake to do so because it is now clear that we lacked some other knowledge that was needed. For example, there is a fire to put out but we don't have water. We extinguish it with alcohol and then learn -aha- alcohol is flammable![spacer height="20px"]

3. The sloppy mistakes happen when we're doing something we already know how to do, but we do it incorrectly because we lose concentration. We all make sloppy mistakes occasionally because we're human. A sloppy mistake signals we need to enhance our focus. [spacer height="20px"]

4. The high-stakes mistakes are mistakes that have catastrophic results. They are mistakes that take place in life-threatening situations or high-stakes performances, like the Superbowl. Fortunately, we won't run into too many high-stakes mistakes in the elementary classroom!

Teaching Students to Embrace Mistakes

Learning from our mistakes is not automatic, but we can teach our students that they are an important part of the learning process. Here are some activities and resources I use with my students to help them learn to embrace their mistakes.

"Made by Mistake" Research Project For this project students get to research inventions that came from a mistake! The project could be done individually or in small groups, as class work or a homework assignment! It's best for middle and upper elementary students.

To start, I share this list of things that were invented by mistake. My students are always so surprised to see all the items on the list! Chocolate Chip Cookies?!! Who knew?!! Penicillin?!! Thank goodness!!

Next, students pick one item from the list to further research. This Research Project Planner helps them to organize the information they gather. It can also serve as a great support if they have to present their research to their classmates.

Everyone always enjoys learning about all of these great "mistakes"! This research project is one of the activities in my Growth Mindset Lessons and Activities Bundle.

Read alouds are another effective and easy way to reinforce the message that it's okay to make a mistake. There are lots of great books out there that deal with the topic but here are three that have really resonated with my students.
Beautiful Oops by Barney Saltzberg
In the text Beautiful Oops! Children learn an essential life lesson: It's OK to make a mistake. In fact, hooray for mistakes! A mistake is an adventure in creativity, a portal of discovery. A spill doesn't ruin a drawing-not when it becomes the shape of a goofy animal. And an accidental tear in your paper? Don't be upset about it when you can turn it into the roaring mouth of an alligator.

Ramon is a boy who is passionate about drawing in . One day a remark by Ramon's older brother, Leon, turns Ramon's carefree sketches into joyless struggles. Luckily for Ramon, though, his little sister, Marisol, sees the world differently. She opens his eyes to something a lot more valuable than getting things just "right." Ramon learned to look at things in a whole new way rather than be stifled by his "mistakes."
The Most Magnificent Thing by Ashley Spires
In The Most Magnificent Thing an unnamed girl has a wonderful idea to make the most magnificent thing.But making the magnificent thing turns out to be a challenge. The girl tries and fails, gets really mad and quits. But after a while she comes back to her project with renewed enthusiasm and manages to get it just right. This text explores the the feelings of frustration when mistakes are made while at the same time reassuring children that it's okay to make mistakes.

After reading and discussing with students how making mistakes are actually normal and valuable learning opportunities if we embrace them, my friends have the opportunity to "make mistakes" in this learning extension. I created this maze activity as an opportunity for growth minded students to stretch themselves, reflect, and learn during a challenging task. This maze activity is one of the resources in my Growth Mindset Lessons and Activities Bundle. You can check it out down below!

Finally, if your students are like mine, music is an awesome vehicle that makes learning stick. Students love the song "Try Everything" by Shakira.

The song gives people permission to make mistakes along the way by recognizing that mistakes are part of learning, especially when you are trying out something new.

Our students may come to us feeling nervous to make a mistake and ashamed when they do. As teachers we must normalize mistakes in our classroom. Once students can understand that mistakes are an expected and important part of the learning process, they will be more willing to accept challenges and persevere through difficult tasks. If we can change the way they think about mistakes, we have given them a gift that will serve them greatly for years to come!
Want to learn more about teaching growth mindset? (click the image to go to the post)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Ideas to Help Students Normalize Mistakes While Learning

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Growth mindset ideas and activities helping students learn that mistakes are part of the learning process. Easy to implement classroom lessons perfect for busy teachers.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
How to Use Books to Support Children in Making Mistakes — Express Yourself, NC

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
For some children, making mistakes is unbearable. Many children are unable to admit that they made a mistake at all (it was usually someone else’s fault). As a parent, teacher, therapist, caregiver, it is heartbreaking to witness young children being so hard on themselves. Everyone makes mistakes an

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
When my daughter was a toddler, I regularly spilled milk in front of her during meal time. "Oops, oh well, no big deal, let's clean it up!!" I would say in my high-pitched, goofy mom voice.

