YESS honey

hey whats up you guys it me ya boy back at it again with the blog. Its almost Christmas my dudes the time of love and food. This year we been learning and becoming more open minded, we became a family.we went through sad times and good times together.We learned about identities
and race. this is more than just a class, its our future...
and we love a sister squad.

 whos secret santa is he?

 love and joy

 a class that interacts together passes together 

Last week we got to pick somebody from history that was written out of history just because they were marginalized (a term from the race lesson). we picked a person who we can identify with (identity lesson connection from the first of semester) and inspires us. 

welp guys its me signing off see ya later chief

-Lizbeth 

WE OUT HERE BEING ACTIVISTS in YESS!!!

Ayeee welcome back to another week with me the period 7 mentor leader Shalayah girl. Last week we finished our PSA posters about a race term everyone chose. As everyone finished up the posters and the 2 paragraph reflection everyone prepared to present. During the presentations we had some great special guest that watched everyone work their magic. Ive noticed during the presentations a lot of people chose police brutality and had a story or past experience relating to it.

I feel like the presentations went very well and everyone participated like they were suppose to and the courage to come out of their shells and share personal experiences, which as i personally know is hard to do. I feel like after the race unit everyone learned a lot and wanted to help make changes to the world after. Im glad that this lesson exist and will hopefully make improvements over some things i believe should've been added to the lesson and can teach more people about racism in the world going on around them.

Peace out and remember to keep the peace and love to avoid this!!
-Shalayah!

TAKE THIS SURVEY YESS KIDDOS

Hey Sisters!!!

Click the link below and answer honestly:


https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfREZZdYhlxvdESWDTShtGHtQUmP9Vt8tqlUa11U4WKCw_CGw/viewform

PSA...we are still doing this race thang!

heyy, back with another blog with the mentor from period seven  about continuing the great race unit. We were given a project to work on PSA posters. We went over and identified what a PSA means and the requirements for our posters were to get creative and choose a term we've learned about in the race unit. So, say if a person chose stereotype then you'd draw a picture displaying what that is or how it works like an example and then choose a fact about stereotypes from the internet or from your own knowing. The PSA poster requirments is that you must have a picture, fact and discription of your term. The picture must have color added. The PSA posters were part 1 of the racism unit.

Then continuing the next week we moved on to PSA project part 2 so everyone can put in equal effort. In PSA part 2 we are suppose to write 2 paragraphs- 5 sentences each and use 3 words for our list of race terms. You're suppose to describe what message your PSA is conveying and why the issue matters to you. More requirements include giving one example of a real current 2018 hate crime that has happened related to your topic, how you feel about the event and how it could have been prevented. Then you're suppose to describe your own experiences with racism and how it has or has not affected/shaped you. Closing out this part if the unit we have to describe a change we would like to see in the world related to your topic.

