Prom and Spirit Week!

This week was filled with spirit week and prom excitement at ACHS! Students learned about teen dating abuse in their YESS classes. Students learned what to look for in an abusive relationship and discussed the connections between dating abuse and bullying. Some classes also had the opportunity to learn about two bills that are currently in the Colorado House that relate to technology and teen dating abuse. Students had a mock debate using these two bills. After the debate students discussed what kind of bill they would like to see passed in Colorado based on their own experiences and what they had learned from the debate.  

At the end of the week one of our mentor leaders designed a lesson to guide us into our final unit of the semester. The lesson gave students an introduction to life after high school and got students thinking about their future education and career goals. Students researched the cost of living in areas they might want to live in after they graduate, and began thinking about what kinds of careers would support their desired lifestyles. 

Debate Prep

Bullying Continued

    It was a short week at ACHS with the SAT/PSAT and and PARCC tests taking place. At the beginning of the week we took some time out of our normal class period to go over the SAT test, how it is structured, why it is important, and how scores are used. Students had time to look at a practice test and ask questions about the different sections, timing and scoring.

     At the end of the week students continued their unit on bullying with a lesson and discussion on microagressions. Students discussed how microagressions show up in their own lives and in school, and they identified why microagressions could be a form of bullying, such as people asking "what are you?" or "that's gay". Students discussed how it is often assumed that they speak Spanish, or how they will get complimented on how well they speak English by adults at school. 

Love Cup, Emo Trolls and Bullying

Emo Trolls

This week at ACHS students learned about the YESS Emo Trolls and designed their own trolls to represent each of the negative behavior troll emotions. Students then brainstormed ways to counteract these negative emotions through the Love Cup activity. Students discussed what activities they do to recharge or feel better such as listening to music, hanging out with friends, going outside, or eating yummy food. Students also discussed what things drain them, such as drama, homework and phone bills. Students then designed art projects to represent what restores them and what drains them. Students ended the week with a lesson on bullying. Students discussed the different types of bullying and came up with examples from their own lives for each type of bullying. Students then completed readings on the impact of bullying on students in Colorado.

Love Cups

Congratulations Daniels Fund Scholars!

It was an exciting week at ACHS with both of our mentor leaders, and one of our mentors from last semester, being awarded the Daniels Fund Scholarship! This is a comprehensive scholarship that provides students the opportunity to obtain a four year college education at any accredited nonprofit college or university in the U.S. (see link at the bottom of page). Fernanda plans to attend the University of Colorado Boulder, Angel is deciding between Regis University and University of Denver, and Tony plans to attend the Colorado School of Mines. 

This week students spent time getting caught up with their work before spring break. Emily, our college navigator, worked with juniors on college and scholarship research. Juniors are putting together spreadsheets with all of their research so that they can reference them in the fall. Students ended the week with several art project centered around emotions, which will be featured in the blog next week. 

Happy Spring Break!!!

Congratulations Fernanda and Angel!  

http://www.danielsfund.org/Scholarships/  

Growth Mindset

This week at ACHS students continued learning about healthy relationships and belief systems. Students watched a series of performance arts videos, including slam poetry and hip hop theater, where artists discussed various aspects of their identities and how these experiences have shaped how they view the world, and how people see them. Students were then encouraged to use their multicultural identity maps to think about how their identities help to shape their unique own perspectives.
Later in the week students learned about growth mindset. Students watched a Ted Talk discussing Carol Dweck's research on intelligence and mindset, students then brainstormed ways in which their mindset could either be limiting or empowering.

Multicultural Identity Map

Limiting and Empowering Beliefs

Midterms!

We are officially half way through the semester at ACHS after a very short three day week! This week students had midterms in all of their classes, and they had extra study and homework time in their YESS classes. Students took a short midterm in their YESS class where they were encouraged to reflect on communication, conflict resolution, and the relationships in their lives. Students also wrote short essays on their identity and emotions.

Belief Systems and Identity

This week, students began a multi day lesson on beliefs and emotions. We started off the week listening to a piece of music, during which students were instructed to draw or write what they were feeling or thinking as they listened. Students then shared the drawings or writing in small groups. This led us into a discussion on why each person's experience with the music was different. Students then broke out into groups and came up with working definitions for culture, identity and beliefs system. Students then completed an exercise on identity and were then encouraged to think about their own identity through an art project. 

With midterms coming up next week, students were given extra time to complete homework and studying with their mentors. 

Identity art project