West Riverside Elementary school teacher Lee Townsend’s teaching strategy revolves around one motto.
“What do mistakes lead to?” she asks her second-grade students.
The students shout out excitedly: “Discovery.”
In fact, in Townsend’s classroom mistakes are not only commended, they are encouraged.
“We celebrate mistakes,” Townsend explains. “It’s exciting.”
Because she wants her students to be fearless and know it’s fine to make a mistake, she and her students repeat her motto nearly five times a day. And she believes the students will carry the motto with them in the future.
It’s also a motto that Townsend tries to build into many of her activities.
One strategy Townsend uses is letting the student become the teacher. A question will be asked and then Townsend will call on a student to answer. The student will stand and explain the answer to the class.
After the student has answered, the other students can put their thumbs up or down to say whether they agree or disagree with the answer. If they disagree, they may be called on to argue their case.
The exercise encourages the students to interact and not focus whether their answer is wrong, focusing instead on the possibility of a better answer. Students realize that their mistakes can lead to the discovery of a better answer by another student. They focus on finding the right answer with their peers, rather than dwelling over their mistakes.
“Education is a marvelous process. You learn something new every day,” Townsend said.
In addition to her emphasis on mistake-making and discovery, Townsend also takes great care to ensure struggling students achieve success.
“One time I had a student who felt like he couldn’t do a lot of things, so one day I decided to pair him up with another student. While the students were working together, he taught the other student something and his face lit up. He was so excited and it was an amazing experience,” Townsend said. The student ran up to Townsend’s desk eager to share the information that he actually taught another student something.
When a student is struggling Townsend does anything in her power from working one-on-one with them, to having them work on specific skills in groups.
“One time when a student had an issue, Mrs. Townsend came into my room to look at other classwork that student had done outside of her class,” said fellow teacher Michael Komatina. “That was the first time a teacher had ever come to my classroom and looked that deeply into a student’s schoolwork. She really cares about her students.”
Like Komantina, West Riverside Principal Sylvia Johnson recognizes Townsend’s success and understands why she was named 2012-13 Teacher of the Year.
“Mrs. Townsend’s mistakes lead to discovery motto is what shaped her as a teacher,” she said. “She makes the students feel comfortable and that allows her to have great classroom discussion.”