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