Roosevelt data slide show 2006 – This is the Data Power Point for anyone who attended the 8th. Grade Open House or for anyone interested in Theodore Roosevelt High School.

Dear Friends,

All except those who enjoy skiing and other winter activities have welcomed the unseasonably warm end to January. Our students were able to complete their exams without weather related interruptions and the second semester is underway. February and March tend to be those winter “dog days.” The winter sports are winding down, underclassmen are looking at scheduling classes for next school year, and seniors are scrambling to insure a positive graduation experience. Everyone, it seems, is looking to the future. I have resurrected some thoughts from the past, but with a fresh perspective, building on last month’s Branching Out theme. Read more »

Dear Friends,                                                                                             January 2010

Is it possible that I am writing a Branching Out letter dated “2010?” In working with young people for the past thirty-eight plus years, it seems that time flies by! Like many others, I sometimes fail to reflect on the lessons learned along the way.

This realization occurred again when I was asked to welcome everyone at our National Honor Society Induction. I told a true story about a chance encounter with a young man who was a student and athlete of mine in the seventies, ten years after his graduation. It was readily apparent that he had fallen on hard times. Really hard times! His achievement and recognitions, which were many, in both the classroom and on the athletic fields should have served him well, but they didn’t. When I asked what had happened to him, he simply said, “Life happened to me, Coach.” Read more »

Dear Friends,

“We know drama” is a favorite tag line for a cable television station, suggesting that they have cornered the market on shows depicting it. “It” being, of course, “drama.” I would like to suggest that how we view and understand drama goes a long way in helping us navigate our lives on a daily basis. It is doubly important for young adults to sort out the drama in their own lives.

It is not until the third entry under ‘drama” that Webster gives us a definition we have come to accept … ‘a situation or series of events involving interesting or intense conflict of forces.” In other words, any conflict of forces can be considered drama. What seems to be missing in this definition is any direction as to how to prioritize the intensity of the conflict of forces. In addition, should we assume that every force is equal, therefore making every conflict equal in intensity? Or could the answer lie in how we choose to respond to an opposing force, resulting in the level of intensity of the drama?

Read more »

Dear Friends,

We often hear that the ability to communicate effectively is a great precursor for success in life. Schools, high schools in particular, are viewed as the last piece of formal education preparing young people for the world of adulthood that may include work, college, or military service. In these worlds, technology drives communication. Indeed, CEO’s of major corporations now have “Facebook” accounts and cell phone providers fall all over themselves extolling the virtues of continuous internet connectivity.

Read more »

A Special “Open House” Edition

Dear Friends of Roosevelt,                               September 2009

The opening of the school year was fantastic! Most everyone has commented on the enthusiasm of students, teachers, and support staff! Everyone seems genuinely excited to be here and working together to support a learning culture. While I know that this was included in the opening material packet in early August, we would like the opportunity to share the excitement and invite you to our annual Open House on Wednesday, September 16.  You will have an opportunity to visit with each of your son or daughter’s teachers, following their daily schedule throughout the evening. Though not a time for conferencing, it is a time to get to know their teachers. The program will start promptly at 7:00PM in your son or daughter’s First Period class. The schedule for the evening is the following:

7:00  -  7:10    Period 1

7:15  -  7:25    Period 2

7:30  -  7:40    Period 3

7:45  -  7:55    Period 4

8:00  -  8:10    Period 5

8:15  -  8:25    Period 6

8:30  -  8:40    Period 7

8:45  -  8:55    Period 8

Read more »

Dear Friends,

Theodore Roosevelt High School will open its doors to yet another school year in just a few short weeks! While our cool July weather has been comfortable, I’m sure August’s warmth will welcome back the many students that are already back for band, athletic practice, or the many other student activities that  Roosevelt is known for! The high school building is up and running and looks terrific due to the hard work of our fine custodial and maintenance staff. Their efforts have been outstanding in preparing our building for students and teachers.

