Vivas to Those Who Have Failed

I've known for a while that our students have a difficult time risking failure, yet I've also encountered many anecdotes in my reading that emphasize the importance of failure in the learning process and in building character.  Poets seem to know this, as suggested by the section of Leaves of Grass the title of this post refers to, and I'm also thinking of that great title of a poem by Roethke, "In a Dark Time, The Eye Begins to See."  Robert did a very nice job of guiding us through a multifaceted presentation that involved role-playing, Ted Talks, references to mindfulness, compassion, and quotes on failure.  I would recommend to those who couldn't attend the workshop, one resource in particular that Robert showed the group: Brene Brown's TedTalk, The Power of Vulnerable.  The presentation gave me some good ideas on how to reduce the amount of shame and guilt associated with failure in the classroom.