Until next week we'll catch ya later gaters.
~~~Shalayah

The Bulk of our Racism Unit - Video included!

---------- the following is a message from a mentor leader and a 6th block mentee---------------


Hey whats up you guys its your boiis Shalayah and the long hair woman from 6th and 7th period. and were back. We have  done so much this past few weeks. We went through an emotional roller coaster. to start off we got more into the basis of racism, and implicit bias. We analyzed celebrities ethnicitys which was hard for most of us because we we're realizing things that are imprinted in our brain we never knew was there, or never really paid attention to, it is tattooed there without our permission. Society does this to all of us. At the beginning of each lesson all of our classes went into a group circle to speak on our opinions, we had to learn how to do that respectfully but still bravely. They are being able to learn how we can identtify these terms in society. With some it takes us more time to understand why its important to learn about these things in todays age and time. We also got into learning about micro aggressions and watched videos describing what they are and how they can affect someone even though you didnt mean to be offensive. We talked about how important it is to understand why these might affect someone you care about without even knowing it. There was also this cool project we did with an egg to further describe society roles and perspectives which related to privilege and police brutality, each class threw an egg against the board! It was Awesome! Exept I had to clean it!!!

Thank you for listening to our ted talk!!!

See you next week sisters,
Shalayah and Lizbeth

Beliefs, Culture, & Setting the Stage for Race Unit

Hey!!Its Shalayah the mentor leader for 7th period!!!


Last week we talked about beliefs and culture. And identified the culture we have in the classroom.  Everyone shared their thoughts about what they thought culture meant. And then Ms.Castro divided everyone into groups with their mentors and we made posters identifying what different cultures there are , what all consist in a culture , and where these different cultures come from. Through this activity we learned what culture means so that this could be the foundation of our learning before we get deeper in the race unit lessons.

We also introduced circle ups where we get in a cirle with our chairs and face each other. then we vote on a talk piece and pass it around, the person with the talk peice is the only on who can talk. Everyone else catches a bubble and listens. It was hard to learn to not respond to other people and to keep our words to under a minute. We answered questions that had to do with a funny story from child hood on Monday and by Wedesday we were answering our own thoughts on Racism/Discrimination. It got serious very fast but everyone was chill with each other and respectful. Castro talked about the connected between anxiety and the circle up, we worked hard to be present and not be worried about being judged or anxiety. It brought us closer as a class.

And since it was spooky week , we celebrated Holloween by telling scary stories and having a costume contest. being  a mentor  leader we have meetings on thursday and talked about the race unit. We talked about how we were gonna talk about this topic to where everyone in all classes are comfortable. We talked about how were gonna address it and make sure no one is being nffended while also being educated. We also wanna feel comfortable talking about our experinces.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             
                                                 

Castro and Myles. Her sticker was a random gift from Kristina it says TEACHER OF ALL THINGS

Summer working hard !

Kiefer with his YESS Journal

Me at Castro's desk planning !

Alondra working hard on the Culture Reflection worksheet

No place for Hate in our Room preparing for Eagle Street event on Tuesday

Castro was Kehlani for Halloween !

Presenting our CUlture poster projects

Eagle street CoCo themed for No PLace for Hate- Castro and Jose

Kiefer being weird!

Thank you,

Shalayah 

YESS Survey

Hey you! Castro's YESS kid! Take this survey and answer honestly please :-)


Part 1

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdntNdFwEBdYk-n0oKpD3qW1pn5k2sEKk-80C6K1hJJKIiwxA/viewform

Part 2

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfY1bMlSXzvGkeDzSxqzxmQRLZsMP2sA_IEFzy4oxJxQf0jNg/viewform

Values, Goals, & Senior Night

Welcome back y'all,

In C251 last week we did an activity that prompted us to really take a look at what is important to us. With the help from Vince (shout out to Vince, thank you!) I was given a fun, thought provoking, colorful activity that prompted students to establish their values and priorities in life and the future.

With 5 different colors and 4 cards per color, each student wrote down 4 responses to 4 prompts:

1- what physical objects to you need on a daily basis in order to function

2- what geographical locations hold meaning for you

3- what 4 people contributed to making you who you are

4- what personal and professional goals do you want for yourself in the future

5- what memories do you want to hold on to, what memories do you hold sacred

