Being ok with making mistakes is essential for engaging in productive struggle. Unfortunately, a pedagogy of compliance reinforces a negative view of making mistakes.

Creating a culture of deep learning and chewing in a culturally responsive classroom begins with reframing errors as information.

We will dive into using this type of information as formative assessment in a later lesson in this module. Right now we are focused on helping students, especially those that are dependent learners, reframe when engaged in productive struggle in the learning pit. This is part of helping them move beyond the pedagogy of compliance.

Grappling is essential for building intellectual capacity. But if one is afraid to make mistakes (what Carol Dweck would call a “fixed mindset”), they won’t engage in grappling or any kind of productive struggle. No struggle = No dendrite growth. No dendrite growth = No increased capacity to carry the cognitive load. The social-emotional aspects of cognitive behavior have to be coached and supported too.

Don’t underestimate the necessity of this.

First thing is making sure to assess your own mindset toward errors and mistakes. Then, you can guide students through a reframe of their mental models about struggle, grappling, and iterating as a way of learning.