Objective: Students will identify and discuss the effects of excuses on future success and the importance of a positive attitude. Bellwork: Name three excuses you use, or hear, regularly.

So far this quarter we have evaluated “Who are you?” and “What do you want” Now it’s time to evaluate “How do I get it?” We only have 3-4 weeks left in class, we will be working over the next it’s important that you complete your assignments and get any missing assignments in. Any assignment missing at the end of the quarter may no longer be submitted for credit.

 People come up with many excuses for not doing something  You may believe your excuse is valid, but somewhere, someone with the same problem is living your dream  What’s your excuse?

I’m a woman I’m a man I’m black I’m white I’m Hispanic I’m Asian I come from a different culture I’m rich I’m poor I’m too smart I’m not smart enough I’m too ugly I’m too fat I’m too thin I’m too short I’m too tall I’m blind I have impaired vision I’m deaf I have a hearing loss I can’t speak I have a speech impediment I’m a paraplegic I’m a quadriplegic I’ve lost a limb I have a debilitating disease I’ve been treated for emotional problems I’m shy I’m adopted I’m an orphan I come from a single- parent home I’ve been abused I’ve been in trouble with the law I’m chemically dependent I have to take care of a parent or sibling I have a baby My family won’t let me My family expects too much of me No one believes in me I can’t do it because…

Born with only one hand Won 12 baseball games in his rookie season as a pitcher with the California Angels Was a pitcher for the Gold Medal 1988 Olympic Team

 Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge University  Considered the most brilliant theoretical physicist since Einstein  Has ALS

David was born to a woman who had taken thalidomide, an anti-nausea drug given to many pregnant women in the early 60s that was proven to cause severe birth defects. David’s feet appeared where his legs should have started. Abandoned by his mother, David was adopted by a foster family. David’s foster family insisted he do things for himself. They never put him in a wheelchair and at age three, he was fitted with “legs”. In high school he played football, baseball, basketball, and hockey, and became a champion wrestler. He was offered handicap license plates but turned them down “Those are for people who need them, I am not disabled”.

 Remained the recognized leader of South African blacks despite spending more than 27 years as a political prisoner.  He was elected President after his release.

 Became profoundly deaf yet continued to compose some of his greatest music.  his hearing loss became profound: there is a well-attested story that, at the end of the premiere of his Ninth Symphony, he had to be turned around to see the tumultuous applause of the audience; hearing nothing, he wept.

Females receive 57% of all Bachelor’s degrees, but only 18% of the engineering degrees. Pam Dingman is the CEO of Engineering Design Consultants Nebraska’s only woman-owned engineering firm. She kept pursuing her dream when jobs were scarce and her first “engineering” job description required her to answer the phone, fax and file. She kept going when she lost the money she was saving to start her own firm in a divorce settlement. She pressed on when she didn’t have any role models to show her the way.

 A recently divorced, single mom Rowling was doing part-time clerical work and receiving welfare to make ends meet while completing her first Harry Potter novel.  Her manuscript was rejected by twelve publishers before it finally got the green light.  In March 2010 Forbes magazine estimated her net worth to be $1 billion.