Before she could speak, I sensed that she was wired for perfectionism (something very familiar to me), so I attempted to normalize day-to-day mistakes and to show her how easy it was to bounce back from them.

We're in the thick of the spilled-milk journey right now-learning to accept and embrace mistakes on a larger scale. Now that she is 13 years old, I am all the more sensitized to how she responds to mistakes at school, in particular-and how they enhance or detract from her learning.

For many teens, perceived faults loom large as their self-consciousness grows. Theorist David Elkind's classic description of an adolescent's sense of an " imaginary audience" may not be so imaginary these days. Kids are watching each other closely both in school and online-judging, comparing, and evaluating-while mental health conditions like anxiety and depression are on the rise.

Our performance-based school culture may not be helping, but there is an alternative-and it involves guiding our students to embrace the very failures they're trying to avoid.

Mistakes help us to learn

In her 2017 paper " Learning from Errors," psychologist Janet Metcalfe claims that avoiding and ignoring mistakes at school appears to be the rule in American classrooms-and it may be holding back our education system. Drawing on research, she argues that students may actually benefit from making mistakes (and correcting them) rather than avoiding them at all costs.

Focus on errors; don't ignore them: Only a few studies can shed light on how teachers respond to mistakes in the classroom. One famous study of mathematics classrooms in a variety of countries revealed a marked difference between the instructional strategies in Japan versus the United States.

Videotapes showed that American teachers focused on the correct procedures for solving problems-primarily ignoring errors and praising students for correct answers only. Japanese teachers, on the other hand, rarely praised their students and asked them to solve problems on their own. Then, they led discussions of common errors as students explored a variety of pathways to both correct and incorrect solutions.

Because Japanese students outperform U.S. students in math, it's worth taking note of this contrast. Japanese teachers seem to be embracing the learning struggle by acknowledging mistakes rather than ignoring them.

Real learning isn't usually easy. Teaching methods that center on errors may make learning more challenging but can also be more motivating -potentially enhancing metacognition (the ability to think about your thinking) and self-efficacy (a belief in your capability to accomplish a task).

Fail first, then learn: In another study, researchers in Singapore identified the value of "productive failure" in learning. They separated seventh grade mathematics students into a "direct instruction" group and a "productive failure" group.

In the direct instruction group, students learned to solve complex math problems with the teacher helping them along the way. In the productive failure group, however, students struggled and failed at solving problems until the teacher stepped in to help them analyze their failed attempts and find the correct solution.

As a result, the productive failure group outscored the direct instruction group on both simpler and more complex problems during a final test. Further, groups of students who demonstrated multiple approaches to solving problems were also more successful than those who did not.

In addition to understanding the different ways you might err, it seems helpful to actually make errors in the first place.

Be confident and be wrong: If productive failure appears to enhance learning, so does overconfidence. Multiple studies suggest that the more confident you are in the wrong answer, the more likely you will remember the right answer after you are corrected.

In one study, students answered questions on a quiz and rated their confidence level in each of their answers. Then they were given feedback on their incorrect answers. Researchers discovered that students were more likely to correct their initial errors during a final test if they had been highly confident in them.

Why did this happen? Researchers speculate that students focus more attention on corrective feedback when they are both confident and wrong (and perhaps surprised by their error). They also claim that when a learner expresses confidence in wrong answers, the learner's second guess may often be the correct answer. When corrected, some students claimed that "they knew it all along."

Bottom line: If we embrace and even study errors in our classrooms, students may actually learn more. However, there is a glaring caveat here: This only works if students have the emotional resilience to respond to mistakes adaptively and flexibly.

