March 23rd- March 27th

This week the students at Shaw Heights Middle school did make up testing,  a cardboard challenge, and on Friday the 8th grader had a movie day and there was an assembly. This left me little time to work with the mentees and mentors but we did have some great discussions in class.

This week the students discovered what EMOdwarf they are. Students were really interested in the topic and every student participated in conversations. The next day we discussed, "what is anger?" Students discussed what hot buttons are pushed and how they become angry. Students opened up about personal stories that have happened in their past. For example, a students said becomes angry when people say she is a liar. She get mad because her father use to lie to her all of time, she does not want to be like her dad. Talking about this issue helped her discover the history behind her hot button.

On Thursday Valencia Santistevan, Nathalie Montonez, Mitzy Gonzalesz, and Zack Martinez let my 5, 6,and 7th period classed. They lead the discussion on stress.Today, students started making their YESS superhero and will be working on this during spring break. Student will present their super hero on April 7th.

YESS Superhero

6th grade boys working on their homework during lunch

March 9th- March 13th

This week the students of Shaw began PARCC testing. This meant that I had  a weird schedule. I would have periods 1 and 3 one day, and period 5,6, and 7 another day. My classes were shortened, which meant less time with my mentees and mentors.

When I did have my students we talked about success. Students defined what success meant to them, The answers varied from, "to me success is coming to school everyday," to "success means I will be the first in my family to graduate college."  Students defined success, discussed milestones in middle school or possible milestones they would like to see, and what internal and external barriers the students have that gets in the way of their success.

This week students did a review of vocabulary words by playing pitctionary. It was very interesting to see how the students would draw words like: EMOSMART, barriers, success, belief system, and other words from our glossary.  This was excellent review because students would explain the vocabulary words to students who possibly missed the day we went over some of these concepts, or students who simply forgot.

Today, students will do an activity called, "The Ripple Effect."  This activity is also knows as the consequence wheel, which is a graphic model of cause and effect. The ripple of this wheel can continue as far as the students wish. In the center of the wheel students have to state an action, with 5 possible outcomes, these 5 outcomes have outcomes , and it will continue as far as a student can think of a direct consequence ( I will post pictures of this next week).

Overall, the time I did have with my students was very productive even though is was not the normal full hour I usually get with my students.

Vocabulary Review

March 2nd- 6th

This week the mentors and mentees discussed their middle school goals for the remainder of the school year. Student made attendance, academic, and behavioral goals. The mentees and mentors discussed how often they will check on their goals to see if they are on track. Students also did a YESS Success assessment, discussed ditching school and why it is important to attend class everyday.

This week we also had Donne Brito, k-12 outreach coordinator from CU Denver came and did a presentation for the mentors about Cu Denver. She discussed the majors that CU offers, what opportunities first generation students have at UCD, as well as what extra curricular activities students can get involved in. After this presentation, students were excited about college and getting good grades to get into college. For most students, this was their first time attending a university presentation.

Mentors attending the CU Denver Presentation