Warning! Your Motivational Message on Errors may BACKFIRE!

Sneak Attack
Naomi’s Photos

As a teacher of English as a foreign language I spend a great deal of energy convincing students to try to use the language, that making mistakes is actually fine and can be a great learning experience. You learn by doing and when you “do” you make mistake. Take a look at how Scott Thornbury stresses the importance of feedback on errors in his blog post “P is for Problematizing”

As a Special Education teacher I spend a great deal of energy convincing students to continue making the effort to learn English, even though it is challenging for them when they are Deaf or hard of hearing, have additional learning disabilities and more. Since I teach high-school I often meet students who have had years of discouraging experiences in the classroom.  They need to feel that the classroom is a safe place, they won’t be ridiculed for making errors and that there will be many opportunities to try again.

The following inspirational video has been floating around my social media feed. At first glance it seems fine – who could argue with a positive message like “Always rise above the criticism and stay strong”?

Feeling worthless…
Naomi’s Photos

But the more I thought about it the more I realized you could call the little video a  “fire hazard” , particularly if you teach teenagers. Dealing with errors is an incendiary subject at this age – how teens perceive their peers opinions’ of them is crucial.

The teenagers who need motivational messages the most, the ones who are most vulnerable, will never make it to the inspirational message at the end of the video. We will lose them at the part about being laughed at for making one single error, the part about how one mistake cancels out all the other good things you do in the eyes of the world.

Yes, I know that’s not the point of the video. But I also know my students.  Some will only see it as strengthening the “lets throw in the towel attitude”. Why bother making the effort to study? Why risk the consequences of making errors? Why not play it safe?

Videos can be a powerful motivational tool. But they must be chosen with care.

By the way, there’s an error in the video. One doesn’t say ” a wrong mistake”.

 

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