New Year Same Grind

Welcome back Eagles and YESS stans!

2020 is shaping up better than any other year at ACHS. Not only are we doing more team building activities than ever before, but my mentor leaders are stepping up more than ever before. At the beginning of the year, each class had the opportunity to look at the lesson map and give suggestions for topics they wanted to explore, discuss, and learn from each other about. They had input for me and for each of their respected Mentor Leaders on how to be a better friend, leader, and facilitator.

We began the year by setting goals for ourselves and intentions for the year. We worked a lot on positive outlook for the new year, and short+long term goals for ourselves. The mentor leaders collaborated on lessons in the Unit 2 Relationships unit by exploring Trust, Miscommunication, and Forgiveness. Now we are in the beginning of exploring Boundaries. They are at the point where they are leading circle talks, focus activities, and lessons where students move to certain places in the room to express their opinions to each other regarding their experience with each topic. They are working each block day as mentee-mentor partners, in their tables, and as an entire class (both opening and closing discussions/written responses). I lead mini lessons on Mondays, Tuesdays have been set for Tutoring, and Fridays have been Fun Friday's for the most part where they do team building games or meditate depending on what each class needs that week. We are in a really solid groove of grinding and bringing our classes together. I can't wait to see how much more community we build in just the next couple of months, before we know it it'll be graduation!!!

Tie Dye tiiiiiiime - more pics of the finished products to come in next months blog.

My students made me cards out of nowhere to let me know that they care, it was so sweet. Mostly because they included the queen, icon, legend, Kris Jenner.

My students got 80 free gourmet donuts donated by Habit Doughnuts in Denver! Great learning incentive. 

2020 second semester anonymous feedback time~* 

 Mentor Leaders at their weekly meeting - Yahir in a new YESS hire for 7th block as Brit had to drop the class. I am so proud of all the hard work he has already put into his lessons and his class.

Team building Trust activity

Trust lesson presentation 

This was a Monday lesson during Miscommunication where my classes were introduced to Dyads - one on one timed convos (1:30 mins) that are uninterrupted. The topics vary, but as the questions get deeper and more personal, we transition from Active to Deep listening. This week, all classes learned a new communication skill, mostly used for conflict, called Mirroring. When you mirror someone, you take 1/3 the amount of time that they talked to share what you heard the other person say. Through putting their story and expression in their own words, it gives the other person a chance to understand how the other person is listening and how the person sharing may be coming across, you have the opportunity to understand yourself in a new light. This is a huge skill for them to apply to their personal lives in relationships beyond the school walls.

Morgan's last day of YESS Class :'-( Morgan has been a part of the program since last year when she was a mentee. This year she had the opportunity to be a Mentor based on her success at the end of the year last year. She was the light of our classroom, always making us laugh but getting serious when she needed to. She was never afraid to be vulnerable and reached out to people who needed a friend because of how Izzy (her old mentor) did that for her last year. We miss morgan already! Have the best time at your new school!

Mentor Mentee of the Month undoubtedly goes to Ashanti and Brian. Brian has perfect attendance and influences his Mentee, who was on green slips, to come to class. They have an unbreakable bond that encourages them to open up in front of the class together, allows them to have fun together, and provides a great foundation for tutoring days where Brian diligently tutors Ashanti in Geometry every Tuesday. In this video, you can see them on a Fun Friday in our handshake competition- they had the longest handshake out of all my classes! The video would only upload half of their performance but juts trust it was 2:30 mins of the most adorable entertainment !

To see more of us in F103 please give us a follow on the gram: @YESS_for_success

Until next month,

Ms. C

~*December Update*~

Hey there team!

Coming at you with a short update to fill you in on all of the details that flew by in December. Curriculum wise, we spent the 3 weeks of December learning a total of 20 vocab words. These vocab words apply to every area of their lives as members of the Commerce City community. In order to provide adequate SEL education, you cannot do so authentically without teaching through a culturally responsive lens that relates to the communities in which we are serving. Through this lens, students learn about the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion and the parts of our world and/or thinking that can poison it.

