I want school to be _______.

 "I tried to create a climate in the room where everybody feels that they can contribute, that it's okay to fall on your face many, many times." - George Meyer, writer on The Simpsons

I asked a few school leaders the other day to fill in the blank:

I want school to be _________

The answer that really stood out…."to be a place to learn failure and innovate." And that really got me thinking.

Many school leaders feel it's important to establish a place of safety for students. In extreme cases, students face violent gang-controlled streets. In others, the effects of cyber bullying and competition caused by standardized tests force students to be afraid of failing.

But, what if we changed that? True innovation comes after failing first. Just ask Thomas Edison or Michael Jordan and they'll agree. 

So, how do we start building up a school culture that gets students excited to try new thoughts, see failure as growth, and push through failure to stand taller than ever?

After all, school should be the place where the effects of failure can be minimal. Students won't get fired by a boss, lose that needed paycheck for the mortgage, or be ridiculed by popular media. School is the safety net for failure, but most school leaders fear stringing up the net. 

No need to take my word for it. Psychologists call this term psychological safety. It's the zone where risk taking is nurtured and students openly share new ideas. The innovative companies that students hope to get jobs at practice this daily. That's why Google and Apple don't need to worry about a diminishing applicant pool. 

Students crave a school culture to try out new mind-binding ideas. Why else do you think they play so many video games? (Tweet this!)

So, teach them the power of failure. Push your own limits as a school leader and share your failures while celebrating your triumphs. Ask your staff to have students share their failures through the security of writing. This level of reflecting will only have you, your students, and your staff grow.

Yes, I am asking you to do something that pushes boundaries and will make waves. But, you don't need me to tell you. Take your own permission.

Culture is Key and Bigfoot is Real

All people want to feel safe. It's part of our fight or flight mode. So, it comes to no surprise that when one's intellect feels attacked, he/she growls like a tiger and pounces. Trust me, I've seen it. I never knew a 7th grader could punch so hard. And to think he got upset because another student tried to prove that Bigfoot does exist!

In 7th grade, Bigfoot is not something to mess with. 

From day one, do your best to set up a classroom culture that cradles positivity and acceptance. This starts with empowering ice breakers and having students share a part of themselves that others can relate to. 

Here are three activities teachers can use to set up an innovative and accepting class culture:

1. On day one, have students share what superhero power they would have by writing a paragraph that describes where that superpower would be used. This could be used as the anticipatory set to a lesson or as an ice-breaker to introduce each other. Make sure to have students look at each person as they speak, acknowledging their presence in the classroom.

2. On day two, have students write a letter to themselves in the future 10 years from now in a congratulatory way. Ask them to state one or two goals they have accomplished and write as if they were journalling to themselves. What was it like? What struggles did I overcome? What does it feel like that I accomplished my goal? What does my life look like now.

I've had seniors write "Dear Graduating Senior" which they then again read on the last day of classes. It's somewhat magical and tear-jerking. Bring tissues.

Ask students to then underline their favorite line from the free write and share this with the class. 

It may help to mention that students should write "Beat-like" (a la Jack Kerouac style) and not worry about punctuation or grammar.

3. You are highly educated and so are your students. But, we all need reminders. So, here is me reminding you that you are brilliant (Tweet this!). Your turn to tell your students. What? You teach 7th-graders? Well, on a global level these students have learned more than the majority of children worldwide. Daunting, isn't it?

What do you think? Is Bigfoot real? How important is culture when setting up the classroom? What tricks have you learned?

I Dream of Schoogle

A land of slip and slide and fractions

Where teachers tango and dance and students swing from the trapeze finding out

The angle at which the acrobat propels forward 

Where the obtuse decisions that involve creative learning center on fun

Like Einstein riding in circles on a bike on light

Like DaVinci writing a secret code in his journal

Where students grow to become Jobs  - both the man and

The entrepreneur

At Schoogle, the verb learning does not exist

Because there is no unlearning

No such thing as

stale thinking- Apathy

Bright, bubbly magnet letters construct brilliant prose on the metallic walls where students discuss the hard work of making a difference and eat

brain food -the kind from a farm, not the 

microwave

It's a place where Icarus uses duct-tape and MacGyver's the teacher (Tweet this!)

Because this is how the mind sometimes works 

When we can't think in rows and need to think in amorphous shapes 

Mind maps that look like paramecium dancing under the microscope with

teachers as leaders and students with ideas 

Here, we create 

and then dance 

and then do it again.