Top Tips For Teaching Yoga In Schools - Tip #20: Handle Rejection By Asking For Feedback

Hi there, and welcome back to the blog!

After over a year of teaching my students virtually, I finally returned to the classroom last week, and phew, was it exhausting and exciting, all at once! After finally feeling like I had hit my stride with teaching virtually, I’m now having to figure out how best to structure my class in this new hybrid model. Teaching, it seems, is all about learning and relearning.

One of the things I had to learn early on in my process of landing my dream job teaching yoga in schools was how to handle rejection. I had to learn how to de-personalize it, and use it as a means of gathering feedback so I could make my offering better.

So, today, I’m going to share some more information on how to turn a “no” into a learning experience that will bring you one step closer to a “yes”.

Tip #20: Handle Rejection By Asking For Feedback

One of the most important aspects of landing a job teaching yoga in schools is the interview or conversation you have with school administrators. Whether you want to implement a program focused on yoga, mindfulness, or a hybrid of both, or whether you want to teach during the day or after school, these conversations are important!

It’s also important to acknowledge that you might not be successful right away. You will very likely hear “no” again, or for the first time. Interest that was expressed by the administration for expanding your programming might not lead anywhere. It’s going to hurt, and it’s going to be frustrating, but you are not alone. 

And, when you don’t get a position you want, or a school flat-out rejects you, I want you to follow-up and ask them WHY?!

Was it because you don’t have enough behavior management experience? Was it funding? Was it that they couldn’t quite see how your program would fit in with their initiatives or benefit their students? Was it because they filled the position already?

Figuring out WHY you didn’t get the job is key, as it will allow you to tweak your approach for next year, or for your next conversation with school administrators. It will allow you to prioritize and focus on getting the experience you need, so that you can go back to that same administrator, or a different one, and show them that you revised your curriculum, got more experience, or secured grant funding for your program so they don’t have to. 

Asking for feedback is hard, especially after we hear the word “no”, but it is essential as it provides us with specific areas for improvement. It allows us to focus our attention on the areas that administrators truly care about, and will make it that much harder for them to say “no” next time. 

Tip Takeaway: As you interview with principals, ask them for feedback on your program. Send a follow up email thanking them for taking the time to meet with you, and ask them how to make your program stronger next year, what was missing (if anything), and what more they’d want to know. Make a note of what you hear them saying, and use that feedback to tweak your curriculum, and your pitch!