Helping students respond to perceived failure

When children worry that they are making too many mistakes or possibly failing at something, the emotional fallout can be difficult to manage. According to UC Berkeley professor Martin Covington, the fear of failure is directly linked to self-worth, or the belief that you are valuable as a person. Covington found that students will put themselves through unbelievable psychological machinations in order to avoid failure and maintain the sense that they are worthy.

"If we embrace and even study errors in our classrooms, students may actually learn more"

―Dr. Amy L. Eva

In a study of fourth to sixth graders, researchers analyzed students' emotional responses when they made mistakes and identified three distinct styles. The "distance and displace" style (withdrawing and blaming someone else) and the "minimize and move" style (moving on and looking beyond the mistake) reflected patterns of avoidance. However, students who had the "regret and repair" style (featuring some guilt, normalizing of the situation, and self-care) engaged in less self-blame, participated more actively in problem solving with their peers, and earned greater respect from teachers.

Here lies the larger challenge: How can we help kids to accept their errors and failures, particularly in school, so that they might translate this skill to the real world?

Adjust the learning context: "Let's try this another way." In the same study of fourth to sixth graders' mistakes, emotions, and coping strategies, researchers suggested that the context for learning may be important. Students may find it more emotionally challenging to work in a small group when they're having difficulty, and may be better served by working privately. So consider providing options to kids who may need a little space to flounder.

Encourage persistence: "Keep trying. Don't give up!" A 2017 study demonstrates that when adults model persistence in working toward a goal, infants as young as 15 months tend to mimic that behavior. Persistence can be learned. As teachers, we have a lot of power to influence our students' efforts by sharing our own vulnerability and identifying our own self-conscious emotions, our stops and starts during problem solving, and our commitment to keep going. Students who engaged in the "regret and repair" style of coping still felt guilt when they made mistakes, but they continued to engage and keep trying-while also being gentle with themselves.

Model self-compassion: "Be kind to yourself when you're confused; it's okay." If we model and normalize the ups and downs of learning with our students, we can also share the power of self-compassion. They can learn to think: "This is tough, and I don't get it. I'm not alone here; other people get confused just like me, and I'm going to cut myself some slack; it's okay to not know the answer right now. I can be kind to myself and know that I will find my way through this challenge."

Build positive relationships with students: "I see your strengths, and I believe in you." This is particularly important for students who are failure-avoidant. Students are motivated to try their best when teachers they feel attached to value academic tasks. Studies have also shown the inverse to be true-that students are less motivated when faced with teachers who they feel don't care about them.

Focus on resilience: "Even though this is tough, you will find your way." When researchers reviewed over 38 studies of resilience in response to failure, errors, or mistakes, they found that more resilient individuals had higher self-esteem, lower levels of perfectionism, and a more positive way of explaining past events (e.g., I failed the test, but I can study harder next time). However, having high academic self-worth and practicing emotional suppression in the face of mistakes were not linked to resilience.

If teachers can help their students focus on skills and strategies that enhance resilience, students will learn to cope better, recover more quickly, or at least start heading in that direction.

Maybe we shouldn't be surprised that American teachers and students tend to avoid talking about mistakes at school. However, there are good reasons to rethink our approach to mistakes so that we can help our students to ultimately benefit-both academically and emotionally.

It's okay to "mess up" and spill the milk. There is even beauty in vulnerability. It gives us space to find our strength.

Greater Good wants to know: Do you think this article will influence your opinions or behavior?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Why We Should Embrace Mistakes in School

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
If students can see the beauty in spilled milk, research suggests they'll learn better.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Learning to accept and cope with making mistakes is an important part of everyone's life. This is why it is so important to teach to kids. I use children's books about making mistakes as a gateway for opening up discussions in the learning environment. Whether you are a teacher, counselor, or parent, using books to help illustrate a topic is a great way for kids to learn. As you are reading, ask questions and engage the reader.

I often cover making mistakes in my lessons, I use this Executive Functioning Passport activity that covers self-awareness and this Social Emotional Learning Curriculum: self-awareness that includes activities on self-confidence and recognizing strengths. Here is a list of some of the awesome children's books about making mistakes that I use to help teach this topic to students.