Read more »

With commencement just around the corner, many parents (and some students) have talked in various ways about “separation anxiety” that comes when graduating seniors move on with their lives. As one might imagine, many of the young people are looking forward to getting out on their own, working or going off to school, and express excitement at this new found independence. In truth they are also feeling some anxiety, but it is tempered by their excitement for graduation. They still harbor some moments of fear of the future. The “doom and gloom” portrayal of our economy doesn’t help, but in spite of this, most of our graduates-to-be seem to be upbeat about their future. Read more »

Our students are entering the holiday season amid some great uncertainness in their lives, and the lives of their families and friends. The economic situation is ever changing, as both the sitting president and the president elect seek solutions to move our economy in a positive direction and maintain the safety and security of our country. We see, on a daily basis, the added stress on our students and families, some who have never known tough economic times. I am sharing some thoughts from the past, which may help you, who care about young people, create a framework for understanding what they may be seeing.

I am always challenging our teachers to touch both the minds and the hearts of our students. Learning is not an unemotional scientific event, as some may lead us to believe. The most effective teachers are passionate about their subject matter. They are always seeking to learn themselves and try a variety of instructional strategies, and designs to help their students grasp understanding. Most importantly, they seek to build meaningful relationships with their students. The first two characteristics are usually the easiest, for they speak to the mind. The last one speaks to the heart. While on any given day it might be difficult to achieve all three, the real challenge is to excite a student’s heart to care about learning. We have heard the old adage “put your heart into it,” so we know that people recognize the need for some form of internal eagerness and readiness to accomplish a goal. Is it not the same for learning? Even more intriguing, is a teacher’s challenge any different than a parent’s challenge?

These issues become even more perplexing as we enter the holiday season. The current economic instability, the ongoing fallout from the housing mortgage crisis, the stock market free fall, the ongoing war effort in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the contentious presidential election campaign and subsequent media drama, have created another shroud over the hearts of many students. All of these issues have impacted families in ways we can’t begin to understand and this, in turn, impacts our students. These stresses are internal, they run deep, and always sit in the back of their minds. These are those issues that erode happiness and create a “heavy heart!” Add the rampant commercialism surrounding the holidays; it is surprising that all students aren’t distracted from their academic work. Troublesome is the fact that these distractions that should be of the happy kind, only serve to laden many of their hearts even more.

Like adults, many young people experience holiday depression, but the dynamics are a little different. They usually fall into two categories. The first is the more obvious. Some kids come from homes that have little to give either materially or emotionally. The sights and sounds of the holiday season are just another set of reminders about the hurt they experience daily. They feel disillusioned and betrayed, sometimes acting out their anger in inappropriate ways. Many of us find ways to help with the material shortcomings of these students through financial generosity, but the second part, trying to lighten their hearts is difficult and generally eludes us. It is even more complex when an economically stable family faces multiple job losses, home foreclosure, a depleted savings, and possible relocation, with the loss of friends and family. It is happening in our school community right now!

Even more perplexing are the students who come from homes where materialism is a fact of life. They will get about any thing they want, but the feeling of love and caring is missing. They speak in very matter-of-fact ways about “getting the holidays over” or “surviving” their time with family. They yearn for, but cannot feel the holiday spirit. Ironically, a few of these students plunge into their books and studies; the motivation being not to learn, but to “hide” from their own feelings, to hide from their own heart!

Many critics of schools forget that students do, in fact, bring these issues (as well as others) to the learning table and it can, at times, overwhelm even the best and most effective teacher. Conversely, some educators will make unrealistic demands, wanting to believe that, in spite of a heavy heart, students can and will fervently embrace learning. Add to this the discernible rise in tension fueled by the strong holiday emotions, both positive and negative, it is a wonder that more students don’t shut down completely. So what can we do?

I believe a good first step is for parents, teachers, and other adults to accept the reality of this happening! It is painful for many of us to really see this happening in our neighborhoods, our community, and our country, but we need to find within ourselves a sense of optimism and hope. Many times our willingness to simply understand the issues will help guide our own hearts into appropriate action for the majority of kids. Yes, students still need to be held accountable for their schoolwork, but our approach can help bring balance to their lives, especially if we can show them the relevance in the work they are doing for the future. Secondly, we need to make as many personal connections with young people as we possibly can. For teachers, it can be simply a warm smile and a “hello” to all the students we come in contact with. For parents, it could be a renewed commitment to make a positive, personal connection with their son or daughter during this holiday season. Thirdly, the sharing of our own concerns about the future, our view of the world, and having meaningful conversation about our optimism for their lives and our own, can be very reassuring for the majority of young people. Putting our own hearts into it can go a long way in touching theirs!

