Uncertainty

-By Jaime Willis

I did an experiment with a group of adult educators. I gave them very vague instructions on how to arrange groups. The goal was that each educator would participate in four different groups. I told them that the composition of each group had to be different. Some of the adults were willing to work it out, trial and error even. Others would get to a point and then realize that they did not understand completely what to do and then would ask questions.  A few even began getting upset at the lack of directions and were resistant. I was hoping that the adults would be able to work together to negotiate the groups, but the project failed entirely.
...
From this simple illustration we can infer that our students in the classroom probably belong in one of these three groups: being comfortable with uncertainty, being uncomfortable with uncertainty, and being irritated with uncertainty.
...
One of the main goals of the educational approach known as constructivism is to prepare learners for uncertainty by helping them feel comfortable in postulating, guessing, hypothesizing, conjecturing, and testing their theories. Unfortunately, we have socialized our students into the believing that not being certain is a bad thing, and as a result, few students are willing to take a risk and demonstrate their vulnerability.

-Excerpted from "Helping Students Deal with Uncertainty in the Classroom" by Ben Johnson 

Today, just moments from now, I am going to be looking and deciding if I will be putting an offer on my first home.  Last month, last week, and even part of yesterday, I was feeling a huge sense of elation at the idea of buying a home.  

Last night and this morning, I have been feeling worry and concern, as the moment comes nearer.  "What if I make the wrong decision?"  "What if I hate the neighborhood?" "Am I spending too much money?  Am I spending too little money?" "Am I moving too quickly?" 

In a recent class, my instructor told us one of the keys to mastery was fearlessness.  He defined fearlessness as "absolute freedom" where nothing and no one is stopping your progress.  

I think in the classroom and in life, we need to learn to be ok with a certain level of uncertainty.  We need to learn to take "intelligent risks."  We need to be fearless and vulnerable and try new things.  

What can you do to infuse your lesson plans (or your life) with room for (you or) your students to learn about and become comfortable with uncertainty?