Year End Event Celebration & Marijuana Unit Presentations

LAST WEEK RULED!!!

This blog entry is coming at you full force with photos galore 😀
To sum up the most memorable events that occurred at the Broncos Stadium last Wednesday, Adams City High School did an excellent job of representing the school! Students showed up and showed out, including our Mentor Leaders and Mentee of the year, who all gave outstanding speeches. Four of our senior students won scholarships and two other students, Shalayah Davis and Janette Alvarez, were recognized for their hard work this year in YESS.  

• $500 scholarship to Martin Hernandez
• $500 scholarship to Karina Rodriguez
• $1,000 scholarship to Genavee Gonzales
• $2,000 scholarship to Anahi Quezada
• Mentee of the year - Shlayah Davis
• Mentor of the year - Janette Alvarez

I'm really excited that I got a chance to get this group photo to remember my first year as a teacher. I will miss each face individually once summer gets out!

I have not seen Sergio smile this big in my whole LIFE! Zach Kerr really brought the smiles, they were totally star struck. I'm glad I have this picture because it gives me the warmest fuzziest feeling.

They were so stoked about the locker room tour even though it smelled like straight up B.O!

Carlos, Kevin, and I chillin' in the game day suite! So cool!

Here's a creative student who wanted to stand out in her shirt on the day of the event. She used tie-dye colors to make it one of a kind :-) 

In class last week we tackled the Consuming Cannabis unit where we learned about the facts, the risks, and the different methods of consuming marijuana. Here are some presentations that represented what they learned. I took many pics because it was the seniors' last presentation of their high school career!!! Monumental!

It was bittersweet seeing them present for the final time. And on that same day we had the changing of the seats traditional pep rally where the seniors gave out a rose to a teacher who has impacted them. It was a tearful afternoon to say the least. I am so proud of the young people I have had the privilege of teaching this past year, they have grown so much in such a short amount of time... And so have I!

 I can't wait to see them graduate this weekend! More pics to come from the ceremony!

Until next week,

Ms. C

Unit 2 Project Presentations & Broncos Field Trip Prep!

Welcome back y'all!

Last week was jam packed with Year End Event tasks as well as project presentations for each of my classes, we were busy around the clock!

For our projects, each student was instructed to present an individual reflection expressing their favorite lesson from Unit 2 and why. They were expected to connect it to their lives, both inside and outside of the classroom, as well as to a social justice issue they care about. Many students chose the Bullying lesson but overall I feel that most students were impacted by the Dating Abuse lesson based on how many pairs chose it. In addition to the written reflection, they were allowed to create a PSA poster with their mentee/mentor if they both agreed on the same lesson to present on.

Below is Mentor (former Mentee) Janette A. presenting on her favorite lesson, Bullying/Mental Health. She spoke about her own experience with bullying, depression, and suicidal thoughts and how the symbol of a semi colon has had a deep metaphorical meaning for her... So much so that she went and got a tattoo of it! Which, of course, was a part of her presentation.

Going up in front of your classmates is never an easy task, especially with all of the insecurities that being a high schooler may bring, so before presentations we took the time to clear the air and set the stage up with positivity and re-established the room as our judgement free zone, our safe island. The kids shared many personal thoughts and experiences in their written reflections and I was inspired by the courage they had to share all of their feelings with us in such a raw and true way, they really stepped outside of their comfort zones and felt accomplished because of it. Not only that, but I was completely blown away by their writing abilities. It is one thing to read their journals by myself after they have left the room, but to hear them articulate themselves in their own voice and dialect was really moving for me and, most importantly, empowering for them. at the end of each presentation there was one "question master" (everyone took a turn) where they asked a unique and engaging question for their peer's lesson/presentation. There was also 1 person who was the "positivity peep" who said something that they enjoyed about their reflection or poster. For most presentations there were observers who had more than one question or positive comment, it was very sweet to be an outsider looking in on them build each other up. I'm going to miss these classes dearly!!!
Some examples of some outstanding PSA visuals below:

My mentor leaders and myself also had a meeting at Lincoln to go over the script for the Year End Event once more. Turns out there's a LOT of prepping that goes into events involving students, there are so many moving parts that they are fully responsible for committing to and we are doing our best to stay on top of due dates, transportation coordination, permission slip legalities, and mostly just attempting to remain calm and optimistic about the big day (TWO DAYS AWAY!!!). Diane even came in this morning to help our Mentee speaker of the year, Shalayah Davis.

She told me just today that she, not only has never given a speech before, but has never been recognized for anything regarding academics before... not once in her life. Watching her rehearse her speech for the first time today made me teary eyed as it was really a full circle moment, she has come SO FAR from the time I met her 2 years ago... ditching class, without a place to call home, and a report card reading all F's. My how things have changed, she'll be in a graduation cap before we know it. I am so proud of her and excited to watch her kill it on stage on Wednesday! Wahoo!

Until next week,
Ms. C

YESS Breakfast & Unit 2 Projects

Good morning everyone,

This morning I officially turned my calendar to the last month of school, I cannot believe it!!! The weeks are skipping by. Last week went by especially fast because of how busy it was. Between meetings about 8th grade night, the YESS breakfast, and the last minute cancellation of classes on Friday for walk outs, it seems like there was barely any time for the kids to be working in class! However, last week was important for the kids as they started and finished their Unit 2 project. This week they are presenting them, they turned out so cool and I'm excited to hear the reflection they wrote as they are presenting both a written essay about their favorite lesson and an artsy PSA poster! Pics to come.

Here are some shots from this week:

My cutie pie mentor leaders in their fancy YESS shirts with their fancy tri-fold at the fancy YESS breakfast!

Here is a cool shot I got from the red for ed protest at the Denver capital to support teachers' fight for more funding. It was awesome to feel solidarity among everyone and to feel support by a lot of people who were not teachers. (I went after work hours by the way, ha!)

Until next week,

Ms. Castro

Surveys For YESS Classes

SSIS SEL Documentation

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 did this year as your teacher.

When you are taking the survey, this time I want you to think about yourself AFTER you've experienced this year 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 ask me for help.

SSIS SEL Part 1 link:
https://goo.gl/forms/tVF29r1IyqDp1JtC3

SSIS SEL Part 2 link:
https://goo.gl/forms/FnA3iX9NLKmTWBuv2

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