Even the best, most accomplished teachers make (sometimes big) mistakes. But as the experts and authority figures in their classrooms, teachers face myriad pressures to have all the answers and, in some cases, to work miracles. This book brings together first-hand stories from classrooms across the globe of hard-won lessons stemming from teachers' mistakes and failures both small and colossal to show how becoming expert actually necessitates failure. It's through their mistakes that the most successful people arrive at greatness. Failure Before Success brings together accounts from everyone from a world-renowned Finnish education scholar and global policy advisor to distinguished professors of education to veteran teachers with decades of experience working in the complex field of teaching. While there are silver bullet books for teachers on the market, none match the comfort Failure Before Success offers by telling the stories of how some of the most accomplished in the field got it wrong and turned their mistakes into their greatest lessons on teaching excellence.
Julie Warner, EdD, left the classroom fewer than 10 years ago-close enough that she can still vividly remember her first few rocky years with their emotional and logistical landmines, but long enough to have had a career in education since then that includes obtaining a doctorate in education from Teachers College, Columbia University, stints as an Education Policy Advisor in the U.S. Senate and the White House, and overseeing the teacher issues portfolio within the U.S. Department of Education's internal think tank. Even as she's advised on high-level policy decisions in education, she's always stayed close to the classroom: she's a National Board Certified Teacher, has published books on teaching with technology, and is an education journalist for Course Hero's Faculty Club, one of the top 250 sites on the web.
Foreword: David Reinking Acknowledgements Introduction PART I: DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION Chapter 1: Learning to Become Culturally Responsive: Teaching on an Indian Reservation Anna Baldwin Chapter 2: Recognizing (Neuro)Diverse Perspectives in the English Language Arts Classroom Christopher Bass Chapter 3: Manuel's T-shirt: Learning a Hard Lesson about Student Poverty Kip Tellez Chapter 4: Semantic Snafu: How I Learned to Choose My Words Carefully Chris Anson PART II: REFRAMING ASSUMPTIONS Chapter 5: Grading and Gate-Keeping Andy Boyle Chapter 6: On Teaching and Toolsheds: Role Reversal on the Construction Site Mike Land Chapter 7: Assumptions and Acceptance in Rural Pennsylvania Sarah Cheatle Chapter 8: Discomfort Zone: Overcoming Ethnocentricity and Implicit Biases in Teaching Lisa Power PART III: FOSTERING RELATIONSHIPS AND ADVOCATING FOR STUDENTS Chapter 9: Be a Voice for the Voiceless Beth Jarzabek Chapter 10: Learning to Fly: Why Developing Student Voice Matters Jane Saunders Chapter 11: Learning from Nuts and Bolts: Listening to Yourself and Your Learners Katherine Baker Chapter 12: Safe Havens, Love, and Connection: Learning to Co-Teach Effectively Darius Montez Phelps Chapter 13: There Is No Ethos: How I Learned to Overcome Entitlement and Gain Student Trust Mark DiMauro PART IV: CREATING RESPONSIVE ENVIRONMENTS FOR STUDENT LEARNING Chapter 14: Trigger Warnings Alaina Smith Chapter 15: Dealing with Math Anxiety Bobson Wong Chapter 16: Interrupting Binary Thinking in a Trauma-Informed Elementary Classroom Kate Haq Chapter 17: Learning to Overcome Dysfunctional Independence Pete Warner PART V - PEDAGOGY AND INSTRUCTIONAL DECISIONS Chapter 18: Missteps in Middle School English: Moving Beyond Classroom Management and Content Mastery Troy Hicks Chapter 19: The Power of the Mistake: Missteps and Instructional Decisions in Teaching Mathematics Beth Kobett Chapter 20: Beyond Finding and Fixing Error: Responding to Student Work Sara Heaser Chapter 21: Lesson Plans Would Be So Easy If It Weren't For the Students Debbie Silver Chapter 22: The Limits of Teacher Preparation: Learning to Make Pedagogy Actionable Pasi Sahlberg Discussion Questions for Readers About the Editor About the Contributors