They then had to use a process of elimination in order to rank their priorities. This part was especially painful for each class and it reminded me of the intensity of young people's imaginations. One student felt sick for having to get rid of some cards and the over all energy in the room was sadness and pain when they were choosing what to eliminate. I reminded them that it was just an exercise and that it was not real, they are so tender hearted that they really felt that it was real. I appreciated how seriously they took it. Eventually they narrowed it down to a top 5 priorities and chose a top two where they were then instructed to identify whether or not their values were healthy and how to either maintain or decrease the presence of this value in their lives. They were silent and very reflective during this time which always lets me know the magnitude in which they take the lesson to heart and extracted meaning from it.

On another note, on Thursday I made it out to my first ACHS Volleyball game to show up for my sweet Senior, Giselle Alpizar. She was brought to tears at the end when she realized that this chapter of her life was over, but so many more beautiful chapters are to come for her. She is going to do great things in this world! I love her!

I don't know how to turn this photo... so... just tilt your head lol.

Until next week,

Ms. C

Fall Break!

Welcome back everyone!

There is not too much exciting news to update you all on as last week was Fall Break for ACHS.

Aside from getting grading and planning done myself I know that the kids had a restful break full of no worries and a LOT of sleep while I had some much needed peace and quiet in my classroom :-)

A highlight that I will mention though relates to The Hate U Give premiere!

I took two students, Shalayah and Lizbeth, to go see the movie on opening night. We laughed and cried together and after the movie on the way to drop them off we had an intense conversation about our own experiences with discrimination and how the movie did or did not apply to our lives. It was a heavy movie to watch but the message was so real and so very necessary to have that story told. Personally, I loved how digestible the movie was for youth to understand, it was the first time that I saw police brutality and the Black Lives Matter movement being portrayed so honestly on the big screen, which in itself is monumental for cinema and for american culture alone.

Go see it in theaters asap!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MM8OkVT0hw

Until next week,
Ms C

Mom's Spaghetti, Testing, Tshirts & Break!

Welcome back everyone!

This week was a little different in regards to the scheduling due to testing, so we went with the flow and had some solid team bonding! Here is a photo of my winning team from period 2 where the kids competed for the tallest and most sturdy spaghetti tower made out of raw spaghetti and marshmallows. However, when the timer went off the kids had to remove their hands from supporting their structure and shortly after this photo it collapsed and they lost, lol!!! But they received honorary points for creativity and ambitious effort. Planning and communicating were both a huge part of this activity. It was awesome to see them having fun together and getting to know kids who they had not had a chance to speak to yet this year.

Speaking of teams, this week my classes all voted on the names of their classes. Here were the winners that will be featured on the back of our YESS ACHS shirts:

2nd block- Team Okurrrt

3rd block- Team Shullissa

4th block- Team Let's Get This Bread

6th block- Team That One Class

7th block- Team Snapples 

We also voted on T Shirt Designs. There were 9 finalists, all AMAZING pieces of art, but there was one that won the votes by a landslide:

Lastly, after PSAT testing, my senior adopted daughters were given candy and little Halloween cards I made them before break. I love my little children/soon-to-be-graduates! I can't believe we are already done with the first quarter of the school year... Before we know it it's going to be summer! Time really does fly around here. (plz see featured jack-o-lantern socks)

Stay warm! And have a restful break eagles.

Until next time,

Ms. C

Time Capsules & On Wednesdays We Wear Pink

Welcome back Eagles!

Last week got off to a spooky start with the kick off of my favorite month of the year! I am so excited about Halloween that I have started playing Halloween music and I am refusing to take off my pumpkin sweater and ghost socks. The kids definitely think it is weird but I enjoy being their weird teacher every chance that I get!

The week started off by finishing up last minute interviews from students who were absent the week before and then we moved into Time Capsules. We discussed the purpose of time capsules, which then shot off into discussions about aliens, time travel, and various conspiracy theories. They discussed what they would leave behind for someone in the future to discover about them and it was interesting to see what people thought would be valuable, whether that be bags of hot cheetos, cell phones, letters, or photographs of themselves... selfies. They had the opportunity to make thier own time capsules which would all fit into an envelope and be returned back to them on the last day of school. On the hand outs, they had the opportunity to outline what was going on in thier life at this moment in time and what they hope for the future. My favorite part was the last page where students were to include artifacts that were important to them, whether that be movie tickets, wrappers, photos, printed out screen shots, or necklaces. I am excited to see their faces when they open these at the end of the year because if it is anything like last year, it will surprise the kids as most of them forgot ever doing the project! I'm excited for that full circle moment although the scariest part is that the last day of school will be here before I know it!!!

