EDM613 Wk4 Reading Post

Chapter 10 of the reading was all about responsibility and taking ownership for one’s actions. This year’s ninth graders need to read this chapter because according to them, they never do anything wrong. Placing blame on others is counter-productive for those who wish to correct problems. The book explained that each individual ultimately has some stake in everything that happens to him.

In education, this concept is extremely important when dealing with struggling students. Those with bad grades instantly look to deflect the responsibility and blame the teacher, the learning environment or anything else to avoid pointing the finger at himself. The unfortunate thing is that nothing can be achieved until the student first accepts some of the blame.

Only after students admit that they need help can they begin to work toward fixing the problem. However, this realization doesn’t come until late in their junior year, in the senior year or not until college. So many students fail multiple classes in their first two years of high school because they simply don’t have the support system in place to guide them to success. Teachers are too busy to provide the proper mentoring to those needing help. Without support from home, friends or other outlets, students begin to give up and live with the failure.

Chapter 10 does a good job painting the picture of the stereotypical person who simply learns to accept defeat. People are so quick deflecting that they never spend time reflecting. I try to spend at least one day a month going over goal setting and reflecting on past work with my students. I try to instill a sense of responsibility in them to try to create a sense of ownership over their education. When students can admit mistakes they realize it’s ok to make them.

Failure in the learning process is so important because we learn more from failure than success. When failure is viewed the correct way, it becomes a powerful tool. This chapter outlined that concept – stressing the need for people to understand their actions and consequences, not just agonizing over the bad that comes from them.