Fail

** This is a tough question and the answer will inevitably be situational. There is no "right" answer. As is the case with most of the issues that arise in the classroom, you should use your professional judgement. We have been prepared well for these situations, but it will be to our benefit if we spend some time reflecting on possible scenarios before they actually happen so that we can get a sense of how we might handle them.
 * When should you let a student fail?

Scenario 1: You have a student who really doesn't "get" the content of your class. Maybe they rewrite or redo every assignment that they can and are barely passing. You know that without your fairly lenient grading policy that allows rewrites, this student would be failing dismally. Should they be advanced to the next class?

Scenario 2: You have a student who rarely comes to class and is disruptive when they are there. They hardly turn in any assignments and they are poorly done when they do. However, they somehow manage to come for every big test or quiz and pass them with flying colors. Do you advance them to the next class?

I would like to mention something that my cooperating teacher talked with me about after one of the many conversations we had with a student asking if they should move on to the next level of math. He said that it is better to give them the benefit of the doubt and let them see what the next class is like. If they start to flounder, they can easily drop back down. It is much harder, he said, to move up a level.

I wouldn't necessarily recommend all of the following. They are tips I found online that discuss when you should let your students fail in some regards so as to build their confidence when they eventually do overcome any failure. I present my findings on the "Tough Love" approach (adapted from http://www.pcrest.com/PC/FGB/4th/demo/3/3_1_8.htm): The following issues highlight critical areas in which teachers can grow to avoid enabling mediocre academic outcomes and ensure that students are accountable for their own performance.
 * **Having personal and emotional toughness**

It is a human tendency to want to step in when a student begins to experience failure. Typically, teachers will not let the student experience the full phenomenon of the moment, but will intervene with a content-related strategy to assist a student in improving performance. This behavior is contrary to a tough-love approach and must be resisted. Allowing students to feel the full cognitive and affective experience of failure is necessary if they are to grow and develop skills to successfully handle similar tasks in the future.


 * **Not allowing students to quit**

Once students are faced with failure they tend to quit. When failing students are not effectively coached, students become frustrated, teachers alienate themselves from students, and retention suffers. If students feel they are not supported, or if they feel embarrassed when they do not meet academic expectations, absenteeism will also become more pronounced. If teachers express a strong belief in a student’s ability to succeed, if they encourage students to take risks, experience failure, and develop successful learning strategies, it will enhance students’ commitment to try again.


 * **Sharing experiences of failure**

Teachers must be empathetic when students fail. This does not mean that they should “feel sorry” for students who fail; instead they need to realize that they themselves have also experienced failure. When teachers reflect upon their own academic failures and poor performance, they can then share those experiences with students. As a result, students are encouraged to persevere.


 * **Allowing students to experience frustration**

Teachers must also gain the confidence necessary to allow students to feel uneasy in the classroom and not to immediately intervene when this happens. New teachers are particularly susceptible to the temptation to intervene immediately when students are failing in order to preclude negative student reactions. Although it is often uncomfortable for a teacher to remain silent during a failed student performance, doing so provides the student with the full affective and social experience.


 * **Experiencing failure in small steps**

Setting high expectations and allowing students to fail in incremental steps will actually build trust and commitment between the teacher and his or her students. Small failures are more easily coached and will allow for immediate feedback on specific areas of performance. Coaching students through various stages of performance will improve their self-efficacy and will allow them to make necessary course corrections to be successful. This will also improve the students’ confidence and emotional resilience when failure occurs in the future.


 * **Avoiding enabling behavior**

Teachers must recognize the difference between coaching behaviors that allow for growth and enabling behaviors that produce dependency. One may provide temporary success by overlooking or acquiescing to poor or low-quality performance or by assisting students with task performance, but these behaviors will eventually lead to students not reaching their full potential.


 * **Questioning teacher performance**

To facilitate student growth, it is essential to set high expectations for performance on new and challenging subject matter; but when students begin to experience short-term failure, teachers typically question their own teaching skills. Teachers must recognize that it is not necessarily a reflection on their ability to teach effectively when they allow students to fail in their first attempt at a new academic performance. If expectations are set at the appropriate level for growth, the majority of students will experience short-term failure throughout the learning process.