Building Trust: Why Mentor?

This week in YESS our scholars discussed why mentoring is an important part of a successful, thriving community, particularly in relation to building trust and showing support for others in order to rid our communities of acts of microagression and cyberbullying. We spent the beginning of the week discussing mentoring and how it can help strengthen individuals and those with whom they come into contact. Our scholars then designed a map of their community and indicated where they thought mentoring should be adopted and why.

Once we got the conversation started, many offered out ideas as to where they thought mentoring might be helpful: in businesses and offices such as the police station, firehouse, and local government; in the realm of athletics on different sports teams and at local recreation centers; at local parks and other popular hang out spots (favorite restaurants, local stores, and neighborhood blocks); at home in the form of mentors who can support older siblings; and finally during times of transportation in our community, such as the bus ride or walk to Shaw Heights. A couple even mentioned that they would like to have a mentor at King Soopers to show them what sort of healthy foods they should be buying, and how they should prepare meals at home. It was a wonderful conversation that really got our mentors thinking about how they can affect positive change outside of Shaw Heights.

After we completed our community maps, we got to work on our Facebook Questionnaire and Google slide presentations. Each scholar filled out a worksheet which resembled a Facebook page, filling out information on what their favorite subjects are, who is in their family, and what they dream about achieving in the future. Mentors and mentees then switched papers in order to begin building a slide show presentation about their partner. The scholars did a great job of including the important information about his or her partner while adding fun clip art and other images to really make the presentations pop. We will be presenting them to the class this week, and everyone is so excited to use the giant "Smart TV" to present their work to the class.


Several of our scholars entered the YESS "EmoTroll" Art Contest, and we are eagerly awaiting the results. The contest asked one to reconsider the "EmoTrolls" used in the YESS curriculum to come up with a new take on the art work and to redraw the faces of at least three characters with names (and matching emotions) such as "Bomby," "Vengy," and "Smiley." We have so many talented artists in our program, and it was wonderful to see the creative and unique entries that were submitted.

This week we will begin to move into deeper discussions around defining success and relationship management. Stay tuned for more pictures once we present our Google slide shows!

Speed Matching- Mentors & Mentees!

What an exciting week we had as we finally were able to match our mentors with their new mentees! Our scholars have been anxiously awaiting the news as to whom they will be working with for the duration of the school year. On Wednesday we did the “Speed Matching” lesson where our mentors interviewed the mentees to see how well suited they may (or may not be) for one another. It was a day full of energy and excitement as the scholars asked and answered questions about what their favorite class was, what they were struggling with in school and/or at home, and what their academic and/or personal goals were for the year. Each mentor spoke to each mentee for one minute before recording their thoughts and moving on to the next individual. At the conclusion of the lesson, each scholar wrote down their first, second, and third choice for either a mentor or mentee with whom they desired to work, and indicated why they chose those individuals.  

It was a long process as my student assistants and I worked to pair the scholars up according to the desires and needs of each individual. We also created thoughtful seating charts so that our mentors and mentees can begin to not only support each other, but other pairs in class as well. Once we had settled the details, I was able to announce the pairings to the classes, and was met with widespread approval- everyone was so thrilled to finally be matched!

                Our mentors have begun the process of getting to know their mentee’s schedules and are getting a handle on what the needs of their new mentees are so that they can begin to implement plans to start working towards goals as a team. Our mentors and mentees have also begun working on an art project where they get to design their community and identify where they would like to see mentoring in that community (beyond the YESS program at Shaw Heights). Many voiced their desires to have mentors on their sports teams, in their church groups, and several even nominated the idea of having “sibling mentors”- a way of taking the responsibility of being a sibling to the next level. It was wonderful to see how much our scholars value mentoring.

                Lastly, I would like to congratulate Erin Ballew and Ava Martinez, two of our 8^th grade mentors, who won the YESS t-shirt contest with their concept of a black and white “jersey” style shirt with a large “03” on the back, indicating the number of years YESS has been at Shaw Heights. Julianna Romero also deserves a shout out for her amazing hand drawn design of a Shaw Heights falcon which was widely admired.

      We are all looking forward to getting deeper into our work with our new mentors and mentees next week!

Time Capsules & T-Shirts

Our scholars have been hard at work this week designing the YESS t-shirts for this school year in addition to building a class time capsule. Our scholars each got a chance to design a t-shirt logo on a sheet of paper. They were invited to include drawings of the school mascot, inspirational quotes, unique logo designs, and were required to include both the YESS and the Shaw Heights Middle School logos.  We’ve had some wonderful, innovative designs and we are looking forward to voting on our favorite design next week. 

This week we also filled out questionnaires for our time capsule regarding our current favorites- such as favorite artists, favorite foods, favorite class—to gain some perspective come May when we will open the capsule as a class. Each student also wrote a personal letter to include in the capsule, which will be so interesting to read at the end of the year. While some struggled to fill out the work sheet, others really connected with the assignment. Several scholars wrote personal letters that were more than a page long!

 

We wrapped the week with a “Fun Friday,” where the YESS scholars were able to chat and connect over board games after completing a 20-minute study hall. They really love being able to play these games to unwind after a busy week at Shaw Heights Middle School, and it is a really wonderful time to chat with each scholar about what is going on in his or her life.

We are going to be doing “Speed Matching” next week, which is when our mentors and mentees will finally begin to pair up! The scholars could not be more thrilled to get this underway. We also have several student assistants who will be co-teaching the “Speed Matching” lesson. Stay tuned!

Welcome back to school, Shaw Heights YESS Scholars!

We are so excited to be back underway with the YESS program at Shaw Heights Middle School. So many of our scholars have returned to YESS for our third year of programming at Shaw Heights. How wonderful it is to see so much pride and ownership from our mentors!

Our year has started off with many team building exercises to help engage our new 6^th grade mentees and get the conversation going between our various grade levels. Many of our 6^th graders are still wondering what YESS is all about, but as each day passes, their smiles and excitement grow as they continue to see what a unique opportunity it is to be involved with YESS.

The most popular activity we have done thus far is the Marshmallow and Spaghetti Tower team builder. Scholars were paired up and were not allowed to speak to one another during this exercise. They could also only use one hand while attempting to build either the tallest, sturdiest, or most eccentric tower. While the marshmallows made this day a undoubtedly fun (and sticky!) one, the scholars were able to immediately identify some of the key points to this lesson: communication is important when working together, and often times we communicate with more than just the words we say, so we must pay attention to the various methods of communication; perseverance is essential when attempting something new, for you will almost certainly encounter set-backs and obstacles that may require you to re-evaluate your approach; and collaboration is crucial when working as a team, for you must be willing to give and take in order to function as one whole unit! They did a great job of wrapping us this team builder by sharing out what worked well, what didn’t, and how they could apply this lesson to working in class and with their mentor or mentee throughout the school year.

Our scholars have also been working on identifying their goals and values, which will be imperative to the work we do together this school year. We have spent a lot of time revisiting these two main topics- goals and values- so that each individual clearly knows what his or her goals are (both short and long term!) and what values are important to keep in mind as we all work toward attaining these various goals. Many of our mentors have really stepped up in showing our mentees what it means to set goals, and why it is so important to be able to identify one’s system of values.

I see so much pride amongst our YESS scholars, and I have witnessed our mentors carrying forth the YESS attitude of empowerment throughout the Shaw Heights halls and even beyond into our local community. We are looking forward to building our Time Capsules this week, along with designing our YESS t-shirts!