This is why I dedicated this month to creating diverse lessons that prompted students to engage with their partners and classmates to provoke critical thought about their environment and how they have perpetuated such divisive thoughts through action and language. We had deep conversations that met students where they were at and each week they learned about each term in a different way- using experiential activities, games, discussions through circle talks, group posters, and World Cafe, book breakdowns (How to be an Anti-Racist by Ibram Kendi), and youtube videos to help further break down the concepts. The first graded final was given before we let out for break and I am elated and proud to say that 85% of students passed. Preparing students to go into the world with this knowledge of themselves and others was very important to me in regards to living out an anti-bias lifestyle where they are given the choice to think in a way that positively impacts their character, leadership ability, self-esteem, and understanding of how to feel empowered, and most of all, liberated within their unique intersectional identities.

The mentor and mentee of the month undoubtedly goes to Alberto Alvarado and Anayli Romero. Alberto was a Mentee last year and gained a lot of confidence, knowledge, and wisdom from his relationship with his former mentor, Kevin Clark. At the beginning of the year, Berto came to me with the conviction of being allowed to be a Mentor this year. Last year he really struggled to take some of our heavier lessons seriously so I was hesitant, but I believed he could do it with consistency. Not only is Berto proving that he deserves his role as a Mentor, but he is going above and beyond for his Mentee and his entire class. He contributes to discussions in his vulnerability and his ability to retain concepts. He is always first to raise his hand and recite what he guesses that concepts and terms might mean, and 9/10 times he is both articulate and accurate. Anayli is very open to receiving help from him because of his leadership abilities and because of his upbeat, charming energy. He tutors her and helps her get to class as she is someone who struggles with on-time attendance almost daily. I am looking forward to seeing her blossom as a Mentor next year. Congrats to Berto and Anayli!

A month highlight was getting another visit from Shalayah! She has popped up in the YESS blogs many times before and I hope she always will. She showed up before Holiday Break got out to update us on her EMT Certification!!! She is now able to ride in the ambulances and is qualified to aid people needing medical attention on the streets of Denver. Her passion is working in an ever changing environment where undeserved minorities are struggling with addiction. She seeks to lend a caring presence and offer her expertise and getting people physical help and referring them to programs where they can learn about how to break out of the cycle of addiction. I have never been more proud of someone in my life. She is driven, ambitious, and unstoppable in her drive to create positive change in this world.

A month highlight had to be getting together with the Mentor Leaders at the ML Boondocks event. They got to compete in bowling, arcade games, and laser tag! It was a blast and the ACHS mentor leaders loved the opporunity to get to know the Leaders from North, West, Lincoln, and Westminister.

Mentor Leader Selfieeeeee~~~*~*~

This response met a lot to me. I am really proud of how open minded my students were coming into these discussions and how they were up for the challenge each day of learning material that has never been presented to them before. 

Until next month,
Ms. C

November ACHS Update

Welcome back F103 Stans!

Lizbeth, my mentee turned mentor student of three years, wanted me to ask in this blog entry if any of her stans missed her entries from last year. She wants everyone to know that she misses writing the blog entries and wants me to include more miranda cosgrove and Benny content. I will do my best to meet her request and carry on her legacy.

Over the past month we have been exploring the different layers of our intersecting identities through group and individual projects, activities, and discussions. At the beginning of the unit we recapped our lessons on culture and introduced the different aspects of one's identity. They were most surprised to learn that identifying their physical ability, gender, and sexual orientation are notable components of one's identity. Having the students identify the most important components of their identity was the main goal of the identity bag in which they filled with pieces of paper showing the parts of ones identity that you cannot see, the interior identity components. Some represented these parts by bringing things from home. By breaking down exterior and interior identities, we had fruitful discussions about perceived identities and assumptions of others.

