Hopping Down the Trail...

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I love that quote, "When the going gets tough, QUIT!!" Unfortunately, for many individuals in our society this quote has become the reality for many reasons. In our schools, students are quick to give up on anything from small tasks, to athletic teams, to friendships because the challenge is greater than expected. Life is full of challenges as all adults know, but adults also have experienced the benefit of perseverance and survival. Our students have not all had the privilege to experience this joy and satisfaction yet. However, for some students they haven't experienced this because throughout their whole life they have been told that they can't succeed, or at least that is the perceived message that they are receiving. No educator would like to see children be unsuccessful, but at the same time many educators don't stop to think of the unintended consequences of our habitual language.

I personally have never been one to go down the path most traveled. In fact, I prefer not to go down the path less traveled either. Usually, I prefer to make a path where no one has gone before. Why? I don't really know, most say because I'm crazy and I've grown to kind of embrace that. Our students need to feel safe to fail before we can expect them to persevere. Perseverance is developed from the ability to move forward through failure and end up successful despite hurdles. If we expect our students to develop academic grit and perseverance, we have to encourage them to take chances and expand outside their comfort zone, without fear of repercussion for failure. Our students want to take chances and they want to learn, it's time that we show them the promised land. Fear of failing can be our worst enemy in education, let's remove this impediment to true learning.

Black Knight Kudos ...

Congratulations to the Rome City School District music department and music educators for being named a NAMM Best Community for Music Education!!


"PAIR"ents Partnership ...

As we move closer to the summer months, we are making preparations at RFA for the 2016-2017 school year. Among other things, we are looking to increase parent and community involvement and outreach in the upcoming year. We intend to distribute a parent needs assessment in the coming month and I ask that you take the time to provide us with feedback regarding your needs as a parent as it relates to your student's educational experience. Lastly, as always, if you have questions or concerns I urge you to contact your student's grade level administrator or myself so that we can work together to improve RFA for everyone. 

This Week at RFA...

3/28 - No School, Snow Day Give Back
3/29 - JROTC Field Trip to VA Clinic
3/29 - Key Club Meeting
3/29 - Travel Club Meeting
3/30 - PBIS Meeting
3/30 - College and Career Planning Seminar
3/30 - Musical Performance at The Beeches
3/30 - Mock Trial Field Trip to Utica Courthouse
3/31 - SBIT Meeting
3/31 - STASS Field Trip to Washington, D.C.
4/1 - Travel Club Meeting
4/1 - Varisity Bowling Banquet
4/1 - Chorus Trip to Virginia, Acappella Competition
4/2 - Mid York Colorguard Championships, CNS High School

Worth the Read...

Take a Moment to Self Reflect and Grow...

Are you ready to give up? You've tried something new and it isn't going well or not as easy to implement as expected. We've all been there and we all have things on our checklists we want to ignore for now. Don't!! Persevere through the challenge and be willing to ask for help from a colleague, parent, or student. Whatever it is that has become a challenge is worth seeing through to the end. There is a reason why you ventured on that journey to begin with, don't lose sight of those purposes and goals just because of some challenges. Go and get what you want...

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