Learning from Failure:

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• From the dictionary -- failure a state of
  inability to perform a normal function a lack of
  success a falling short an omission of
  occur-rence or performance.
• w w
• Good people are good because they have come to
  wisdom through failure.
• -- William Saroyan
• Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win
  glorious triumph, even though checkered by
  failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who
  neither gain nor suffer much because theirs is
  the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor
  defeat.
• -- Teddy Roosevelt
• Winning is wonderful in every respect . . . but
  loss is a fiercer, more uncompromising teacher,
  coldhearted but clear-eyed in its understanding
  that life is more dilemma than game, and more
  trial than free pass.
• -- Pat Conroy, My Losing Season
• If you can't be a good example, then you'll just
  have to serve as a horrible warning.
• -- Catherine Aird
• w Check it out! w
• w Feel free to adapt this poster to your staff
  meeting/staff development needs.

Learning from Failure The Teachable Moments when
Things Go Wrong Sarah May Clarkson Juniata
College / Huntingdon, Pennsylvania
w Two Case Studies w
Hannah S. Hannah S. is a student in her final
year who was conditionally admitted (CA) as a
freshman. Her initial program of study was
elementary education certification. Came to us
from out of state 6- or 7-hour drive to home.
She had good mentoring and support in her first
year as a CA, but has struggled academically.
Because of her academic frustrations, and because
her mom is a teacher, she got a full
psycho-educational evaluation in the summer
between her freshman and sophomore years. The
diagnosis indicated ADHD (inattentive type, DSM
IV 314.00) her baseline IQ was measured at 91.
Some modest classroom accommodations were asked
for, and we have been compliant. Our office
proctors her for tests and exams she can be a
whiner. She is good about acknowledging the need
for tutoring and she is pro-active in going to
office hours. As a teacher certification
candidate, she had to retake the core education
course, Foundations of Education, and got a C-
the first time around and a B when she re-took
it. During her sophomore spring semester she
took her second math class (state mandate) and
was working with a tutor on a take-home quiz. The
tutor found out at the end of the session that
the work they were doing together was a quiz,
which the tutor reported to the professor, who
was understandably upset with Hannah. An
allegation of academic dishonesty was brought
forward. At the end of six semesters, Hannah
has a GPA of 2.151 and has earned 80 credits
(having attempted 86 credits). Graduation
requirements are strict 120 credits and a
cumulative GPA of 2.0. She is, and has been,
working real hard, but has not found academic
success. There is no way that she will meet the
state regulations to have a cumulative GPA or 3.0
in order to student teach. But is she a failure?
What do you advise? Steven K. Steven K.
has just begun his seventh semester (his senior
year) and his academic career has been nothing if
not checkered. His SATs are 600 (verbal) and 530
(math) he is clearly a capable student. His
original program of study was pre-med. His
GPA after his freshman year was 1.939 after his
sophomore year, it was 1.770 after six semesters
his GPA was 1.921, and at this point he was
recommended for academic suspension. In six
semesters of work, his best academic performance
was 2.615, and the worst was 0.818. His
transcript shows three academic probation
semesters. He has to have a 2.0 to graduate.
Since his sophomore year, I have been one of his
academic advisors. Our relationship I thought
was pretty solid, but I have to wonder now how
honest he has been with me and himself. He
was very very upset to find out after the spring
semester that he was recommended for academic
suspension. He called me repeatedly and made the
trip to Juniata from his home (two hours away) to
talk about his situation and how we would
confront it. He wrote a letter of appeal that
made a number of promises, and which the Student
Academic Development Committee accepted as his
solemn word. Is he just being allowed to
persist in something that he has taken for
granted though he says attending Juniata is very
important to him? Do we give him a second chance
and allow him to redeem himself when he returns,
or have we done him a terrible disservice to
permit him to stumble along? What do you
advise?

• Consider
• How do you define / describe failure?
• How do our students define / describe failure?

What contributes to failure?
What can students gain / learn from failure?
What can advisors learn from observing students
fail?