The secret to getting ahead? 'Mucking it up' first

We all must write at times—whether for a school assessment as a student, a presentation for work, or a speech at a wedding. Yet, many claim that they don’t know how to write—they weren’t ‘blessed with this gift’, or they ‘aren’t creative enough’.  But what if we treated the skill of writing like we do, learning to drive a car, for example? Understanding that it takes practice, getting out of our comfort zone, and risking failure in order to succeed? 

In this episode of Illumine, Principal of Brisbane Girls Grammar School, Ms Jacinda Euler and Head of Literature, Miss Meghan Parry, discuss the idea of 'failing forward', and how often, the secret to great writing is ‘mucking it up’ the first time, in order to pave the way for a great piece. 

Chapters

• 2:40 Can you talk us through this concept of 'mucking up' and how it can be the secret to great writing?
• 6:42 How do you encourage the vulnerability that you believe is required to achieve good writing, to help students to understand the idea of ‘failing forward’?
• 10:28 Is ‘failing forward’ something that you practice as a teacher yourself in your classroom—do the students also critique your work?
• 14:45 Comments from BGGS students
• 20:30 Can you walk us through the process that you went through after being asked to appear on Illumine? How did you come to decide on this particular topic, and how many drafts did it take you to come to this final article?
• 23:31 At what year level do you tend to see the students start to embrace this ‘fail forward’ concept more broadly?
• 25:29 Tell us about the idea of 'visible thinking' and what are some of the strategies you and the other teachers employ to take the fear out of ‘failing’, and to encourage students to keep moving forward and not be too discouraged?
• 29:13 Looking back personally, have you had a particularly memorable moment of ‘mucking up’ or ‘failure’ that has shaped your professional or personal development?