March Madness

Does losing a game during March Madness eliminate all of the lessons, skills and concepts that have been learned during the season?

I believe the answer to that question is a strong no! I learned this lesson the hard way as a senior in High School. I auditioned for an Honors Band, but I was not selected. I worked for weeks on the music: perfecting my technique and learning new skills. The outcome of the audition did not influence how much I learned. I learned from the process of preparing for the audition.

Learning is the same way. We need to teach our students that the process is more important then the outcome. One of the most important life lessons I learned in college was to focus on what I can control. I cannot control the outcome when I am compared to other people, but I can always control how hard I work.

As teachers we need to focus on the learning process more then the outcome. If I focus on the outcome and some of my students do not feel successful, they feel as though they have not learned anything. We need to focus on the concepts and skills that students are working on because not all students will realize the point of certain lessons.

Celebrate learning and enjoy the process!