This was the perfect segue to introduce the term Implicit Bias. We are now getting to the meat of the identity lessons where students are learning about terms like Racism regarding Implicit Bias, Marginalized communities, and how to be an Anti-Racist. We used clips from When They See Us to enforce the idea of systemic racism and it's history. I believe that teaching these topics in underserved communities of color are vital for our students to understand their identities, learn of historical oppression in regards to their communities and beyond, and, most importantly, to teach them the term Anti-Racist and Liberation in order to learn how to live out an attitude of equitable treatment toward everyone and to be liberated by their journey of self discovery as students of color who are also future leaders in a world that was designed to hold them down. We used Ibram X Kendi's book "How to Be an Anti-Racist" in our discussion about our everyday actions and conversation in regards to students of color using the N-Word in everyday language, the school to prison pipeline, and we learned about how white privilege, when made aware of it's power, can be used for good as we saw in this short youtube video featuring Joy DeGruy. We are in the midst of having courageous conversations around different forms of discrimination (isms such as sexism, classism, colorism, etc) and it's role in oppressive social structures that bleed into the education system, financial institutions, criminal justice system, the media, the environment (water and air quality in Commerce City), and the U.S government which eventually infiltrates into implicitly influencing how young people see themselves and treat others.

My goal is that when students leave my class they are aware enough to be able to recognize when they become victim to this oppression so that they have the tools to combat it in regards to self esteem and stand up for themselves and others in situations of injustice. I also know that most of my students will be in positions of leadership someday and I want them to understand equality vs equity and how implicit biases can dictate how one manages other people and even the effect of their implicit use of microagressions to treat marginalized groups with privileges that do not meet theirs. This month's highlight undoubtedly relates to how I am honored and excited to be a queer woman of color disseminating this content to my students who share many of my similar intersecting identities, as students cannot be who they do not see and I am really proud to be of representation for people of color in educational leadership. To see how absorbent and engaged they are with this unit is the reason why I do this job and am passionate about social justice content.

Mentor and Mentee of the Month Award goes to...............
Gary and Johnny ! (lol at my pic spying on them on a tutoring day)
Gary is a 12th grade student who treats johnny, grade 9, as a younger brother. He is constantly showing him the way in regards to explaining dense content, helping with his math on tutoring days, and helping him emotionally as they connect outside of school. They are two peas in a pod- always seen together in the hallways and never sitting apart during circle talks. Gary is an exemplary mentor as he encourages johnny to step out of his comfort zone and share his opinions with the class even when it does not come natural to him the first time. When Gary takes our content seriously, Johnny follows suit and responds with critical thinking skills and thoughtful responses to questions regarding experiences with discrimination and sharing vulnerable parts of his identity. Johnny is lucky to have someone as mature and committed to mentoring like Gary, I am always proud to look over and count on seeing Gary setting a great example for his "little brother."

identity bags

Definitions from a vocab word competition, I was so impressed with what they remembered !

My little pug came to visit in her pajamas before thanksgiving break!

Some thanksgiving notes from some thoughtful students

Until next time,

Ms. C

ACHS October Update

Welcome back ACHS YESS readers and stans! 

October was a monumental month for our community, school, and individual classes. I say this because every week during October there were events going on that interfered with regularly scheduled class schedules (testing, off days, early releases, holidays, snow day). This made it a bit challenging for us to dive deep into a unit with adequate attendance and lesson engagement. However, we made due with the longer days that we did have together and, despite the inconsistency of the month, we made it work. Learning took place around the topic of Social Emotional Learning (SEL) domains, Values, Goals, Shared Agreements (class norms), and the tip of the iceberg that is our Culture lesson. The depth we were able to reach during such a tumultuous month was made possible by each group's bond that is strengthened by all of our team building activities we have been doing almost every day in some big or small capacity. Speaking of each individual class, each group has a team name that will be on the back of our shirts (the winning design can be found below) and the names that they came up with are DEFINITELY reflective of the culture in each individual group. 

BLOCK 2 - Team DBZ FTW (Dragon Ball Z for the Win)

BLOCK 3 - Team OTS (On the Set)

BLOCK 4 - Team In the Kitchen Whippin Chicken

BLOCK 6 - Team Say Sike Right Now

BLOCK 7 - Team Ahaha

If you are wondering what some of these names mean, join the club... They are creative and very strange but I love them. Slowly but surely, students are coming out of their shells and finding their voices and sense of belonging in our class. 