In other news, October 3rd was National Mean Girls day and it totally made my year that so many kids in my 2nd period participated in the made up holiday by wearing pink to class! LOL

Here were some examples of their full and beautiful little time capsules.

Until next week,

Ms. C

Speed Matching & The March for Black Women of Denver

Last week was exciting and eventful from beginning to end.

We spent the better part of the week doing our Speed Matching sessions where students were stationed at paired desks around the room and were expected to interview each other for 5 minutes each. This week was important attendance wise because these interviews determined who they were matched with for the rest of the year. After each interview they took private notes on how their interview went and once every mentee interviewed every mentor, and vise versa, students were given a request sheet to explain why they would benefit from being paired with their chosen mentee. While students were out of rotation we played team builder games and played music to give the interviewers privacy... Christmas music, might I add :-D It was a blast.

The week was great but the highlight of the week undoubtedly related to taking my students to the March for Black Women of Denver on Saturday. The event outlined as follows:
------
Join Black Women and Women of Color as we March and Mobilze Against Oppression. 

2018 Agenda sheds light on the impact if Youth Violence, Sexual Abuse, and Deportation on Black and Brown Women.

Guest Host Tish Beauford!

Come prepared to march! Hear from Powerful Speakers! Artists! Spoken Word! Musicians and more! 

Featuring: Jeanette Vizguerra - Kerrie Joy - Danette Hollowell - Benzel Jimmerson - Lady Speech - O'Neil Rudolph and more!
------
My favorite speaker was spoken word poet, Kerrie Joy. I have seen Ms. Joy at many other Marches in Denver where she recites one of my favorites by her- I'm Rooting for Everybody Black. Here is a link to her poem as recited at the MLK march below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyzVW6XBtCM

It was inspiring to say the least, and watching my students listen intently while holding signs was truly a milestone in my career. They were engaged, they were passionate, and most importantly, they were showing up to make a change in this world- which is everything that not only YESS stands for, but everything my own personal soul stands for. The combination of youth activism and self-love is a beautiful recipe for radical change in this world.

After the march Lizbeth (sophomore) and Shalayah (senior) and I went out to eat at City O then went to a bookstore where we all picked up a copy of The Hate U Give which is about sixteen-year-old Starr Carter who is the only witness to her friend Khalil’s fatal shooting at the hands of a police officer. On top of dealing with the emotional aftermath of such an awful event, being at the scene throws her into the middle of the investigation. As the attention on the shooting grows nationally, what she does—or doesn’t—say, could change everything. The Hate U Give also deals with friendships in the face of subtle racial tensions, the struggle to keep family united in the face of differing views, and what it really means to pursue a better life for yourself and the ones you love.

I'm excited that they are so involved in Social Justice enough to spend their Saturday making their voices heard at a March and enough to pick up a book related to the issue to read in their free time. My faith is constantly restored in the youth when I am hanging out with my students, they are strong, resilient, and their voices matter. I hope whoever is reading this can feel inspired by them in the same way I consistently am.

Until next week,
Ms. C

Shared Agreements & SEL

Welcome back everyone,

We are officially in that part of the year where the newness of the school year has worn off and we are settling into our routines. With that being said, we have started digging in and developing our classroom culture before tackling our mentor/mentee pairing. Before pairing begins we established class expectations specific to each class outlining what they expect from themselves, from each other, and from myself. We outlined the things that we need to be successful in our individual roles (as seen below) and introduced the foundation of all of our lessons- Social Emotional Learning!

The kids split up into 5 different groups based off of the domains and came up with creative ways to define each one and use real life examples. This was a fun exercise as it got the students up and moving to interact with different students from other tables and each one of them had a role in the presentation of each poster. Some of them got really creative with it, I'm excited to decorate my room with their new posters!

