The "F" Bomb of Learning

Today's blog is about the number one learning killer, the big F-Bomb of learning, FRUSTRATION.  The simple fact is, the feeling of frustration is part of learning.  It's not something that will go away, but it is something you can teach your students how to navigate so that it is a yield sign, not a stop sign on your student's road to mastery. If we don't give our students the tools to handle frustration it will stop them dead in their tracks.

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Before I share with you the tools to manage the feeling of frustration, it's important to know that when you get fully frustrated, you can't learn anything except how to handle frustration. You certainly can't learn how to do whatever it is you were trying to do.  Often a caring adult will try to cheerlead the child through the frustration and that may occasionally and temporarily work, but it doesn't give the student the skills to control it on his or her own. ​

When you get fully frustrated, you can't learn anything except
​how to handle frustration.

The first tool is to take a break.  How long is entirely up to the learner. It could be thirty seconds, a minute, a day, but you need to take a break.  The second tool is to ask someone who knows more than you for help. The third tool is to make the goal easier. Take a smaller chunk. Try playing separate hands. Do less.  A line instead of a page.  You want to create feelings of success for yourself and your students all of the time.

Solve your students problem for them and you will have to continue to do so.  Give them the tools and show them how to use those tools and they will be able to solve their problems on their own.

Focus on what you want.