Are you a risk taker or a risk-averse?

Are you willing to risk losing something?

How about risking being wrong?

And how do you feel about failing?

Risk-taking is essential for our learning, growth and success in life.

Therefore, it is crucial to encourage and provide children with an environment where they feel safe to take risks.

Classroom risk-taking can take many forms, such as making a new friend, trying to solve a challenging math problem, sharing your ideas and opinions, or stepping up to a leadership position in a group project.

It is about willing to try something new, knowing that you might fail, and feeling OK with it.

It is about not shying away from challenges. It is about confidence to put yourself in an uncomfortable or unfamiliar situation.

Taking risks is essential to the learning process as learning requires students to move from their comfort zone, the known, into the growth zone or the unknown.

When teachers cultivate a supportive environment, even when risk-taking fails, students learn that failure is a way to learn, is a way to succeed. And these experiences make students more resilient.

Risk-taking can also lead to finding new interests and passions.

As you can see, there are many benefits to risk-taking. It empowers students to make life choices, make new friends, learn how to fail and grow from failure, and much more.

Educators need to help their students develop a positive approach towards taking responsible risks, as such an approach will impact their success in life and their confidence to pursue the life they want to live.

In episode 24 of The Thinking Effect podcast, we talk with our special guest, Karen Tui Boyes. We discuss the importance of cultivating risk-taking in your classroom and share simple approaches and tools you can implement straight away in your classroom to help your students grow.

Multi-award-winning educator Karen Tui Boyes is a champion for Life Long Learning. An effective teaching and learning expert, she is informative and entertaining as she passes on her practical solutions for learning and life. Karen is an author of 10 books and the creator of the Teachers Matter Magazine, Teachers Matter Conference, Study Smart Workshops and the Habits of Mind Bootcamp. She is also CEO of Spectrum Education, Affiliate Director of the Institute for the Habits of Mind, and the wife of one and mother of two.

Tune in now to learn how to enhance your teaching by cultivating risk in your classroom.

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