Until Next week,

Ms. C

Spirit Week & Identity Presentations

Last week was the best week of the 18-19 school year so far! I wish every week was spirit week because it added an extra vibe of excitement and positivity to all of our classes and just the over all culture of ACHS.  I loved coming to school in 90's gear, dressing up for a skype interview (pajamas on bottom and business on top), and dressing out for the senior class color. The pep rally was awesome and so was the powder puff game! The No Place for Hate club stayed in my room for an hour every day after school last week to prepare for the homecoming parade, they put so much work into their float.

In regards to the lessons going on in C251, the kids wrapped up their Identity Tattoo projects and presented them on Friday. Throughout the week we did a variety of get to know you Question of the Day's as well as activities and warm ups to get to help them know themselves. I think that the amount of times that I heard students say "I don't know what to say or put because I don't know who I am," was really revealing to me as to how important this idenitity work is that we are doing at YESS. We also did an exercise where students were to answer a series of 4 questions and based on how they answered them, their subconcious responses revealed the way they feel about certain topics in life. For example:

Personality Test - Subconscious trick to help reveal more of yourself to yourself

-Pick a color that identify with, a color you could see yourself as. Pick it and describe why you would pick that color. Use description words.

-Pick an animal you most identify with and describe it. If you had a spirit animal or an animal you relate to what would it be

-Your favorite way to be in water (showers, ocean, pool), what way do you enjoy the most to be in water and why

-Picture yourself sitting in a dark room you’re sitting in a chair, since its dark and your senses are out of wack you don’t know how big the room is ( tiny closet or stadium, you can’t tell). You’re comfortable, not in pain, just sitting in the chair… but way off in the distance you see a light… you don’t know exactly how far away it is, you don’t know if it’s a lightning bug or a light bulb, but you’re sitting in a chair in the dark in a room looking at this light… how do you feel about this situation in this scenario? Picture yourself there and write how you feel

------------------------- Response Interpretation Reveal---------------------------------------

1.     How you want or how you feel others perceive you – what you give off to people (example - blue, an oura of being a cool chill guy) (green, unique, down to earth, fun)

2.     How you really are on the inside. Who you truly are

3.     How you feel about relationships

4.     How you feel about death and the afterlife – too many unknowns, uncertainty creates fear inside of you? What about death scares you? What about it makes you curious, does it make you feel alive?

Here are some photos from the week as well! The first one is from Era (90's) Day, Second is a photo after the kids got done presenting projects (more pics of those to come next week), and the third is a special moment where I helped a student surprise her boyfriend by asking him out to homecoming in the beginning of class. He had to check either yes or no on the giant heart to be her date and he checked yes, it was precious and everyone clapped and a few even cried! Gotta love high school!

Until next week,
Ms. C

Intro to Identity Tattoos

Last week went by in the blink of an eye with a Tuesday-Friday work week and the introduction of our first project- Identity Tattoos! It was also a milestone week because all of my seniors had the chance to meet Emily, our YESS College Navigator.

The Coat of Arms lesson has been modified for the high school level with a project that is more fit for their interests and age group. In this project they are exploring who they are and what is important to them. Some key terms that were broken down related to material and non-material possessions and students were challenged to explore what they are most passionate about and what they value most. They are to take these material objects and concepts and turn them into a composition that mimics that of a tattoo, complete with hidden descriptive words and their favorite quote/life motto in the banner. Luckily, I had many examples from last year to show them that you do not need to be an artist to have fun or to make a good grade on this project, you just need to put in some time and effort into expressing yourself creatively.

We also broke down the benefits of being creative! We took cues from this image I found online:

We ended the week with our first go at a meditation session as well. Some students were reluctant and I accepted that as a natural response and encouraged them to do what feels comfortable but that with time they will learn to ease into this new unfamiliar skill.

With a good chunk of the week being instruction, they were given this current week as well to finish their tattoo designs and will be presenting soon. I cant wait to see the kind of visuals they come up with to represent themselves! I encouraged going off the template and creating bigger pieces as long as they meet all of the requirements, I love that there is a lot of freedom and autonomy with this project and the kids seem to be taking advantage of that. 