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. This means if you click on a link and make a purchase, I get a small commission that costs you nothing and helps me continue to provide this content.

THE MOST MAGNIFICENT THING

Title of Book and Author: The Most Magnificent Thing by Ashley Spires.

A short summary of the book: One day, a young girl decides that she is going to make the most magnificent thing with the help of her assistant and "best friend in the entire world", her adorable dog. She knows exactly what the most magnificent thing will look like and what it will do. As she begins to make her most magnificent thing, the process proves to be more difficult than she anticipated. In fact, she decides that everything is wrong. She tries to make it better, but ultimately gets frustrated and decides to quit.

Her assistant suggests taking a walk to clear her head and calm down. When she comes back, she realizes that there are parts of her creation that are wonderful. In the end, she creates something that isn't perfect but is just what she wanted.

Why I like the book: Spires' whimsical illustrations and kid-friendly language are sure to make this book a class favorite. This is an excellent story for Back to School and character education lessons. The best part of this book is that everyone can relate to having a great idea - and getting frustrated when it doesn't go your way. Your students will see that turning an idea into reality takes many trials and failures before it's just right.

The moral of the story: The Most Magnificent Thing assures children that there is value in making mistakes. When you make a mistake, you can turn it into a success story by reviewing what went wrong, rethinking, taking a break, and trying again.

Topics covered: Overcoming Mistakes; Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM); Determination; Perseverance
Where can I purchase this book (affiliate link): The Most Magnificent Thing on Amazon
THE GIRL WHO NEVER MADE MISTAKES

Title of Book and Author: The Girl Who Never Made Mistakes by Mark Pett and Gary Rubinstein.

A short summary of the book: Most people in town don't know Beatrice Bottomwell's name; they just know her as "The Girl Who Never Makes Mistakes." As she prepares for her perfect juggling act in the talent show, she accidentally makes an "almost mistake" on the school cooking team. That little "almost mistake" throws off her entire routine later that night. Beatrice and the crowd respond to the mistake in an unexpected way: by laughing. Making a mistake, after all, isn't so bad.

Why I like the book: The Girl Who Never Made Mistakes is a heartwarming book with a message that every elementary student needs to hear. Beatrice strives for perfection in everything she does (even her peanut butter and jelly sandwiches!), but like all of us, she is bound to make mistakes. Students will see that it's okay to make mistakes and how we respond is what matters.

The moral of the story: Nobody is perfect. We will make mistakes - whether big or small - throughout our lives. Instead of letting mistakes ruin our attitudes, we can laugh and learn from them.
Where can I purchase this book (affiliate link): The Girl who never made mistakes on Amazon
Topics covered: Perfectionism; Overcoming Mistakes

BEAUTIFUL OOPS!

Title of Book and Author: Beautiful Oops! by Barney Saltzberg

A short summary of the book: This book opens with a phrase we're all familiar with: "Oops!" Salzberg crafts a short but engaging narrative about how mistakes are something to celebrate. "A smudge and a smear," for example, "can make magic appear!" Beautiful Oops! is perfect for early readers, but the timeless messages can be shared with all ages.

Why I like the book: Saltzberg uses creative examples that little learners can relate to - like a spill or a tear in a piece of paper - to teach that mistakes are nothing to fear. I love that this book is interactive. Many pages fold down to reveal part of the story for a surprise around every corner.

The moral of the story: Mistakes are something to celebrate. When we make mistakes, our perspective matters. We can see a mistake as terrible or as something wonderful.

Topics covered: Overcoming Mistakes; Perspective; Creativity

Where can I purchase this book (affiliate link): Beautiful Oops! on Amazon

WHAT DO YOU DO WITH A PROBLEM?

Title of Book and Author: What Do You Do With a Problem? by Kobi Yamada.

A short summary of the book: The book's main character is exasperated by his problem, which remains unnamed throughout the book. He can't figure out why he has this problem and how to make it go away. The problem literally and figuratively hangs over the main character's head. The more he worries, the bigger the problem becomes. When he confronts his problem, he realizes that the problem holds an opportunity to grow and learn.

