Are your students afraid of failure?
- Do they worry about being made fun of for appearing too “religious”?
- Are they afraid to raise their hands in class out of fear of being wrong?
- Do they hesitate to come forward and tell you about how they or their friends are being mistreated?
- Is it safer for them to ignore their homework, rather than take the risk that their work might be judged less than perfect?
The following video might be a good way to begin a discussion about the educational value of failure and the importance of taking healthy risks.
Afterward, students could be given one of the following questions to either discuss in small groups, act out in a short skit, or write about:
- What are some risks Jesus took, and what was the result?
- Describe some moments that Jesus’ disciples failed.
- When did you experience failure that ended up being good for you?
- Talk about a time that you took a risk and it paid off.
- Comment on the following: “If you’ve never failed, you’ve never lived.”