Accountability, Peaceful Conflict Resolution, & Mentor Leader Meeting

Welcome back all,

Last week flew by as we were kept busy with a jam packed schedule. On top of tackling our Accountability lesson & Peaceful Conflict Rsolution lesson, we had many deadlines to meet... "We" meaning my Mentor Leaders and I. With the YESS Breakfast coming up, as well as the YESS End of Year Event at Broncos Stadium, we made sure to complete our speeches, script, tri-fold, and senior slide show. Oh, and did I mention we recieved our YESS shirts this week!!! Pics to come! (Thanks, Jamie!)

We also had a special treat on Thursday as Diane came to film my 5th block run through our peaceful conflict resolution lesson. We discussed the past and present influential world leaders in the peace movement, broke down the 7 steps of coming to a peaceful resolution when faced with conflict, and partook in some entertaining, yet informational, skits representing a non-peaceful conflict resolution vs. a peaceful one representing the 7 steps. It was so much fun, I can't wait to watch the footage back that Diane caught!

Pictured above is a sweet little moment where all the mentor leaders from all YESS schools were together at one time rehearsing the script for the year end event. How cute! They're going to nail it.

Here is our ACHS trifold that my mentor leaders and I put together featuring some of the best/most interesting work from the past year in here. ~Graffiti brought to you by YESS Mentee Keifer Rodenberg~ way cool!

Until next week,
Ms. C

Testing, Gender Bender day, & PROM!

Another week in the books here at Adams City!

There is not much to report curriculum wise as last week was state wide testing. I worked as a hall monitor and a proctor and luckily I saw many of my students on during testing days so I was able to give them whispers/high fives of encouragement!

Thursday after testing was Gender Bender day for our spirit week and some of my students really got into it... Yes, all of these students are male identifying, ha! I love that they don't take themselves too seriously, they are hilarious. Kahlil (far left) looks just like his mom and Carlos (second to the left) is wearing a real weave and his mom's heels... I CAN'T WITH THEM!

Also, this past weekend was the Senior Prom! I went with some teacher friends and embarrassed the kids on the dance floor, it was great! But in all seriousness, I probably teared up about a total of 4 times because I could not handle how grown up my students looked. They really went all out, I was so stunned at the sheer beauty and class of my seniors! Seeing my boys in suits reminded me of the amazing young men they are becoming and how lucky and honored I am to be able to send them into society and the beginning of adulthood. These three boys in particular (below) are some of the most gentle, kind hearted, sincerely genuine humans in my life and I am so happy to keep up with what they will accomplish in the future. *tear*

Jorge and Jen! Jen is the one who won the Daniel's fund. Jorge is a student who I have known for years, I have watched them both come out of their shells and become comfortable in their own skin over the years and it was amazing to see them in their truest most fabulous form. They busted a move together in the middle of the dance circle, I was SCREAMING! I love them!

Until next week,
Ms. Castro

Emo Trolls!

Welcome back everyone,

The weeks are flying by as summer is approaching faster than I can comprehend! We started the week off with the first introduction to Emo Trolls, which lead us to reflect back on our emotions related to our Hot Buttons and Sphere of Influence. I exploded a soda bottle all over the floor to demonstrate someone who allows feelings to bottle up and eventually blowing up, causing negative debris which affects everyone around them and leaves them half empty.

We identified the different trolls and related them to how we deal with stress. My students got to know each other on a deeper level by sharing their personal reflections to each Emo Troll, this was a vulnerable exercise as they revealed not so positive attributes about ourselves and how we can sometimes act out when under pressure.

Lastly, toward the end of the week, we turned our trolls into super heroes. We identified the negative coping habits belonging to the troll and we gave super heroes super powers, identifying the positive ways we can CHOOSE to deal with stress and negative emotions and/or thoughts. Here were some of the project turn outs- SO CUTE!

Until next week,
Ms. Castro

Midterms & ~Mentor Leader Moves~

Welcome back, everyone!

The week before break got out went by in the blink of an eye. Although, for many of my students that week went by in the exact opposite way as they were stressing big time over mid-term testing from other classes. I allowed them to use that last week to get studying and tutoring done and, to my delight, they really did take advantage of it. It was almost eerie how quiet and focused my classes were that week but it showed me how serious they were about their grades so that was refreshing. I also gave make up assignment opportunities where students who have zeros on assignments could choose a credible article on the topic they were absent for/missed and they can make it up for up to 75% by having a 15 minute conversation with me about it. A few kids jumped on the opportunity and it was nice to sit and chat one on one in a way that lets me know what they've learned conversationally rather than via worksheet.