For those wondering, No Place for Hate is getting off to a great start. We have been meeting every day after school- that's right... Every... Day... to prepare for homecoming week/BMX Assembly on the 12th/Homecoming Parade. As it turns out, running a club is a LOT of behind the scenes work. Spreading our club's message is so worth it, though!

P.S- We also have a class competition going on, but more on that in my next entry...

Until next week,

Ms. C

Community, Senior Adoptions, No Place for Hate

Welcome back everyone,

Last week was so busy and was definitely the first time that I truly felt that school was back in full swing. On top of talking about community with each of my classes we did many get to know you games and ended the week with the yard toss activity where we made a huge web across the room and shared out facts about each other. During our group activity surrounding what it means to be in a community I learned about the different communities they are a apart of and also realized that a struggle for them was critically thinking about the challenges of being a part of a community. We related community to our class, the school, commerce city, our country, and the world- the bigger picture of humanity as a community.

After school on Thursday was the very first No Place for Hate club meeting! We did introductions and recruited many new members of all ages from around the school. With homecoming around the corner, we really have to get a lot of planning done in regards to our float and fundraisers.

Last week was also Senior Adoptions after school Although I was here last year, this was my first time to participate as I had many seniors asking if I would be at the ceremony. I ended up adopting 19 senior daughters and sons! I am so honored to be chosen to be their senior mom, I held up one hand before signing the contract and promised to do everything in my power to support them during their last year here. Looks like I will be giving out many Christmas presents, lol!!!

Until next week,

Ms. Castro

What is YESS and Who Are We?

AAAAND we're BACK here at ACHS in C251 for our second week of the 18-19 school year!

Lately my classes and I have been having a blast getting to know each other by playing get to know you games and filling out student cards that helps me to understand them better as scholars and as young humans outside of school. At the end of the week last week I quized their memory about the YESS program in ACHS and what it is all about, many students won reeces and kit kats!

We started the year by having one on one meetings with each student to identify whether or not the program would be a good fit for them considering what they are bringing to the table transcript wise and experience wise so that I could formulate a list of kids for the counselors regarding who needed to be removed to pursue their elective passions elsewhere. This took up most of last week but after those were finished we moved onto the Question Ball game where each student caught the ball and answered the question beneath their right palm. After all of my classes completed this we have moved onto what I had planned for today, which was our Heads Up team games! 

I made enough home made lemon cupcakes over the weekend for all of the winning teams in my classes to have some incentive to compete for and boy did this game not disappoint! They were getting really competitive with the points and for a Monday, it sure was exciting and rowdy in here. I will save the rest and possibly even include a video in next weeks blog!

Wish us luck that we will get the rest of our rosters evened out so we can move onto YESS lessons!

Until next week,

Ms. C

Welcome Back!

Hey there Eagles / Eagle supporters!

We are back in action over here in the Adams City YESS room! I could not be more excited about having more classes this year to reach out to, personalities to connect with, and souls to watch grow.

Over the past few weeks schedules have been changing tremendously, meaning that the students who I was supposed to have from last year are not in my classes and the new student requests are not accurate, but HEY! We learn how to roll with the punches over here at ACHS. The beginning of the year at this school always challenges me to test myself as far as my ability to be flexible and patient, so I have been doing my best while getting to know each student individually, whether they will be in my class for the year or not because either way I share the building with them and would like them to know that my room is always a resource for anyone. The word about the YESS program has spread much more than last year so it has been encouraging to hear of students requesting this class due to what they heard of through friends and kids coming into class with a positive image painted in their mind of what the program can offer them. Also, side note, the incoming freshman are so bright eyed, bushy tailed, and adorable! I can't wait to get to know them all.

Here's to hoping rosters get solidified so I can begin to hand out syllabi and get the curriculum rolling! Thanks for checking in with our start to the year!

