“There
is no better than adversity. Every defeat, every heartbreak, every loss,
contains its own seed, its own lesson on how to improve your performance the
next time.”
Malcolm
X
By
Tommie Saylor
Kennedy
High School Principal
This
week I discovered an article written by John Wink regarding attitudes toward
failure. I found this article to be very enlightening, and I believe
portrays an excellent example of what we should be telling our students. Failure
does not mean you are bad at the subject, it just means you are not yet “there”
and more work is needed. Please see the article below: I have included
the link if you would like to read the article as it was posted:
The
Big Choice in our Response to Failure
I've
been just a little obsessed with failure and rejection this week. No
matter if you are applying for your dream job or taking a big test, chances are
that you will not succeed. But in that I want to remind you that no failure is
fatal unless we allow it to be.
Apply
that Concept to Kids
When
kids don't win the big competition, do they never try again? When they
don't get selected for the leading role or as captain of the team, do they see
that as a reason to stop or drop out? More importantly, when kids fail a
test, do they see themselves as a bad math student or a poor reader?
Well,
it depends. When we experience failure or rejection, we always have two
choices. We can see failure as a NO and let it stop us in our
tracks, or we can see it as a NOT YET. NOT YET means we have
more work to do. It means we're not quite there, but furthermore, it
means that we're also not at the place we were yesterday. If we want kids
to believe in themselves as learners, we must teach them how to respond in the
face of adversity. We must teach them that they are a work in progress,
and NOT YET is a powerful mental tool that can shape them into the
person they were born to become. Growth can't happen with a NO, but
it always will with a NOT YET.
Failure
is not fatal, but our response to it can be. This week, let's teach all
kids how to turn their NO's into NOT YETs. Not only will you
see a change in their performance as learners, you will also see a change in
their confidence and self-esteem.
I
whipped up this slide for you and for your students. When we experience
failure, we must never forget that we failed for a reason. It wasn't because we
weren't good enough. It's because we weren't ready yet. When you encounter
failure or rejection, always remember that you have two choices: to accept it
as a big, fat NO or to embrace it NOT YET.
This
lesson is not only a good lesson for students. It’s a good lesson for us all.
Every time we face adversity we have two choices to make, power through or run
and hide, “No” or “Not Yet”. As my father would say, “It’s gut check time.”
What kind of person do you want to be, one who runs “into the fire” when things
go bad, or one who runs away. It is through adversity that character is
revealed, not made.
How
and where will you lead them. Making Kennedy the school of choice. Excellence
by design.
