Overview
Failure is a normal part of life, especially in college. Society often judges people based on success or failure. But successful people often learn from their failures. A growth mindset is important for success. Here are ways to discuss failure with students.
Normalize Struggle by Sharing Your Own
Everyone fails and everyone struggles at some time in their life. This doesn’t mean that they are “less” than anyone else, it just means that they haven’t learned that thing yet. It’s important for students to see how they can recover from failure and be successful. Sharing your own failure story can go a long way to showing students that if you can do it, they can too.
Validate Their Feelings and Share Resources
It’s okay to acknowledge that we’ve failed and move on from it. Let students know you understand their struggle and that they are normal. Share UTSA’s wellbeing resources, and information on growth mindset and imposter syndrome so they can better understand why they might be struggling.
Talk About Failure as a Learning Opportunity
It’s important to embrace mistakes, acknowledge our failure and move on. All failure and struggle should be used as teaching moments for faculty and learning moments for students. Encourage students to reflect on why they are struggling and how they can do better in the future.
Resources
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Support
For support, email [email protected], call 210-458-4520 or book a consultation with our TLDT experts.