I hope this Branching Out finds you and your family in good health, and basking in the warmth of the coming holidays!

Office: 330-676-8710 Roger Sidoti
Home: 330-678-3381 Principal
E-Mail: ke_rsidoti@kentschools.net

As I write, they are predicting snow flurries and the wonderful fall weather will slowly become the beginning of winter! Our students are preparing for those activities that come with the changing of the season and thoughts are already turning to the holidays.

For many of our students, this is also an opportunity to reflect on the closing of the first grading period and making those changes necessary to increase their academic success. Not including those students who may have an undiagnosed learning disability, most know, to some degree or another, what they need to do to improve their learning and their grades. The formula is simple. They know it is important to 1) come to school everyday and attend every class, 2) do the work assigned by the teacher and hand it in, 3) ask for additional help before, during, or after school, and 4) take just a little more time outside of the school day to “study” the materials included in the daily lessons. This almost insures improved learning and increased grade achievement. For those who are thinking “duh!” at the obvious, be careful!

Students remind me of many of us who know that if 1) we reduce our caloric intake, 2) increase our amount of physical activity, and 3) avoid certain foods; we will lose weight and become healthier. We know we will feel better and probably live longer, but we still don’t do it! In fact, not a night goes by that one of the newscasts isn’t highlighting the growing obesity problem among Americans, both young and old. We are intelligent and informed, but we just don’t make losing weight and getting more physically fit a priority. We choose not to! We make other choices our priority! Or do we?

As counselors and administrators, we work with many bright and capable students who are not succeeding academically, but who know what they have to do to improve their learning. They ignore those simple elements of classroom success just like many of us ignore the weight losing process. How can we explain both these phenomena?

As crazy as it sounds, I think both Alexis de Tocqueville in the 1800’s and Janis Joplin (of all people) in the 1960’s may give us some clues. In de Tocqueville’s landmark work on the founding of America and the establishment of a free and democratic society, he warned of how the freedom of unlimited choices could paralyze a person’s decision making. This is especially true when someone lacks the discipline to prioritize all of the choices based on importance. Freedom comes with a price. In other words, if you see all the choices available to you and covet them all, and you are unwilling to sacrifice any of them, and you make them all important, and you see failure in any choice as no big deal because there are so many other choices, and if you face increasingly more choices, then it is a small leap to a conclusion that no choice is important.

Now, if nothing is important because there are so many choices, then Janis Joplin’s refrain in the song Me and My Bobby Magee that “freedom is just another word for having nothing left to lose.” suggests that by having so much that you have nothing to prioritize, therefore “nothing to lose,” then you have achieved some sort of freedom nirvana. Kind of scary and weird. We choose to eat poorly and not exercise because we have the choice to do so. We also have the choice to eat that extra piece of chocolate cake.

Students may not articulate it this way, but that is how some are feeling. I have trouble understanding all of it but, with the explosion of information technology, the medias competition for our students’ minds, the variety of activities and opportunities available to students, the ever-increasing efforts on all facets of society to give them (and you) more and more choices, the unbridled acceptance of any and all lifestyles, it is clear why academic achievement is not a priority for some. It is also amazing how many of our students can navigate all the choices thrown at them and still be successful!

When we reflect on all of our blessings in this country during this season of thanksgiving, we have an obligation to help young people balance their lives and sort out the choices they have in a meaningful way. The abundance of “things” is not as dangerous to young minds as the abundance of “choices.” Most adults I know who have productive lives follow a plan for success that parallel the same elements students could use for classroom success. This includes going to work everyday, doing their work in the most efficient manner with little oversight, seeking additional learning and training to do their jobs better, and giving more to their employment than is expected. Our charge is finding ways for students to see that their choice in applying this simple formula could spell increasing success in the classroom. As parents, educators, and adults, do we have any other choice?

I hope this Branching Out finds your family in good physical and emotional health, and you have a warm and happy Thanksgiving celebration.

Office: 330-676-8710 Roger B. Sidoti
Home: 330-678-3381 Principal
E-mail: ke_rsidoti@kentschools.net