Upper Peninsula Teaching & Learning Conference - 2026

Learning requires us to risk (and often experience) failure. If we want our students to develop a willingness to welcome challenges and risk failure, we as teachers must grapple with our own discomfort with failure. This interactive session explores how fear of failure prevents us from embracing growth opportunities and offers practical strategies for building resilience through reframing failure as a learning process. 
We will begin with candid failure stories from the presenter. By examining specific stories through two different lenses—one focused on what went wrong, another on what was learned—participants will explore how narrative framing shapes our relationship with failure and influences our ability to move forward. We will also talk about the need to make our classrooms and learning communities places of trust as a precursor to talking about failure productively.
The session will include activities and structured discussions that examine critical questions: What distinguishes "failing at something" from "being a failure"? How does fear of failure inhibit risk-taking and question-asking in academic settings? What are the real consequences of failure versus perceived ones? When does failure represent a learning opportunity rather than simply a mistake? 
Participants will engage in small-group discussions tailored to their varied roles, exploring topics such as creating early low-stakes opportunities for students to fail and recover, normalizing help-seeking behaviors, processing disappointing results in professional contexts, and developing strategies to encourage student engagement despite fear of looking foolish.
The session concludes with an introduction to practical tools for productive failure discussions, including premortems, test wrapper reflections, and project life graphs. Attendees will leave with  concrete "small bite" strategies they can implement immediately to help students—and themselves—develop healthier relationships with failure, ultimately building the resilience necessary to truly welcome challenge.