The Rookery

About a week ago, I was drifting in and out of sleep listening to the radio.  The show was On Being and the interview was with Brene Brown, a researcher whose TED talk about vulnerability had gone viral about three years ago.

It was an interesting interview about the necessity of letting kids put themselves in vulnerable situations so that they can begin to trust themselves.  They need to learn that, yes, they can do it and, just as importantly, no, sometimes they can't.  But it's not the end of the world if they can't.  People who don't learn that they can take risks (be vulnerable) and fail live in utter fear of failure and don't take risks.  (Full disclosure, I have not yet gone back to listen to the segment while fully awake so this may be an oversimplification of it.)

At one point, Brené Brown asked the host, "When's the last time you saw someone be brave?"  She meant it as a rhetorical question but my sleepy mind responded instantly, "Yesterday."  We'd had opera try outs and I had several students take big risks and try out.  Then I though a little longer.  I see people being brave every day.  Kids in our classrooms are vulnerable all the time.  They take so many more risks than I do.  In our conversations about learning, we try to nurture and encourage this risk taking.  It's vital to being a learner.  We talk about the discomfort of not knowing something and the awkwardness of taking the steps to learn it.  But the interview really brought to light just how much our kids take this to heart.

On Friday night, you saw the outcome of that risk taking.  Getting up in front of friends and family (after just two full run throughs of the play) was a real risk.  Things could go wrong (and did).  But the Herons problem solved and persevered.  Despite their nervousness, they stepped out on the stage and put on a show.  Their beaming faces as you applauded them said it all.  You can't get to that joy unless you risk vulnerability.  You can't grow unless you're willing to step beyond what you can comfortably do.  What role models they are for us.

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