One such student who comes to mind is Morgan Abell. Morgan is someone who has stood out to me since the beginning of last year when she started in the program as a freshman Mentee. Last year she was shy and timid until she met her senior mentor, Izzy (Isabella) who brought her out of her shell. Izzy was constantly checking up on her, both in and out of class, and even doing her make up on the weekends just for fun. They acted as sisters and looked out for each other, bringing out the best in each other and supporting each other during challenging conversations. This year, Morgan was sad to be without Izzy until she met Naomi. Naomi, a freshman, came into the program embodying a soft spoken shyer student until she sat next to Morgan in 4th block. Morgan saw herself in Naomi and was quick to make her feel welcome as she saw herself in her. Morgan's sense of empathy, kindness, selflessness and leadership quickly exemplified mentor material, thus making Morgan one of the youngest mentors in the program. She keeps Naomi on track with her grades and even walks her to class to keep her from ditching!

The Mentee of the month is Christian Kaiser. Christian entered the program last year but due to personal reasons he had to withdraw. At the beginning of the year he pleaded to be let into the program again as he was deeply in search of his identity and told me that he was just starting to discover it when he had to drop the class and that he missed it over the summer. I told him that if he were to be let in that he would need to prove himself and earn his seat in our class. He has done just this by showing up consistently and, unlike last year, he is openly receiving help from the Mentors at his table, Yahir and Val. He has a enthusiastic sense of wonder toward topics that relate to emotions and identity and takes constructive criticism like an athlete wanting to learn how to be the best. He is quick to correct his mistakes and is actively taking accountability for his tendencies that lean towards poor choices at times and is quick to forgive those around him. He is someone who is committed to growth, sharing his vulnerability, and receiving support. Without Christian, our 7th block would not have a role model mentee and my days would not be as bright and full of humor.

Regarding overall program growth, each class gave input on what they want out of this space and content for the year and an overwhelming theme that was requested was help for improving mental health and confidence. While this class is by no means a self-identified therapy class, we do provide content that allows for students to dig deeper into who they are, what they believe, and how this influences how they act. Every lesson could be tied back to mental health in some way shape or form so it is my goal and the mentor leader's goal to bring each lesson back to the needs and wants of our unique community. 

That brings me to one of the most exciting milestones of the month- OUR MENTOR LEADERS HAVE BEEN HIRED. Lauren, Sharmaine, Andrea, Kristina, and Brittany went through a rigorous application and interview process that allowed for them to rise to the challenge of what will be a great opportunity to explore their leadership potential. The photo of the girls can be found in the photos below from our very first mentor leader meeting which will be held weekly for an hour after school on Thursdays to discuss the week's challenges, goals, and lesson plan ideas. I chose students who were qualified to express their opinions and were also willing but scared to take charge of a class. I wanted students who were nervous but hopeful, this ensures that we will be seeing growth. Growth in themselves, their students, and myself as a co-facilitator, mentor, and guide. I am so excited to see how they flourish and overcome in the next 8 months together!!!

Second period circle talk- Lauren's first time to lead them solo!

Andrea's first circle talk!

Kristina's first circle talk! And yes that is a Christmas tree put up on Nov. 1st

All the mentor leaders for the 19-20 year. I'm in for an interesting next 8 months with this group!

ze winning t shirt design

A video a student took of her journey entering my classroom on Halloween... Muaaahaha

Interactive SEL Domain activity where students displayed their understanding of SEL by sticking slips with their choseing current events written on them. In the activity that understood the relation of Social-Emotional Learning to past/present/future, themselves, those around them, and social justice in both micro and macro capacities.

demonstration of a takeaway from our Value's lesson that Vince from North shared, thanks Vince! This was a very moving experiential activity.

Our shared agreements from two classes. Each class was to come up with their own rules in which we will hold each other accountable for, including me.

WHAT IS TO COME IN MORE DEPTH NEXT MONTH......

Until next time,

Ms. C

SURVEY NUMBER TWOOOOOOOOOOO

https://forms.gle/W9e56W7aYYfxUNz49

Click above link!!!

