February 23rd-27th

This week was a great week here at Shaw Heights. On Monday the students broke into groups. I had the mentors and we were able to do an activity about support and working together to support one another. In this activity I would throw a ball and the students had to work together to make sure that the ball did not touch the ground. The ball was a representation of a mentee, and how we all need to work together to keep this mentee from failing. Some students told me that they had classes with mentees that were not their mentee but agreed to help keep them on track. Other students mentioned that they had the same lunch at someone else's mentee and agreed to say "hi" during lunch or even sit with them at lunch. This was  a great activity because the mentors learned that they are not just looking after their mentee, but they are supporting all mentees.

On Tuesday we did the "Love Cup" activity. Students were able to reflect on what is draining them, and what they could do to stop being drained.  I took some pictures of some of the Love cups the students made.

Love Cup

Love Cup

Love Cup

On Tuesday night one of my mentors received an award from the Optimist club. She was nominated by all of her teachers and the dean of students. Each of her teachers wrote  a comment about this mentor. Most comments were about how she is a great student, she has improved in behavior and academics since last year. She was also nominated because this semester this mentor broke up a fight that her mentee and another student were involved in. She was caught on camera helping her mentee. Many teachers said that this mentor was not the same student as she was last year.

OptimistAwards

On Wednesday we did the "Who are you at..." worksheet. Students had to reflect on if they are the same person they are at school, home, and with friends. Most students came to the realization that they are not being true to themselves. Some students said they didn't know if the real them was the person at home, or the person they are when they are with their friends. During this activity we were able to discuss "Nature vs. Nurture." Students were then able to debate what they thought contributes to their behavior, nature or nurture.

Thursday we did an Intro to EQ activity where we learned about Phineas Gage.

I have also created a Facebook page for the students. Some message me to let me know they will be absent and ask for their homework through this site. https://www.facebook.com/yess.shaw
I update often on there. :)

Overall this week was an awesome week!

February 18th- 20th

This week was a short week, but we did a lot of work within the three days that we did have class. This week the students did a learning styles assessment to see what their learning style is.  Today we did a personal values clarification survey and discussed what values are most important to us as well as what values have changed.

This week was also parent/ teacher conferences and I received a lot of positive feedback on how much their child has improved, and how great their behavior has been at home as well as at school. 

Feb 9th-13th

This week the students did an activity called "The disappearing circle." Students had to help each other fit in the circle as it got smaller and smaller. The point of this activity was to demonstrate to students that we need to help each other reach our goals, and it is okay to ask for help.

This week we did an activity called to discuss our personal beliefs. Students talked about what negative and positive beliefs they have about themselves.

Finally, I had two mentors per class lead the discussion and debate a news article of their choice. The students enjoyed the leadership role as well as having the freedom to choose a topic that affects their community.

February 2nd- 6th, 2015

What is trust? What are boundaries? These are topics and questions students discussed this week in depth.  These are very hard subjects to discuss because who we trust is personal, and to discuss psychological/ emotional and physical boundaries can be uncomfortable. Luckily, each classroom has built trust and support for one another and at the beginning of these lessons, my mentors reminded the mentees what confidentiality means and why this is important.

When we discussed trust, students learned the building blocks of trust, which are: time, results, unite, safety, and talking. We discussed each of these building blocks and each student gave me an example of each building block and why it is important. Then students filled in a chart of people in their life they trust and how much they trust each person. They also reflected on why people would trust them.

Students finished making their trust bridges on Tuesday and the finished projects were amazing. Below are some pictures.

 

This week when students discussed boundaries they thought about what boundaries in their life need strengthening and how to confront the issues being crossed. All in all, this was an excellent week.