Title:
ON DEAD-ENDS, PIT-STOPS, AND REIMAGINING THE ROAD: HOW FAILURE LEADS TO TEACHING EXPERTISE AND PEDAGOGICAL TRANSFORMATION

Authors:
Marco Dehnert* and Sarah J. Tracy

Abstract:
This essay shares our iterative voyage to examine the role of failure in teaching, which began with a theoretical model that suggests that risk-taking and failure are fundamental pit-stops on the way to expertise in any craft practice, including teaching. We conducted narrative interviews with three accomplished teachers of varying levels of experience. Analyzing the interviews, however, challenged our initial assumptions. Subsequently, we turned to literature in queer pedagogy that suggests the importance of failure as a method for purposefully diverging from dominant structures. The heart of the essay provides four lessons that emerged from considering failure through these two different views. These lessons include that: 1) taking risks is a key part of advancing pedagogical skill as well as improving the system, 2) failure hurts, especially for teachers who hold marginalized positions; 3) good teachers dance in a tension between mastering the current rules of the game while questioning dominant structures; 4) even experienced and accomplished teachers face classroom risks and experience failure.

Keywords:
teaching, skill level acquisition, failure, risk, queer

DOI:
http://dx.doi.org/10.37500/IJESSR.2022.5127