WORDLE BEE

The Occurrence at Occurrence

Losing isn’t necessarily losing

Image by WOKANDAPIX from Pixabay

I remember the fourth grade spelling bee. I was out at the word occurrence, somewhere in the middle of the first round. I shouldn’t have been surprised, I had barely studied. But still, it was a bit of a shock to be taken down early.

I had been hoping for the win and the probably candy-related prize at the end, but again, I hadn’t studied so I don’t know why I was expecting to win. I think I was more surprised and upset at being taken out in the first round.

This was not during the days of the participation trophy and in the spelling bee, you were either first, second, or last. And, as hard as it was to feel, I think that “losing” was an important experience for me. I learned that sometimes things require more effort to do well, and that it’s okay to fail as long as you learn something. I also never misspelled occurrence again.

I think that having things not work out is an important experience for children. They have to understand that sometimes things aren’t easy. Sometimes there is no trophy for being in third place, and that’s okay.

I teach a higher-level class and I find that my students are sometimes so afraid of failure, that they would rather not try than take a chance on failing. Or they get almost paralyzed with the fear of getting something wrong.

It’s one of the first lessons that I try to get across to them. This class is hard and you will not get everything right 100% of the time. It takes a few weeks, but when they understand that, they are more willing to try something more difficult. Sometimes they surprise themselves with what they can accomplish. I love it when that OCCURs.

Thanks NYTCo Communications for today’s Wordle.