motivation

Human Errors

You may have noticed a mistake or two in the text of this blog. There are at least 8 (a light-hearted illustration on my part of the theme of the blog). Can you find them all? You may email me at remusser@uams.edu for a list of the ones I intentionally included.

Oops. I did it again. I apologize. My misteak. Earlier this week I sent an email to a colleague, and I included a brief description of the file I attached. Guess what—I failed to attach the document. Know what happened the next time I sent that same person an attachment? Your right, I attached the document. Why are we so afraid to goof up? In the book Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning, the author Peterr C. Brown, Henry L. Roediger III, and Mark A. McDaniel make the observation, “. . . errors are an integral part of striving to increase one’s mastery over new material.” And later in the discussion they add, “When learners commit errors and are given corrective feedback, the errors are not learned.” This finding is in contrast to a widely-held belief that the very act of making a mistake reinforces that mistake in the mind and actions of the learner. Not so, if the learner or the instructor provide reflection and correction.

Some of the Best Learning is Built on Errors

I can hear the naysayers (myself included) push back that some errors are more critical than others. As Stewart on the TV show “The Big Bang theory” observed, “It’s wrong to say a tomato is a vegetable; it’s very wrong to say it’s a suspension bridge.’ I don’t want my surgeon or my airline pilot getting it wrong. That’s why there are flight simulators and practice ahead of time—it’s better to make our mistakes in the learning lab than on the actual job. With reflection and another go at it we learn, and we do better. We do make mistakes; the time tested statement is correct, “to err is human.” It might be nice to live an error-free life in an error-free world, but we do not. In fact, contrary to our expectations the best learning is built on failures and on the subsequent efforts to evaluate what went wrong, why, and how to avoid that problem next time. After all, Edison’s light bulb was not nearly his first attempt nor was he the first person to create an electric light.

In our culture to accept mistakes, even more to embrace them as a valued component of learning, goes against the grain. One of the unfortunate affects of this attitude is that we become risk averse, unlikely to test new skills or to try new ways of thinking. Yet, novel thinking and novel methods are necessary for improvement. So, give yourself a brake. Embrace your mistakes. Do note them, examine them (why did that happen, what exactly happened, how can I do better next time), and learn.

Resilience Study

More years ago than I care to remember, in high school, I ran the 880 yard dash and one mile relay leg. Meets opened with those nutty guys running the 2 mile. Only in that race did everyone run together: the varsity and the freshman/sophomore teams. At one race, when I was a senior, a lone freshman from another town ran so slowly he was in danger of being lapped twice by the winning varsity runner. Only a desperate sprint at the end of his sixth lap prevented this ignominy. He struggled to the next curve and fell off the track into the grass, not finishing. Some years later my younger brother, one of those nutty long-distance runners, told me “The Rest of the Story.” That same runner moved to another event, off the track even, onto the field, and he won the conference meet in the high jump his senior year.

Success, Failure, and Resilience

As we think about resilience in this series of posts, why does one succeed and another not? What is resilience? Is it the dogged determination of General Grant, or is it the transition to another endeavor to which a person is better suited? Both seem resilient in different ways. Both moved on to success.

3 Models of Resilience

Resilience study has become an established academic subject, principally among psychologists and psychiatrists and originally focused on childhood development in the face of crises or traumas. In her book Ordinary Magic: Resilience in Development Ann Masten notes that some research has given attention to the variables in situations requiring resilience. At least three models of resilience have arisen out of attention to these variables. One model notes that resilience arises in the direct interplay between a person’s assets and some risk or adversity. As a UAMS student you might spend your assets of organization and detailed recall to prepare a paper or study for an exam.

A second model notes that mediators, indirect influences, are often present. Masten recounts that economic downturn in the late 20th century led to a significant rise in worsening adolescent family relationships among Iowa farm families. In our situation, poor sleep, unhealthy diet and exercise, and other issues can contribute to adverse academic performance. As best you can, eat well (not much, but well), sleep well, keep active. Take care of yourself, and you will more likely thrive. A third model suggests that moderators are often significant. A moderator is an intervention which removes or ameliorates an adversity. They function like airbags, Masten suggests, lying dormant, unused until needed. For instance, someone prevents an attacker or shields a victim. Masten mentions the widespread use of 911 as a moderator which greatly improved outcomes.

I think of our Student Success Center as this kind of moderator. We are here for academic coaching, for peer tutoring, for writing help, for referral to other services. Help us help you be more resilient when you face adversity at UAMS. Face adversity you will; be as prepared as you can to bounce back, a resilient success.

