Today I decided that Iowa's list of 21st Century Skills is missing one important life skill: admit problems or mistakes and use appropriate resources to correct them. This is a skill I try hard to model and teach to my students because it is a hard lesson to learn. However, in reality, we are all human. We mess up, and we have the choice to cover-up the error or learn from it.
Yesterday I was able to assist on a very interesting manual lab analysis. We tested for methylene blue active substances (MBAS) in a stream water sample. MBAS is a detergent that contaminates water supplies. In the process the sulfates react with methylene blue to form a blue-colored complex and then are extracted using chloroform. (http://www.caslab.com/Test-Methods-Search/PDF/USGS-Method-O-3128-95.pdf). The process entire process took us over three hours to complete. Unfortunately, during one of the final steps I made a mistake and combined two samples. The analyst very calmly told me that it was alright and helped guide me through the process to fix the mistake.
Too often our pride gets in the way for us to admit mistakes. Even as I'm typing this, I feel uneasy confessing my error. But once I made my mistake, I thought of my students and how they must feel when they make a mistake in the classroom. My reaction is then critical for the child. I can either help them learn or to scold them for their error. My reaction completely sets the tone for what they will do in the future if they make another mistake.
I hope to remember this experience and how patient the analyst was when she helped me correct my error. I need to show the same guidance to my students, so they learn from the process and are able to correctly go through the process the next time.
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