Errors: The "invisible" 800 pound gorilla blocking the road to learning
Some teenagers were discussing the strategies they use when a teacher asks a question they cannot answer. With a smile, one boy said, "You know what I do? I raise my hand." Seeing the amazed expressions that he hoped he would get, he immediately elaborated. "It works. If the teacher doesn't call on me, she thinks I know the answer. And if she does call on me, I say, 'Excuse me. I didn't hear the question.' Of course, she repeats the question. But she never stays with the same student for two turns. So she calls on some other student and never realizes that I didn't know the answer."
This student, like most students, is attuned to one of the most harmful forces that exist in the teaching/learning setting. That force is the destructive power of error in learning. Ironically, it is a force that is almost totally unrecognized--even though it permeates classrooms everywhere. Perhaps error is so obvious that it seems unnecessary to mention it. Regardless of the reason, error is rarely given the attention it merits. It is the invisible 800-pound gorilla who doggedly blocks the path to learning.
Nowhere is this force more pernicious than in reading. Children are terrified by the sight of pages they cannot read and by comprehension questions they cannot answer. The success of any reading program depends on how well it limits the number of errors children make and on how well it overcomes the inevitable errors that will occur.
The error dynamic involves much more than just making mistakes. Mistakes, in limited quantities, are a normal part of the learning process. But when mistakes begin to dominate that process, their meaning is different and pernicious. Then a multi-dimensional force takes hold that includes a sense of helplessness, the anxiety of being exposed and the repeated shame of making mistakes in front of others-- including powerful authority figures and one's peers
A few feisty souls, like the teenager at the start of this article, are emboldened to create ploys to deal with the error dynamic. For many others, however, the following comment summarizes what often happens.
School had been unremitting torment for him... The scars left by his school experiences reached down to his very soul. No amount of love or admiration ...ever totally erased his low self-esteem or the conviction that he was unable to learn. (Scheil, M. An Encyclopedia of Love, NY Picador 1999, p. 136).
It is not hard to see how children are so dramatically affected by this error dynamic. The potential embarrassment and shame of your peers seeing you fail can be unbearable. Think back to your experiences in the classroom when you did not know the answer and prayed the teacher would not call on you. Remarkably, that fear lingers on-- for years after our school days are distant memories. It's why adults avoid sitting in the first row in a lecture hall--they want to make sure that just in case the speaker asks a question, they are not the ones who might be called on to answer.
Fear is not the only problem. Children who experience high rates of error see this as incontrovertible proof of their stupidity. Once that feeling takes hold, its grip is tenacious. The child's self-esteem plummets, often never fully recovering.
Parents and teachers sense the children's vulnerability and with the best of intentions, try to bolster their egos via compliments such as, "but you are really smart," and "look at how many things you do well." Unfortunately, the comments rarely achieve their intended effects. As one student put it, "If I were really smart, they wouldn't have to keep assuring me of it."
So what is to be done? How are we to dislodge the gorilla so that the path to learning is cleared? The answer rests with preparing tightly designed materials that minimize the errors that occur. It also rests with providing techniques that easily move the child past any errors that do appear. These are the principles behind the design, materials and techniques of Phonics Plus Five. It allows the program to not only teach children to read, but to do so in a climate where they can relish the feeling of steady success. The end result is a sense of power and mastery that motivates them to keep advancing in both reading and writing.
