Check out this incredible post and vlog by educator, author, and keynote speaker, AJ Juliani.

Let's learn like a skater!

My daughter lowered her eyes, looked at me, and said, "I can't do it."

I looked back and asked her again to put one foot on the board, push off with her other foot, and then put that foot on the board when she was moving.

She was being a typical six-year-old who was trying to learn how to ride a skateboard.

"No", she said. "I'm not doing this anymore. Can you push me?"

It would have been easy for me to help her get both feet on the board and give her a push to get her started. But I had already done that, and now after guiding her through the process (and almost falling myself while demonstrating), it was time for her to keep trying if she wanted to make any progress.

I told her "no" and asked for her to try again, this time focusing on getting a good push so she could be moving when she put her foot back on the board.

She was visibly upset. She knew that I could help her out. I knew that I could help her out. But in her mind, she didn't see the bigger picture. She didn't realize that only by trying (and failing) herself, would she ever be able to ride a skateboard without my help.

I wrote about this scene about my house a few years ago on the blog, and still see it happening every day with my own kids and our students (and adults) at school.

In this video (yep, I made another one...still scary, but I'm going to keep trying it!) I share the big difference between "Fail-URE and Fail-ING." We look at how skateboarding can be the perfect example of what growth mindset should look like in and out of the classroom.

- AJ 

Wow! Love that video and your thoughts shared here regarding failure and failing! Incredible. What a wonderful reflection to share with staff, colleagues, and anyone taking risks and trying something new!

If you like what you've heard here from AJ, check out the two books he co-authored below, Empower and Launch! They are dynamic! You can, also, follow him on Twitter here and read his latest blog posts here. Thanks again, AJ!

Let's empower others to learn like a skater!