Resilience After Failing

At the end of the first day of the Battle of Shiloh Tennessee in 1862, the forces under General Ulysses Grant were demoralized and defeated. Late that night Grant’s second-in-command, William T. Sherman found Grant under a tree in the pouring rain. ‘Well, Grant,’ said Sherman, ‘we’ve had the devil’s own day, haven’t we?’ ‘Yes,’ Grant replied, ‘lick ’em tomorrow, though.’ http://www.historynet.com/account-of-battle-of-shiloh.htm

The next day, they did. Reinforcements arrived, and Grant’s army succeeded in pushing back the Confederates to win the battle. General Grant’s resilience made it possible for him to push for victory after a calamitous setback and failure.

What is Resilience?

Resilience is the inner quality that enables you to pick yourself up after a failure or setback and move forward toward a success. Instead of giving up, a resilient person takes time to reflect and honestly analyze the why behind the failure or setback. He or she corrects their errors, formulates a new plan, and moves forward toward the goal.

Resilience helps students come back after failing a test. While performing poorly on an exam can be upsetting, remember, you will usually have many opportunities to “show what you know”. What is most important is that you move forward, and perform better the next time.

What Does a Resilient Student Do After Failing?

So what should you actually do after failing a test? The actual process is quite straightforward, although every student will execute it differently. Very simply, you should reflect, analyze, make changes, and execute.

Reflect. Begin with reflecting back over your preparation, and your expectations before you took the test. How well did you manage your time? What study strategies did you use to prepare? Did you learn as much as you could about the test? What were your expectations going into the test? Did your expectations match reality?

Analyze. It’s not enough to find the right answers to the test questions you missed. Instead, do a careful review of your exam and analyze each item to determine why you missed it. Did you not know the information? Did you misread the question, rush through it, or forget to come back to it? Did you panic and shut down? Were you sick or hungry? All of these are reasons for poor performance, and it’s important to know why you missed a question so you know what to change for the next test.

Make changes. Once you know why you missed an item you can make changes in the way you prepared (studied) or in how you took the test. For example, if you didn’t know the information, you can make sure that it’s in your notes and you tested yourself on it before the exam. If you misread the question, you can read it more deliberately, and read each response before you select one. Figure out what you need to do, and then plan how you will do it.

Execute. Now, follow through and do the things you need to do to be more successful. Your planned changes are worthless if you don’t actually put them into practice.

Developing your resilience will serve you well during your academic and professional careers. If you want help coming back from failing a test, complete the Academic Coaching Request to schedule an appointment with a Learning Specialist in the Student Success Center. We will be happy to help you make positive changes in your study and test-taking habits and become more academically successful.

Mastery: Telling the Story

Part of mastery is telling the story.

The author of this quote worked for many years in the neonatal unit of a major hospital in the Chicago area. As she observed, many families lovingly recite the details of the births of their children. There almost gets to be a ritualized procedure in the retelling of these stories at subsequent family get-togethers. When the relatives gather for birthdays, for holidays, for weddings, and even to mourn together for funerals, how often the conversation turns to pulling back together these reveries, to remembering. The same portions of the birth stories are told in the same order by the same participants. The expectant mother tells how nervous the cabbie was when he arrived at the house and during the drive to the hospital, no matter how she reassured him that she was not going to deliver on the way. And, oh yes, she had to give him directions. Her mother chimes in to narrate how her grade school principal came to her classroom door to tell her she needed to leave immediately for the hospital a month earlier than her daughter’s baby was due (for you youngsters, there was a time, not that long ago, when there were not cell phones). As she tells of her hurried drive, she still trembles with that same anxiety she felt that day. And so it goes: the father tells his side, the other siblings pipe up, extended family add bits about where they were and how they heard. Telling the story is one way of mastering this life we live.

Tell Your Story

And here you are, conceiving all sorts of new thoughts as a student at UAMS. In due time you too are expected to deliver. What sort of story will you tell? Who are the heroes? Who are the villains, the trusty sidekicks, the crusty trainer, the comic relief, the love interest? What are the unexpected plot twists, the obstacles to be overcome? Is this a feel good tear-jerker? Is this the story of a small-town girl who becomes the family medical expert? What sort of character development have you undergone here? You are here to master your material, to become a master of your trade. Part of your mastery is telling your story. Make it a good one, and tell it well.

Susan Johnson Kline. “The Voices on Obstetrics: Participants and Partners.”