My mentor leaders also took a field trip with me to Westy to see Ben's room and meet all of the other program managers and mentor leaders. They were excited to see who else was in their position in other schools so that was super adorable to see them outside of their comfort zones yet advocating for getting things done regarding the breakfast/ End of Year Event, etc. Deadlines, phew! The end of the year is coming at us faster than we think so staying on top if it after spring break is crucial.

On the way to the meeting they definitely did not let me pass Little Man's without stopping, ha! How cute are they? They didn't know each other well at all before this year and now they are good buddies, I love seeing that. I'm going to miss them so much when they graduate.

ALSO! GREAT NEWS! 

NOT ONE BUT TWO OF MY SENIOR MENTOR LEADERS RECEIVED THE DANIELS FUND SCHOLARSHIP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

WoOoO, go Jen and Haaron (middle and right ones in the pic)! I have been emotional all morning, I am proud beyond words and excited to see the doors that this opportunity opens for them. I am also interested in how their stress levels will begin to even out to a healthy level because being a Mentor Leader, a senior, applying for schools, scholarships, financial aid, etc. is TAXING mentally and emotionally! Now they are on the euphoric side of the stress level to where they have the options but are not exactly sure which road to choose. What a wonderful stress to have :-)

Until next week,
Ms. C

Hot/Cool Buttons & Productivity

Welcome back Eagles,

 Last week we went over a core YESS lesson, Hot/Cool Buttons, and learned about the spectrum of emotions that helps us to understand our own triggers and how to avoid/calm down from them.

We made a human pendulum that allowed us to get to know each other better, each person choosing a side of the human pendulum to represent where they are at on the Hot Button spectrum. We reflected on how it made us feel and how, at times, it was uncomfortable because of how this activity prompted us to not only confront our insecurities, but share them with the class. We have put in the work to build community in here so the revealing part was interestingly honest and light hearted. We concluded by debating whether or not hot buttons were positive or negative, the overall consensus was that it can be both. They can definitely sabotage our own success when we act impulsively through negative language, passive aggressive actions, or violence.

The rest of the week was dedicated to students doing make up assignments in my class and studying for midterms. I haven't seen this much silent productivity and tutoring since December! It was nice to check in with everyone individually to get a temperature check of who is where going into spring break. It should also be noted that a HUGE success for the week is that I had 9 seniors make the deadline to apply for the YESS scholarship, huge props to them!!!

Although there is no midterm in my class, the stress level can be felt a mile away from the school due to testing in other classes. These next few days will be more gifted time to them for core class midterm focus and tutoring madness- wish us luck!

See you after Spring Break!!!
Ms. C

The Mask You Live In

Last week was one for the books in the YESS room as we dove head first into the ever present theme of toxic masculinity. Our previous week's lessons on Gun Violence and Dating Abuse brought up undertones questioning and critiquing masculinity in our culture and my classes had a lot to say about their own experiences with it so I felt that it was a great time to show them one of my favorite documentaries - The Mask You Live In.

Trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hc45-ptHMxo

The doc exposed a plethora of startling statistics, including:

• Boys are twice as likely to drop out of school as girls and four times more likely to be expelled.
• Compared to a girl the same age, boys in late adolescence are 7 times more likely to die by thier own hand.
• Boys under 17 drink more heavily than any other population group. 

As early as elementary school, boys confront messages that encourage them to disconnect from their emotions, devalue authentic friendships, objectify and degrade women and girls, and resolve conflicts through violence.

The Representation Project’s The Mask You Live In curriculum equips K-12 with the critical thinking skills to question gender stereotypes that interconnect with race, class, and circumstance. Students define masculinity and have the opportunity to critique gender representations and norms as they create their own positive representations of boys and men. Additionally, our students learn to develop healthy self-concepts and interpersonal relationships.

We participated in the activity as seen in the documentary where they wrote words describing how we present ourselves at school and in public spaces; what we want others to perceive us as. On the back of the mask we wrote words describing who we really are behind that front that we curate. These fronts, or these masks, are put on for survival. They are handed to us by society and the environment we grow up in and, after a while, we grow to fit those masks, or we slowly and implicitly become them by repeatedly hiding vulnerable emotions. This hyper-masculine narrative links gaining respect and solving problems with violence and provides insight to why boys act out when they are depressed. It begs so many questions for educators and students alike and exposes a universal controversial discussion that prompts us to all explore our own inner masculinity (whether we are male, female, somewhere in between, or neither) and how it can be healthy for us and poisonous for us. What is the line? At what point is emotional expression "weak", or is it courageous rather than weakness? In what ways does dominant culture try to put us in a box? These are all questions we answered and debated by analyzing the media.

