Facebook Questionnaires & 6 Word Sentences

This week in YESS we worked on the Facebook Questionnaire, which each student filled out according to whatever her or she currently likes- favorites, family information, future dreams, and fun facts. These worksheets were a great exercise for scholars who were in YESS last year because they provided perspective as to how one's interests can change over time. For those new to YESS, the worksheets were a fun exercise which allowed for us all to get to know one another better.

When the scholars finished filling out the worksheets (with quite a bit of information!) we then moved on to making Google slide presentations. Each mentor and mentee pair exchanged Facebook Questionnaire's in order to create a slide show on his or her partner. We spent a day in the computer lab putting the slide shows together, and then had a day of presentations. The scholars were all quite nervous to present, but did a great job using our new Smart TV. We all learned a lot about each person and many realized they had several things in common with people they did not know very well.

We also did a lesson this week on "6 Word Sentences," where the scholars had to use 6 words to provide a summary of themselves, a relationship that they value, and what they would NOT want their mentor or mentee to ever say to them. After brainstorming some ideas out with circle maps we got to work on the sentences. It was a slow start for some as they worked out sentences and whittled them down to only 6 words, but once they got the hang of it they really started writing very poignant sentences. Here a few that really resonated with some of our scholars when we shared out in class:

"I miss you, its lonely here." -Andres Armenta
"Make me smile, make me cry." -Ingrid Duran
"Try hard, work harder, gain more." - Robert Montes
"Lost trust, lost them, forever hurt." -Stacey Tejada Sandoval
"Full of deep thoughts, seeking happiness." -Ava Martinez
"Artistic and hardworking- effort is important." -Julianna Romero
"Everything was fine until now- darn." -Brisa DeAlba Gonzalez
"People in disguises...trust very few." -Haley Gonzalez

I would also like to mention that two of our YESS scholars have been selected as Student of the Month here at Shaw Heights. Cora Walters was 7th grade Student of the Month for August, and Juilanna Romero was just selected as 8th grade Student of the Month for September. We are so proud of our YESS leaders!