January 20th- 23rd

This week was another successful week for the students in the YESS program. This week we did presentations on their life timelines. Students shared a lot of personal stories that impacted their life. One student shared how she has been in and out of foster care and that this experience has shaped her future because now she wants to be a counselor who works with youth. Students are becoming more open this week and are comfortable sharing personal information with one another.

This week while I was in the teacher’s lounge I was approached by Ms. Breckheimer. She told me, “whatever it is that you are doing, it is working!” I laughed then she said,” My third period class is my toughest class, they never turn in any work and this week all of the mentee students turned in their work." I was super happy to hear that the mentees at Shaw are already making huge progress and it is only January.

Finally, this week the mentees and mentors started working on their “I am poem.”  Many students loved this assignment because they thought of this as writing rap/ hip hop lyrics.  One student in my 7^th hour wrote many different poems and at the end of class his face was lit up and he said, “I love this class, I think I found my passion today. I want to be a writer.” 

These students are amazing and I am excited to see how much these students have grown come May.

January 12th-16th

This week at Shaw Heights the mentors and mentees were able to mingle with one another as well as pair up into mentee/ mentor pairs.

On Monday, students broke into different groups. Mentees went with Amy from CRC and mentors stayed with me to discuss fears, problems, and goals that they have for the semester.

On Tuesday the mentees and mentors did a "speed dating" activity. Mentors created a list of questions to ask the mentors. The mentors had one minute with each mentee. During this mentee they would ask a series of questions. After this activity the mentees did a "people bingo" activity.

 

This week the students also learned and discussed the roles of a mentee and a mentor. The students broke into groups and discussed what else they think their responsibilities are. 

Something interesting I would like to share is that the students in the YESS Institute have been spending their lunch time working on homework, missing assignments, or studying for tests and quizzes. Over the past week my classroom has become packed with students that it looks like I have a class. Below is a picture of my class during my lunch break. :)

Overall this was a great week!

January 6th- 9th

This week was the first week with the mentees. The mentees are very excited about being in the program and have been participating fully in the activities we did this week. This week we discussed classroom expectations as well as made  hand contracts. I am very proud of the mentors because they have been sitting with different  mentees each day without being told to do so. The mentors are trying to get to know all of the mentees so that the mentees feel more comfortable in class. The mentors are being excellent role models. They are utilizing all of the tools they learned last semester and are implementing them into class now. . Next week we will begin pairing off into mentee/ mentor pairs.

Again, this was a great first week.

Tracie