BSEL Library: Celebrating Growth Mindset with "Failure Friday"

While failure is a part of life, students might come into our classrooms with a fear of failure, or experience shame when they make mistakes. Sometimes the best way to tackle emotional topics is to read a story about someone else's experience.  

​"Failure Friday" is just the story to help students learn that failure is chance to learn.

Emma's story of failure, along with her teacher (Mrs. Thomspon's) lesson on the topic, will get the conversation starting in your classroom. The message is clear: "We never lose. We can win, or we can learn." Here's some things I love about the book, a couple of notes to consider, and practical ways to use it in your classroom or school.

What I love:
- There is no specific age in the story, meaning this book could be read anywhere from primary grades to middle school.
- Within Mrs. Thompson's lesson, the book presents the P.I.E. method for handling situations where we might fail. It is explicit, applicable, and easy to remember! This teacher also approaches failure as a celebration, which could definitely be mirrored in your class!
- While Emma is the main character, her classmates also identify times where they have failed. This can help students identify scenarios for themselves too.

Notes to consider:

• The book focuses on an athlete failing at winning a race. As someone who personally is not competitive, this isn't the most relatable for me. You'll will need to dive into the principles of the story, rather than just the events itself, to help students connect with it deeply.
• Mrs. Thompson's lesson on P.I.E. ends with the class eating PIE. I could see some students groaning in disappointment if you read "Failure Friday" but don't actually eat pie yourselves at the end. Instead, you can use it as a way to make learning fun! I'll explore some easy ways to incorporate actual pie below.

How you can use it in your classroom:
Read it individually with a student who you know has had a recent setback that left them discouraged. This would be especially beneficial for a student who is highly competitive or involved in sports.
Have a fun Friday with your students, just like Mrs. Thompson does in the book. Turn it into a class party of sorts, where you eat P.I.E. and celebrate failure. Rather than bringing in whole pies (and needing plates, napkins, forks, and let's be honest, milk), pick up some hand pies or whoopie pies that come in pre-packaged boxes for ease.
Bookend a unit on growth mindset. Use this read aloud as either the kickoff for a unit on failure or growth mindset, or use it to wrap up a unit. Again, make it a celebration with a snack if you can. It could be a great way to get students interested in a new unit or to provide closure at the end.

Celebrating failure is something we all could do more often, and this book will help you do just that. Have fun with your own Failure Friday!
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We already know books provide opportunities to teach just about any skill, and that includes behavioral, social, and emotional skills, too! Through character, conflict, and more, BSEL skills can be found on nearly every page. A library of BSEL books gives you endless options to incorporate academics as well. Grab some BSEL books and get teaching! ***This post contains affiliate links. Braving BSEL makes a small commission when you purchase using our links. Thank you for your support!***