In the gym at Colvin Run Elementary School on Tuesday afternoon, fourth graders sat on the floor and watched videos of their teacher, Patrick Noel, attempting trick shots from different parts of the basketball court.
Then, he explained the task at hand: Students could use cones, paddles and other equipment to practice trick shots of their own. While the goal, he said, is to have the ball land inside a nearby bucket, he motivated the students to challenge themselves.
“You’ve got to be ready to fail,” Noel told his class. “OK? Because you’re going to miss so many more of your chances than you’re going to be successful.”
Each time the students miss, he told them, he recommended they figure out why — whether it was because they threw it too hard, not hard enough or, perhaps, too high.
The goal of the lesson, Noel said, is to help students remain determined and learn to embrace failure. It’s a concept he suspects will encourage them to confront adversity outside the Fairfax County school’s gym.
“The only way to grow is to fail,” Noel said. “You’ve got to go through those hardships to figure out the steps that you need to take to be able to be successful, and just having that mindset of, ‘I’m not going to give up until I meet my goal, until I get what I am working toward.’”
Noel came up with the idea during the pandemic. He was in his first year teaching at the Vienna school in 2020, when classes were fully virtual.
He’d had teaching experience, but was challenged because he was in a new environment and didn’t know any of his students. He was teaching from his office gym, and when he didn’t have classes, he started recording videos of himself attempting trick shots.
Noel shared them, anticipating his students may find them entertaining, and he kept going into the closet to see what equipment he could use to assist with shots he characterized as crazy.
“In that process, I just started learning so much about myself and not giving up, resiliency, but also using the failed attempts,” Noel said. “Each time I would miss, it’s like, ‘Why did I miss? How did I miss?’”
He wanted his students to experience the same feeling. On Tuesday, some students tried behind-the-back shots. Others lobbed balls over their shoulders or bounced them off the wall.
During class, Noel went from group to group, celebrating with students who successfully made the shot and encouraging others who hadn’t to keep trying. In some instances, he advised them to make their shot attempts more challenging, encouraging them to fail.
“They can use it to get frustrated or they can use it to get motivated, to figure out what steps they need to take,” Noel said. “All it is, is them showing that they’re not quite where they need to be just yet.”
At the end of class, the students completed a walking lap around the gym, telling each other what they do and how they feel when they get frustrated.
Many said confronting adversity makes experiencing success later more satisfying.
“When I don’t hit the shot, I just feel frustrated and kind of sad,” Lucia, a fourth grader, said. “But I just think about positive things and how I can try to make it again.”
Aidan, meanwhile, said remaining determined is important because “if you stop right then, then you’re never going to get the prize to actually feel good about how you made it.”
Some parents have emailed Noel that when their kids are having a rough time, they remind them of the trick shot and how they can work through challenges that may present themselves.
It reminds Noel of his experience getting cut from the basketball team as a high school freshman. Instead of quitting, he practiced more, securing a JV roster spot his sophomore year and eventually becoming a varsity player.
Now, when a student expresses a desire to quit because something’s too hard, Noel said he tells them, “I know it is, but guess what? We can do hard things.”
Get breaking news and daily headlines delivered to your email inbox by signing up here.
© 2024 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.
