Teach Like a Champion by Doug Lemov
Good Morning, God!
Here’s a book I’d like to read. I just read an excerpt from it in Delancyplace.com about how failure is part of learning. Not only that, but the author urges us not to make a big deal of getting an answer right. The whole idea seems to be about getting started– with initial failures to be expected — and then learning how to do it better.
I really like that idea, God. That’s the way we learn to walk and talk. Then we go to school and it is all about being RIGHT! Or more to the point, it is about NOT MAKING MISTAKES! Worse yet, in school we are taught that there IS a RIGHT ANSWER.
And if we go back to the Goldilocks and the Three Bears story — it appears as if our chances of getting “it right” are one in three. Contrast THAT model with the REALITIES in which there often doesn’t even appear to be any right answers. Or as I have learned — there are a whole lot more ways to be WRONG, than there are to be right.
That Goldilocks Model is the cause of a lot of stress — it creates totally unrealistic expectations. As for myself, God, I really like the “Life as Bog” model. Life is messy, confusing and chaotic. I love it. But I sure can’t evaluate how I’m doing.
And that is just as well. It’s more about HOW are WE doing. Are we banding together and helping. Are we LEARNING from our mistakes? Are we WILLING to ADMIT we’ve failed? And are we willing to start over? I just finished One Good Dog which is so much more than a Dog Story. It is about FAILING as a GIFT. A painful gift. But then, God, some of Your best gifts are painful.
Story teller,
A Moment with God 
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