Why I like the book: As educators, we are always trying to understand the problems our students face. What Do You Do With a Problem? Is a great read-aloud to begin discussing how to overcome and grow from problems. The book's clear, concise message is easy to understand and very relatable.

The moral of the story: Sometimes, even if you are afraid or don't want to face a problem, it's important to confront your problem to make it better. Confronting a problem can be a great learning and growth experience. Every problem has an opportunity.

Topics covered: Courage; Problems; Growth

Where can I purchase this book (affiliate link): What do you do with a problem? on Amazon

AFTER THE FALL

Title of Book and Author: After the Fall (How Humpty Dumpty Got Back Up Again) by Dan Santat

A short summary of the book: Have you ever wondered what happened to Humpty Dumpty after his fall? Dan Santat's heartwarming book picks up where the timeless classic left off. After his famous fall, Humpty Dumpty is afraid of heights, which prevents him from doing some of his favorite things. One day, he has a brilliant idea: to create an airplane so he can enjoy being in the sky again. When his hard work doesn't go as planned, he decides to face his fears and climb the wall again.

Why I like the book: This book will bring a smile to both you and your students' faces. With beautiful illustrations and humor sprinkled throughout the story, this inspiring story has a timeless message about overcoming adversity. You will be rooting for Humpty Dumpty throughout the book.

The moral of the story: "Life begins when you get back up," Santat describes. Don't let one accident or mistake define you; you can always try again and face your fears

Topics covered: Facing Fears; Overcoming Adversity; Courage

Where can I purchase this book (affiliate link): After the Fall on Amazon

A WHALE OF A MISTAKE

Title of Book and Author: A Whale of a Mistake by Ioana Hobai.

A short summary of the book: When a young girl makes a mistake, the mistake follows her everywhere! The mistake consumes her thoughts, making it difficult to stop thinking about her mistake. When she changes her perspective, she is surprised to find that her mistake isn't the only one out there. As she changes her perspective, her mistake diminishes in her mind.

Why I like the book: Hobai's beautifully illustrated book presents a short but sweet message about overcoming mistakes by changing your mindset. You can use this book to introduce calming strategies to your students, too.

The moral of the story: Mistakes can weigh us down and overwhelm us, but our perspective can change how we deal with mistakes.

Topics covered: Courage; Perspective; Overcoming Mistakes

Where can I purchase this book (affiliate link): A Whale of a Mistake on Amazon

THE BOOK OF MISTAKES

Title of Book and Author: The Book of Mistakes by Corinna Luyken

A short summary of the book: "It started with one mistake," the book begins. As an artist draws a picture of a girl, she makes a few mistakes. She also sees the beauty in the mistakes each time, switching between making mistakes and adjusting her drawing to include them. In the end, the artist celebrates how the mistakes shaped who the young girl in the drawing became.

Why I like the book: This relatable story would be an excellent book to read before an art lesson when many students get frustrated with mistakes. The book emphasizes the importance of keeping a positive perspective and turning mistakes into greatness.

The moral of the story: Lean into mistakes and see them as something beautiful instead of something to get frustrated with.

Topics covered: Perspective; Overcoming Mistakes; Growth.

Where can I purchase this book (affiliate link): The book of Mistakes on Amazon

REGINA'S BIG MISTAKE

Title of Book and Author: Regina's Big Mistake by Marissa Moss

A short summary of the book: As her peers begin their masterpieces, Regina is stuck - she doesn't know what to draw. She crumples up her first paper after making a mistake. She looks around at how beautiful everyone else's drawings are. When she tries to copy her classmates' drawings, she makes another mistake...and another. Her mindset changes when she realizes that she can turn the mistakes into something beautiful.

Why I like the book: This timeless story is captivating and relatable for young students and adults alike. We can all relate to being "stuck" and comparing ourselves to other people. With diverse characters and a feel-good message, this book will become a go-to in your classroom.

The moral of the story: We can change our perspective and make the most of our mistakes.

