Rejections

“We don’t like their sound and guitar music is on the way out.”  That was the response of Decca Records in 1962 turning down The Beatles for a recording contract.  The Beatles, of course, went on to sell 1.6 billion records.  William Golding’s, The Lord of the Flies was rejected 20 times before it was finally published. Over 150,000,000 copies have been sold.  Louisa May Alcott was told to stick to teaching.  Little Women sold millions of copies and was adapted for plays, movies, musicals and operas.  Michael Jordan was cut from his junior varsity high school basketball team. He went on to become possibly the greatest basketball player ever.  Oprah Winfrey was told that she was “unfit for television.”  She went on to stardom with a show of her own and is now one of the most recognized names in the world.  Jerry Seinfeld was initially booed off the stage.  He went on to have an incredibly successful career as a comedian and had a #1 hit television series.  In his first film, Harrison Ford was told “You don’t have what it takes.” He is one of the biggest stars in the movie industry.  Charles Schultz had every one of his cartoons rejected by his high school yearbook staff.  Without him, we don’t have Charlie Brown and the Peanuts Gang.  The list goes on for miles with people who have been told by others that they weren’t good enough.  Isn’t it great that so many evaluators were wrong?

All of the people above persevered and became what they intended to be despite the criticism they received from others.  They rose above the rejection.  Not many people can do that.  It is vital that kids experience some success in school.  It is up to us to find that; whatever that may be. There is not a teacher reading this that has not had to struggle with a student(s) having one failing grade after another.  Assignment = F. Next = F. Next = F…just do the test corrections – are you kidding me?  I didn’t get it the first time, how on God’s green earth am I supposed to get it now?  Feedback is essential.  Let me write that once more – feedback is essential!  We cannot expect kids to grow if we never give them feedback on what they have done well and not only what needs to be shored up, but how to shore it up.  You pour into kids.  You can pour all nasty negative stuff or you can pour good stuff.  Everyone reading this has at least one student who is struggling.  If not, you aren’t looking closely enough.  Those students will never gain competence until they gain confidence.  Take a step back and find SOMETHING that he or she do successfully. Then build from there.  Confidence has to come before competence.