Until next time,
Ms. C

p.s here is a community resource map of Adams City that was compiled over the summer months to help out students and families in the community, ch-ch-check it out!

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QkGbHKP6k9f29WTVsXn45NPCXJneNgV6XwEMA7eLOe8/edit

Last YESS ACHS Blog Update *cries*

The time is here. Students are gritting their teeth to muster every last ounce of motivation they have to finish final projects and study for tests to hopefully shoot that last shot to improve their grades before the finals are posted. In our YESS class we have had a fleeting, yet emotional and educational, last few classes.

The kids had a big responsibility this week to use all of their research time from the past few weeks to put into presenting what they have learned and their feelings/experiences with the social justice issue they chose (as described in previous blog entry). Many students took this opportunity and ran with it, choosing topics that are current in society but also extremely personal to them. Several students chose this opportunity to discuss Immigration and what that experience has been like for them/their family, relating it to disturbing and educational statistics. Others chose climate change, I loved seeing the passion that students had for bettering our planet and their ideas for implementing it at a small scale, and even their plans to study environmental sustainability in college! I was moved and inspired by the students who chose to touch on racism and police brutality. They backed up their opinions with facts and with interesting results retrieved from surveys they created and administered to as least 30 people of all ages. It was mind boggling to review the anonymous responses given by students, teachers, parents, and members of the community alike, especially when students related their chosen issue to our community in Commerce City. This raised the question: Is this a problem where we live? How so? Two students took this opportunity to be brave by openly coming out as part of the LGBTQ community to the entire class when presenting info on LGBTQ rights/hate crimes. Like I said, these presentations were tearful every class so we were careful to establish sacred space related boundaries and also re-establish the room as a judgement free zone before presenting. Talking in front of a group is nerve wrecking enough, let alone when you are a teenager who is revealing something vulnerable about yourself, respect is everything. Huge props to them, I did not have a SINGLE student refuse to present, they all were courageous and participatory- even if they did not fully finish, they all shared thoughts and answered peer questions.

I am SO proud of them and honored to be the one to witness their growth over time, both individually and in their class/table relationships. On the last day of class I told them thank you for allowing me to experience their personalities, for allowing me into their hearts, and for truly accepting me for who I am- An imperfect human with a lot of love to give and a dream to be here discussing these topics with them, pushing them to be the best versions of themselves. It is because of them that I am dedicated to becoming a better teacher and a better person as a whole, always. I told them that I moved here alone not too long before I started working in this building and when times were difficult, my classes became my family. They were always there to cheer me up and make me laugh, even to motivate me without knowing it through their own stories of resilience and perseverance. Each one of my classes offered unique challenges that I will continue to reflect on and learn from, I am the luckiest person in the world to call myself their teacher.

Some pics from presentations!

Mya created a children's book about LGBTQ people that spread awareness and equality, and mostly emphasizing the importance of treating everyone the way you would like to be treated. She read her book slowly, enthusiastically, and with emphasis on her drawings just as if we were little kids. It was so cute!!!

TaVaunte presented on the topic of Racism and Police Brutality, relating his research to his own experience as a young black male in the U.S. He had a lot to educate us on and many facts to back up his opinions. He presented data in a way that was appropriately non-biased while also sharing his raw and passionate emotions on the subject and how it affects his place in the world at times.

This is a cool project made by Myreya. When you pulled the tabs at the top of the photos there was a little pop up of information about the photo relating to climate change. She even ended up letting me keep the plant!!!! They named him Jeffrey :-)

This comic strip was one of my more surprising projects. While it may lack color, this black and white story exposed a journey taken my an immigrant family and all the sacrifices they made for their children and future children to have a better life. At the end he ended up saying that the character graduated from Kearney and was in high school reading his comic aloud to his class in YESS. It ended up being revealed that this was a true story describing the hardships and successes of immigration experienced by Ignacio's parents, grandparents, and great grandparents.

