On Teaching: "The Importance of Silence, Rest, and Failure"

As a teacher, I have always believed that discussion, activity, and success are vital ingredients of any good classroom, but I’m finally beginning to see, after 40+ years on the job, that their opposites – silence, rest, and failure – are equally important. Recurrent and regular silent periods, for instance, are essential in a classroom because they provide the background against which students can make salient comments. The customary silence, or at least quiet, in a good classroom makes the occasional statements by the students ring with life. If the comments are constant, one after another, as they often are in classrooms (including mine), none of them can be distinguished from the general noise. It’s just a kind of steady clamor. The same is true of activity. If the atmosphere in the classroom is not one of general relaxation and peace, then the serious educational activities will have no background against which to shine. If students are constantly toiling away with great intensity, the toil tends to become nothing more than busywork. Activity needs to be carried on against a setting of tranquility in order to be fully appreciated. If the students work hard and rest hard during a given class, the work will be especially memorable for them. Finally, I wonder why I have never fully appreciated the value of failure. After all, it’s clear that without occasional failure, no student will be able to take full pleasure in success. Without the intermittent negative, the positive gradually becomes devoid of meaning.
Strange as it feels to say this, I guess what all this means is that I need to stop shunning -- and start welcoming -- silence, rest, and failure in my classroom.