Topics covered: Creativity; Overcoming Mistakes; Determination

Where can I purchase this book (affiliate link): Regina's big mistake on Amazon

BRONTORINA

Title of Book and Author: Brontorina by James Howe

A short summary of the book: Brontorina is a dinosaur who dreams of becoming a ballerina. When she is accepted into Madame Lucille's dance studio, she doesn't quite fit in with the other boys and girls. For example, she doesn't have the right shoes and she is too big for the studio. When Madame Lucille and the other dancers rally together to support Brontorina, the outcome is tremendous.

Why I like the book: This loveable dinosaur with a big heart will surely become a favorite in your classroom this year. This feel-good story is not only about having courage but also about being inclusive. I love how the dance studio works together to make Brontorina feel welcomed and accepted.

The moral of the story: With determination, courage, and kindness, you can overcome any problem.

Topics covered: Courage; Determination; Inclusion

Where can I purchase this book (affiliate link): Brontorina on Amazon

IT'S OKAY TO MAKE MISTAKES

Title of Book and Author: It's Okay to Make Mistakes by Todd Parr

A short summary of the book: Whether you color outside the lines, fall down, or don't know the answer, it's okay! Parr offers a positive perspective for each "uh-oh" moment in the book, demonstrating that it's how we approach mistakes that matters.

Why I like the book: I love that this book has an easy-to-follow pattern that is perfect for early readers. With fun illustrations and effective messages, this book is sure to leave an impression on your students.

The moral of the story: Everyone has "uh-oh" moments that we can learn from.

Topics covered: Overcoming Mistakes; Perspective

Where can I purchase this book (affiliate link): It's okay to make Mistakes on Amazon

Resources about Making Mistakes
Books that Teach Perseverance Books that Teach Friendship Books that Teach Self-Control Books that Teach Cooperation Books that Teach Empathy Books that Teach Inclusion Books that Teach Mindfulness Books that Teach Growth Mindset
Pair your favorite children's books about making mistakes with these engaging activities to make the perfect classroom lesson.

Find Books on Different Topics

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Children's books about Making Mistakes - Heart and Mind Teaching

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Looking for a list of books about making mistakes for kids? These children's books about making mistakes are for you to help create classroom lessons and teach kids. These books for the classroom to teach kids that making mistakes is a part of life.

# data[].attributes.body
Mary Beth Revesz
K-5 Instructional Coach, PCCS
mary.revesz@pccsk12.com
@MBRevesz on Twitter

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Opportunities for Teaching Around Mistakes 

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
My Favorite No  (a math assessment technique)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Leah Alcala, 8th grade master teacher, shares her math warm up routine.  a unique and wonderful assessment technique.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Despite American education's recent mania for standardized tests, testing misses what really matters about learning: the desire to learn in the first place. Curiosity is vital, but it remains a surprisingly understudied characteristic. The Hungry Mind is a deeply researched, highly readable exploration of what curiosity is, how it can be measured, how it develops in childhood, and how it can be fostered in school.

Children naturally possess an active interest in knowing more about the world around them. But what begins as a robust trait becomes more fragile over time, and is shaped by experiences with parents, teachers, peers, and the learning environment. Susan Engel highlights the centrality of language and question-asking as crucial tools for expressing curiosity. She also uncovers overlooked forms of curiosity, such as gossip―an important way children satisfy their interest in other people. Although curiosity leads to knowledge, it can stir up trouble, and schools too often have an incentive to squelch it in favor of compliance and discipline.

Balanced against the interventions of hands-on instructors and hovering parents, Engel stresses the importance of time spent alone, which gives children a chance to tinker, collect, read about the things that interest them, and explore their own thoughts. In addition to providing a theoretical framework for the psychology of curiosity, The Hungry Mind offers educators practical ways to put curiosity at the center of the classroom and encourage children's natural eagerness to learn.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Hungry Mind: The Origins of Curiosity in Childhood

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Hungry Mind: The Origins of Curiosity in Childhood [Engel, Susan] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. The Hungry Mind: The Origins of Curiosity in Childhood

# data[].attributes.body
Brandi Ignagni
K-5 Instructional Coach
Plymouth-Canton Community Schools
Brandi.ignagni@pccsk12.com

# data[].attributes.body
Director of Curriculum and Professional Development,
Plymouth-Canton Community Schools
deirdre.brady@pccsk12.com