What we learn from video games, movies, television, music, and pop culture has everything to do with how we view ourselves in the world. To further explore this, I had them draw a fictional character that they looked up to and share it with everyone while describing personality characteristics that belong to that character. A lot of the boys chose superman, batman, and video game characters (like the one above) and many of the girls chose cartoons or Wonder Woman. We found that the girls valued empathy, justice, emotional strength, and grit and the boys valued fighting evil with violence, having superpowers, and incredibly unrealistic physique while having the responsibility of saving the world or an entire village. This was an issue that they realized before I even shined a light on it... Does idolizing these figures put an unhealthy pressure on us to mirror them? Where is the line that represents a healthy role model?

We explored many definitions including, but not limited to, gender identity and biological sex. It took a while to get the concepts across belonging to the fact that gender is between your ears; it is an innate identity generated in your brain. How people wish to express that gender they most comfortably identify with does not always match their biological sex. This is seen as taboo, but why? Because of the gender roles that are socially constructed, it is the box society has placed on you to be seen as accepted and "successful" in life.

The Netflix documentary is a 9th-12th level content and with proper fast forwarding (I can give you the times), it is an extremely eye opening learning opportunity and makes for fruitful discussions that leave students with the eagerness to challenge the status quo. They were left with the task to QUESTION EVERYTHING! Be curious to find out why society is the way it is, realize when it is unhealthy and challenge it in your own way to do your part in helping to make this world a more inclusive place.

Until next week,
Ms. C

Gun Violence & Dating Abuse

Last week was an emotionally heavy couple of days but our intense conversation brought about many fruitful take-aways and learning opportunities.

We began the week by talking about each of the victims who lost their lives in the Parkland shooting. I displayed each of their photos on the screen and had the students take turns reading aloud who they were, what they loved, the family they left behind, and the futures that they had in store. This made so many topics important in the YESS teachings a reality- we acknowledged the need for loving one another and lending kindness because you never know the battles that someone else might be facing. We discussed the gun violence epidemic and there were respectful debates about gun control and the work that needs to be done in this country regarding mental health and toxic masculinity. We also discussed how this event is different than a lot of other tragedies in the way that there are students, the young people who are the survivors of Parkland, who are courageously using their platform to stand up for what the believe in. These young people from Florida are trying to make a change to create a safer and more moral world. I feel that in a class titled Youth Empowerment that these events happening currently are the most exquisite representation of youth empowering other youth. After watching their speeches and discussions with government officials, the kids were inspired by the bravery and maturity of these students using their voices for change... after all, it was only a few weeks ago that these students were in the same position as my ACHS students; sitting in desks worrying about upcoming tests living the normal life of a teen. And now, they are worrying about writing speeches to recite them in front of the world, forcing themselves to do the work that hired officials are not doing themselves. They strive to be the last school shooting and they are determined to be written into history books as the young people who did something about their future and the future of other student's lives to come in the education system and beyond.

In the second half of the week we discussed dating abuse. This was an interesting segue from the last lesson as a point was brought up about how all the people who have committed these mass murder crimes in the US have been statistically male. There is an epidemic concerning male mental health in this country and this lead our discussion about what we can do to change this and how violence can appear on the small scale in domestic partnerships. It was also important to point out that women can be in the role of the abuser as well. A huge part of this discussion surrounded defining what the word "consent" means to each person and how it should equate with a mandatory level of respect when people are wanting to take their relationships to the next level. We learned about shocking statistics that directed our open discussion where people who felt comfortable shared experiences belonging to their personal lives. The last activity of the week was the highlight: acting out scenarios of the 6 main dating abuse topics (physical, emotional, verbal, digital, financial, and sexual) However, I left the sexual topic out of the acting exercise as I did not feel it was appropriate for them. They used their best judgement and got my approval before acting out their scenes in front of the class to compete for some homemade Mexican wedding cookies (:-)!), and because it was such a heavy past few weeks, a lot of their skits were extremely humorous while appropriately getting their points across about the dangers of an unhealthy relationship. See a clip from a skit below!

Until next week,
Ms. Castro