Presedential Elections & Student Leadership

We had an exciting week in our YESS program at Shaw Heights this past week as we held our class "Co-Presidential" elections. As a school we are working on providing more leadership opportunities for our scholars, and everyone was buzzing this week as we discussed these new roles and how they can positively affect our classroom environment.

One mentee's flyer for elections!

One mentor's flyer for elections!

Before we got into the elections, though, we had Mentor Monday and Tutoring Tuesday. Our mentors really enjoy having a day set aside for just their needs and concerns as mentors, and I always look forward to our discussions on Mondays. Meanwhile, our mentees are really getting into the WhyTry program, which is a wellness class hosted on Mentor Monday. This special, differentiated time on Mondays allows us to address the needs of our mentors and mentees in order to best support each and every scholar.

Our Tutoring Tuesday was a bit quiet this week as our 8th graders were attending the career exposition and were out for the majority of the day. Even still, our mentees did a great job of coming in and getting right to work on their academic goals. I am seeing so much growth in our mentees, especially when it comes to being more focused and organized with their assignments.

A mentee gives a speech for our class presidential elections.

Once we were all back together as a class on Wednesday, we got into unpacking the roles and responsibilities of a class president. We brainstormed in our journals to see what each thought our co-presidents should do for our class. As each scholar shared out, I drafted a Word document in order to ensure each class has a specified set of roles for their presidents. The scholars loved getting a say in these new roles and responsibilities, and they really liked that each class drafted their own document.

Dejah and Jalius, both mentors, pose with the class contract after winning.

The following day we hosted campaign speeches, which was a great opportunity for our scholars to speak to the class about his or her strengths--and weaknesses. The speeches were really wonderful, and many did a great job handling speaking to the entire class about his or her specific weakness. Following the conclusion of all the speeches (anyone who was interested was welcome to make a speech to the class!), we hosted the elections.

Not every class period had enough time to vote, so we will wrap up once we return from Thanksgiving break.
Our class co-presidents are:

3rd period-- Aliyana and Gio
4th period-- TBD
5th period-- Breann and Advino
6th period-- Kiana and Quan
7th period-- Dejah and Jalius

Thoughts vs Emotions & Positive Affirmations!

This past week was quite an emotionally charged one for our YESS scholars at Shaw Heights. Many were reeling from the news of the election, and so we spent the week unpacking these emotions by trying to better understand the connection (and disconnect) between thoughts and emotions. We talked at length about the fact that emotion and logic are regulated by different parts of the brain, and studied different images of the brain in our efforts to understand the complexity of thoughts and emotions.

The more we talked, the more our scholars were able to touch on the demarcation point between logical thought and emotions. Several shared out experiences from when someone had crossed his or her "personal boundary" and the fight that ensued as a result of feeling very emotional and reactionary in that moment. We discussed, as a class, how thoughts and feelings are different, and took the Thoughts vs. Feelings quiz to gauge our understanding of why, "I feel anxious," is a feeling, and, "I feel as though I am being torn apart," is a thought. This was a tricky topic for many, and it took two days before our scholars had a solid understanding of thoughts and emotions. Each day we began by rereading the quote on the board:

"When dealing with people, remember-- you are not dealing with creatures of logic, but creatures of emotion." --Daniel Carnegie



One scholar's list of "10 Positive Affirmations"

Our scholars agreed that we are all certainly creatures of emotion, and we further discussed how some thoughts can begin to ruminate in the brain, becoming dangerous to our health. Everyone seemed to agree that ruminations are unhealthy and are unwelcome, yet we all seem to fall prey to these emotionally-charged thoughts. We touched on the fact that positive thoughts, or affirmations, can actually help break this negative cycle.

In order to better understand how logic and emotions affect one another, we watched a short film called "The Quiet," in which a young, half-deaf girl gets bullied while riding home on the school bus. The young lady becomes emotionally overwhelmed and storms off the bus, leaving her cell phone behind. Her mother had texted her to let her know that a man named John, driving a blue van, would be picking her up that day, but the young lady never saw the message. Instead, she saw the blue van waiting on the road and panicked, taking off into the woods in fear. John tried to catch her, which then turned into a wild chase through the woods, as the young lady grew increasingly frightened. In the end, she falls and gets hurt, and is later found by a search party. The movie plays off the fear of the viewer, and afterwards we discussed how fear, in particular, can be a very strong emotion which often overrides our ability to think logically.

To wrap up the week on a more positive note, we each spent the last day of the week drafting a list of 10 positive affirmations. Once each scholar has a completed this list, they were then asked to pick their favorite affirmation to illustrate for our classroom. We all enjoyed this activity as we talked about how positive thoughts can help break the negative ruminations and thought patterns that can occur in our minds.

Personal Boundaries & Trust Walks

This past week in YESS we continued our unit on relationships by discussing what our personal boundaries are- how to identify these boundaries, how to set healthy boundaries in our various relationships, and how best to clarify our expectations for personal boundaries and what to do should someone violate our boundaries and, "cross the line." The scholars were quiet at first, but as each individual shared out at least one personal boundary, the class excitement and energy grew. We made a list of all the "no-go" boundaries in our lives, and the list kept growing as we continued to talk. Many began opening up as to why they felt they needed a certain boundary, which in turn encouraged other, more reserved scholars to open up about their needs and experiences.

We discussed different types of boundaries--mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual- and the need to communicate our desires about these boundaries to others in order to form healthy, balanced relationships. Some commonly shared boundaries amongst our scholars were against negative behaviors and/or beliefs that they feel act as boundaries to personal success. Examples include individuals who lie, cheat, steal, abuse others, use drugs, smoke cigarettes, gossip, bully, homophobic individuals or those who do not believe in LGBTQ rights, aggressive individuals and gang members. We also discussed boundaries against behaviors that make us physically uncomfortable, such those who invade our personal space without asking by way of hugs or intimate touches that feel unwarranted.

Overall, the classes thoroughly enjoyed our talks on personal boundaries. Many felt validated when I told them they had a right to feel upset should someone cross one of their personal boundaries. Perhaps the most pertinent part of the lesson was not necessarily identifying these boundaries, but our discussion on what to do next if someone crosses a personal boundary. When I asked how it felt when an individual crosses one of our personal boundaries (and what one should do), I was met with a pretty unanimous feeling of frustration and anger. Very few were able to articulate what they say and do in this situation; the majority said they tend to be reactionary once someone has "crossed a line."

We took a day to unpack these feelings around boundaries and how to proceed in a manner best suited to progress-that is, not falling prey to reactionary emotions in that moment. We identified, as a class, ways to cope and to protect our emotions. Scholars noted the need to clarify what one's boundaries are from the start of a relationship so that issues don't just "crop up" suddenly; rather, each person is certain what the other's boundaries are, and, more importantly, what will happen as a result of crossing this understood boundary. We decided that the best method would be to distance ourselves from those who fail to respect our boundaries, and that we need to be cautious and clear communicators when forming new relationships.

To complete our week, we did a "trust walk" where the mentees and mentors each took turns being blindfolded and lead through the maze by simply listening to the voice of his or her partner. I even participated with my student assistant's help, and everyone was over the moon with laughter and joy as I blindly stumbled around the classroom. Afterward we all discussed how the blindfold made us uneasy, though everyone trusted that his or her partner would take them safely through the maze. It was a very fun day to bookend our week discussing boundaries and trust in relationships!