“Because YESS receives funds from YoBD, we are required to show we are meeting the goals
of the program and its intervention. That being said, I would like you to be as open and honest
as possible with your responses. Your responses are confidential. I won’t have access to them.


They will be sent to the City of Denver’s Office of Behavioral Health Strategy. There, they will
analyze your responses to learn more about what students are experiencing. When you answer
honestly, it helps policy makers and people in government decide if they should give more or
less money to programs like this. There are no right or wrong answers, just honest answers.
This survey shouldn’t take you more than a few minutes. If you have any questions about the
survey, feel free to raise your hand and I can help clarify.”

YESS ACHS Student Survey number ONE

https://forms.gle/bRVpjhZHEaGgpmdv8

The survey we will be taking today is called the social-emotional learning scale. As I am sure
you know, in our YESS classroom we talk about a lot of important things. This survey will help
me to learn how well I am doing as your program manager/teacher.
It is a survey that we will be taking today. When you are taking the survey this time, I want you
to think about yourself before you started with me here in the YESS program.
Remember, there are no right or wrong answers to these questions, only answers that are true
for you. Please do your best to answer all of the questions, and if you are unsure, please ask
me for help.

Officially 2 Months In! Ft. YESS Pics Galore

What a wild past few months it has been in room F103. So much has happened in such a short time!

We appreciate that you are taking the time to catch up with us. Firstly, we have been moving at a stealthy pace through the community building lessons. We knocked out our Identity Tattoos, Mentoring 101, Speed Matching (MENTEES AND MENTORS HAVE BEEN MATCHED!), Time Capsules, Spaghetti Towers, Partner (mentee+mentor) Communication Challenge, and finally, we began exploring a core theme of our class: SEL (social emotional learning) and Shared Agreements. This combination of lessons in this order has provided a solid foundation that has introduced what the class goals are and what is expected of them as active YESS community participants. We have also built a special bond in each class and at each table with our new seats which have been strategically mapped to promote relationships and opinions belonging to students of all ages and experiences. We are currently in the process of hiring mentor leaders, our interviews are taking place this week after school. It will be a difficult decision as the competition is stiff in each class with multiple applicants pining for the opportunity to lead their class this year. Stay tuned to find out the names of the seniors who are hired on! Please see pics of our shenanigans below.

Speaking of mentor leaders; a success story that I'd like to share is that of the visitation by Shalayah Davis! She was last year's Mentor Leader of 7th block who has proven to be one of YESS' most improved and most successful obstacle destroyer. Her story of resiliency and ability to overcome can be further explained in previous entries (see the last post from the 18-19 school year down below), but her visit was so special because each class got to hear of her life update in comparison to where she came from in the past. The story of Shalayah is so special because I feel that she is someone that any young person can relate to- even some adults! She shared that she was once a student struggling with attendance, ditching tendencies, drug abuse, homelessness, and mental health issues. Although, she went on to explain that ever since her junior year and her conscious change of mindset and self-destructive habits, she has been filled with consistent motivation and ambition to change the trajectory of her narrative. She contributed this change to her circle of influence, mainly her Grandma, the support of teachers (myself and Mr. Rogers), and lastly, the responsibilities holding her accountable in our YESS class last year. She graduated on time and is now in the midst of completing her EMT certification! She is even making A's and B's on top of her full time job, her 100% emancipation status (paying all of her own bills), and handling the responsibilities that come with renting her very own first apartment- she even has a dog! This independence is something that a lot of young people dream about and she is someone who took the difficult cards she was handed in life and made something positive out of them. She is dedicating her life to serving others and she discovered this passion through her struggle with mental health in HS and through serving as a leader in her class delivering lessons that will help people in a multitude of capacities. She even stayed around to take our vitals on this day! I love her continued commitment to this program. It was so nice to see her and the students were inspired by the vulnerability of her story knowing that they could someday succeed and bloom the way she has.

Please see the pics of Shalayah's visit along with all of the other adventures and lessons we have been up to in YESS down below!

Until next month,
Ms. C