Teaching sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

10 minutes

Explore: Embracing failure

40 minutes

Discover: The great debate

10 minutes

Thrive: Learning from failure

Explore: Embracing failure

Step 1

Draw 18 dashes on the board to represent unknown letters (similar to the game ‘Hangman’). Add spaces or slashes to signify separate words. For example, __/_____/____/_________. These dashes should spell out the sentence, ‘We Learn From Failure.’

Step 2

Have students guess letters and draw parts of a snowman for each incorrect guess. They can make up to nine mistakes: two circles for the body and one for the head, two stick arms and one top hat, nose, eyes, and sad face).

Once they solve the puzzle or run out of guesses, reveal the answer and facilitate a class discussion about the function of failure in this activity.

Provide the following to assist their thinking:

Finding the correct answer wasn’t possible without failing. Failure can provide an opportunity to learn and move closer to achieving our goals.

Step 3

Ask students to consider challenging experiences that are common for young people. Invite students to share ideas with a partner before brainstorming on the board as a class.

Examples:

Making new friends, failing a test, public speaking, moving schools, parents' divorce, etc.

Step 4

Using the examples on the board, encourage students to think about the personal attributes we can develop as a result of these challenging experiences. Then facilitate a class discussion to cover key concepts.

Examples:

Resilience, self-confidence, problem-solving skills, etc.

Use the following questions to prompt discussion:

Why are challenges and failures important in life?
How can we draw on personal strengths to overcome challenges?
How do our challenges contribute to personal growth?

Reiterate to students that it is important to see challenges and failures as opportunities to learn.

Discover: The great debate

Step 1

Ask students to create groups of 6, then split the groups into 2 teams of 3. Explain that these teams will debate a topic relating to failure and success - one will be the affirmative team (supports the statement), while the other will be the negative team (opposes the statement).

Allow students to select from one of the following topics or devise their own:

Failure is a necessary part of success.
People who have experienced adversity are more resilient.
People who take risks achieve more in life.
A negative mindset gets you nowhere.
Perfectionism is worse than failure.

Once the group has agreed on a topic, have someone from each team play rock, paper, scissors to decide if they will be affirmative or negative.

Step 2

Explain that each team will get an opportunity to put forward their argument and that their goal will be to convince their audience/classmates. To prepare for their debate, teams will need a Debate Planning worksheet and digital devices to conduct research.

Teams will need to complete the following within 20 minutes to prepare their debate:

Gather factual evidence.
Allocate speakers: 1st, 2nd and 3rd.
Prepare key arguments in dot-point form, with enough content for each team member to speak for 90 seconds.
Speakers 2 and 3 for each team will need to prepare rebuttals.
Speaker 3 for each team will need to prepare a summary of the arguments made.

Step 3

Invite each group to present their debate to the rest of the class. While students present, audience members should devise a list of questions and feedback notes. Following each debate, facilitate a class discussion using the following questions.

What did you learn from the arguments? Was there anything that surprised you?
Did any of the arguments sway your original opinion? What caused this?
How can we apply these ideas to our lives?
If someone was away today, how would we describe what we’ve learned and the purpose of the activity?

Teacher note: Pre-allocate students into debate groups and digitally distribute the worksheets to save time.

Thrive: Learning from failure

Step 1

Advise students they will now have the opportunity to reflect on times they have personally experienced failure or hardship. Each student will need a blank piece of paper which they should fold in half vertically to create 2 columns.

At the top of one column, they should write ‘Failures & Hardships’ and ‘Skills, Traits & Learnings’ on the other. Give students 5 minutes to write down applicable life experiences and how they have grown as a result. Share your own examples to help their understanding.

Step 2

Have students form a circle holding their piece of paper. One at a time, students will share 1 skill/trait/learning they wrote down (they should do this without sharing the failure). If other students have written the same answer, ask them to show this by either crossing the circle, raising their hand or completing another gesture as a sign of solidarity.

Once each student has shared, facilitate a class discussion. Use the following questions to prompt discussion:

What have we learned about failure?
Why is it important to focus on our learnings?
How could this impact your approach to failure in the future?

Step 3

To wrap up the lesson, ask students to tear their piece of paper in half to separate the columns, then give them the choice of keeping or scrunching and throwing away either half. Have them consider the significance of either action by using the explanation below.

Provide the following to assist their thinking:

Remember, you get to choose what you take away from your failures. We can focus on the learnings and acknowledge there is always room to try again, or we can focus on the failure and not look for the learnings. However, if we do this, we are keeping ourselves in a fixed mindset rather than shifting our focus to personal growth. It is important to accept that failure is part of our journey and remember that there’s always something to learn from life’s challenges.

Self: Learning from Failure

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Summary

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UN Sustainable Development Goals

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