This is Giselle's tri-fold presentation representing many shocking facts and data acquired from her survey. In the space below the bar graph she had a photo of her parents (which she took after she turned it in because her parents wanted it back, of course) but the paragraph to the bottom right is what made all of this information very emotional for everyone in the class, including her. She spoke of how grateful she is that her parents came here without money or food, barely even a plan. But all they knew was that they were determined to give their children better opportunities than what they had. It is because of this that she has plans of becoming a doctor and giving it all back to them one day as a way to say thank you and I love you.

Noelani chose a topic that was not on the list of options to choose from but I approved of it because of her passion for a topic that is often ignored- Funding in Education or "Red for Ed". She explained what is was and why this issue was so important to her, she said that she wants to become a teacher one day and she wants other people to value their education more and for students to understand the value of having teachers in their lives. In the bottom left, she took the time to write out how thankful she is for her teachers by describing how they have changed her life when she thought no one else was around to care about her well-being. I am better for having met Noelani and I am thankful to be one of the teachers that was there when she returned to ACHS after having to leave for personal reasons. She is a strong, hilarious, empathetic, intelligent, mature, and UNIQUE person full of grit with a lot to offer the world... And not to mention a damn good mentor. Sorry for the swearing but I feel that it is necessary emphasis! She will undoubtedly grow up to pay it forward and change many lives as a teacher.

I will end this final post with the quote on the bottom left of Noelani's project...

"Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all."

- Aristotle

Until next year,
Ms. C


P.S-

Lastly, here is a card signed by myself and all my students for Ms. Jenna, the lady in our building who gave us our own classroom in January. In it, if you squint your eyes hard enough, you can read how finally having a home in the building has impacted our students.

Many thanks to Jenna, and also to everyone who has ever taken the time to read up on what we are up to in C251. We had a great year, I can't wait to do it all over again in a few months!

Peace and HAVE A GREAT SUMMER EVERYONE! 💜

Stand Up Project & GRADUATION!

Last week flew by in the blink of an eye. It was somewhat of a lonely week for us at ACHS because it was the first time that all of the seniors in the building were gone. My classes were much quieter, partially due to the kids starting their huge capstone project and partially because a think that a lot of students are mentally checked out at this point in the year. This has been a big challenge for us lately, but each class I talk about the importance of finishing strong with the help of inspirational videos - it is a constant task for all of us to hold ourselves and each other accountable - the year is not over yet!

As for the project they started called the Stand Up Project, they are to complete 3 parts by the last class day. First, students are to choose a social justice issue that they care about most then they are to do 3 different tasks with their topic. They are to write two reflections, one on their chosen issue and one on themselves. They are expected to go into detail about why they chose their project and what they learned. In the other reflection they are to describe what they have enjoyed most this year (lessons, activities, concepts) and describe what they have learned about themselves over the past year. Lastly, they are to complete a "community project" which educates, inspires, and motivates others to get involved in their cause. The list they have to choose from is lengthy so they have a LOT of freedom with this project (fundraiser, survey, music video, tri fold, video slide show, serve the community, etc.). Excited for their final presentation!

Also, this weekend was GrAdUaTiOn!!! The ceremony was beautiful. I was excited to see a lot of underclassmen there so they could realize what an honored and valued accomplishment that graduation is. Jen, my mentor leader, gave a really beautiful valedictorian speech with emotional sentiments and true-to-self charismatic "Jen" laughs.

I'm going to miss the class of 2018 something fierce, I am better for knowing each and every one of them.

Here are some photos from graduation :)

As we go on... we remember... all the times we... spent together 😩

Not seeing these faces during off periods, lunch, after school, and during class is going to be such a difficult and lonely transition! But sending them off to contribute all the beauty and knowledge have to offer society only makes room in my heart for more wonderful seniors 💜

Here are some sweet shots of my mom (she was in town to meet my students and meet seniors at graduation!) helping Kevin with his graduation cap decor. The pic on the left are the caps we helped Jen and Carlos with. It was cool being able to recognize them all the way from the nose bleeds in the stands!

Until next week (THE LAST WEEK OH MY GOSH!),

Ms. C