ESMART Goals

This past week in our YESS program at Shaw Heights we began to discuss goals in more detail. We began by assessing the differences between a goal and a dream. Many of our scholars felt confused by this comparison and so we took some time to better understand how a goal is a "dream with a plan and a deadline." We referred back to our project, "Heart, Mind, Soul," in order to specifically recall what some of our scholars noted for their dreams. We then set to work on our ESMART goals worksheet in order to create plans and deadlines for the dreams so that they can become realistic goals!

An ESMART worksheet from 3rd hour.

ESMART stands for: Exciting/Emotional; Support System; Measure; Action Steps; Realistic; and Time-bound. Using this framework, our scholars began planning out the specifics for their dreams. We worked on setting goals that would help our scholars work towards their larger dreams in life. Common goals were graduating from high school and college, leveling up in literacy or math (or both!), getting a car, becoming a professional athlete, and securing a career job. We worked on being as concise as possible when we discussed how we measure our goals, which action steps we must take first, and the best time frame for each goal. While it took some time for our scholars to recognize how important it is to be specific when setting goals, they eventually got the hang of it and soon our mentors were helping the mentees write very explicit goals. It was a fun process that left us all feeling hopeful about the future!

We ended our week by doing a fun team builder with charades focused on non-verbal communication. Each table worked as a team, and we had four different categories: fast food, things that begin with the letter "M" (mailbox was quite hard for our scholars to act out!), fruits and veggies, and things that one can find in a bedroom. When asked many drew comparisons to how they felt during our blindfold maze activity from the fall, a time when they were dependent on either their mentee or mentor to verbally lead them through an obstacle course. Several touched on how uncomfortable they felt not being able to speak when they were acting, or being concerned that their team was misreading their non-verbal cues. All in all it was great way to wrap up another week in YESS.

Hanging out with 7th hour after we finished a great game of charades!

Next week we will be working more on accountability in terms of one's personal responsibility for individual success. Stay tuned!

Civil Rights, Poetry & Meditation

We had a great week here at Shaw Heights as we celebrated the 15th anniversary of YESS by creating some really great pieces of art to celebrate all those who have donated and have made our amazing program possible (pictures to come next week!). We also continued our discussions on leadership and accountability. On Monday we had a really detailed, complex talk about Martin Luther King, Jr and the Civil Rights Movement. We also had a really great day writing poetry as we did an exercise entitled, "I am a Poem." We finished our week off with a guided meditation on Friday where our scholars got to learn more about how to manage stress and anxiety and how to disengage negative thoughts that tend to ruminate in the brain. Our scholars especially loved writing poems and learning how to meditate!

Our Mentor Monday talk was an emotional one this week as our scholars had so many questions about the Civil Rights Movement. While many knew about Dr. King and his efforts, very few knew much else about the movement, especially in relation to the legal process that occurred in our country and other prominent figures who helped push for the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Since I am a Civil War historian and have a degree in American history, I took extra time to explain to our scholars the process of emancipation that began with Lincoln's proclamation in 1863 and which was impeded by the "separate but equal" ruling in lieu of the Plessy V Ferguson Supreme Court case in 1896. We discussed the lynchings in the south in the wake of this ruling, and the mass exodus of African Americans during that same time period. Not one of our scholars had any idea these lynchings had occurred, and they were shocked to learn that such a reign of murder and terror once existed in our country. These feelings were further solidified when I explained how Emmett Till's murder acted as a catalyst for the Civil Rights Movement. Our scholars could not believe that Till had been blatantly murdered and yet his mother was denied justice. We also touched on Ruby Bridges and the Supreme Court ruling in Brown V Board of Education that resulted in her having to attend an all white school in Alabama with armed guards as escorts. We even discussed the Japanese interment camps that our government created during WWII as we were on the subject of the protection of civil rights for all American citizens. This fact might have been the most shocking of all for our scholars as they marveled that the US government interned over 120,000 Japanese Americans against their will--giving away their houses, businesses, and forcing them to labor in dire conditions with little food and restricted access to healthcare. These details about the Civil Rights Movement in America left a deep impression on the minds of our scholars as they watched Dr. King's "I Have a Dream" speech with new-found knowledge. I had some really amazing responses from our mentors as they reflected on our talk. This talk was well timed in that many of our scholars are worried about the federal government's role in enforcing civil rights for all citizens. One mentor wrote:

"I also learned about Alabama and how it was full of racism at the time. They had a lot of lynching. They even refused to follow the government's law about the new laws on civil rights...One thing that really brought attention to the lynching and more was a 14 year old boy. He was going to the store and then said hi to a white woman. When he was in the store a mob of white men were outside. They took the boy by force and dragged him for miles and beat him in the woods. Then they hung him. His mom had an open casket to let people know how bad they hurt him."

As we teach our mentors to become leaders, it is imperative that we teach them about such atrocities so that they understand the context of what, exactly, leaders such as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., faced as they campaigned for social justice.

Caillou's poem from 5th Period

While this talk alone would have made for a successful week, it was followed by a wonderful day presenting projects and then creating a new art project the 15th anniversary party for YESS. I will post some of the extremely heartfelt and moving pieces next week!

Some of our mentors writing poetry outside last Thursday!

We ended our week with poetry and meditation. Since my other degree is in Creative Writing, this week's lessons really aligned with my strengths as an educator. I was able to speak to our YESS scholars about the nature of poetry (no, it doesn't have to rhyme!) and was delighted to read them a few poems from an anthology of poetry from which I used to teach freshmen classes at my college. We discussed "Fire and Ice" by Robert Frost, "The Waking," by Theodore Roethke, and "Another Weeping Woman" and "Thirteen Way of Looking at a Blackbird," by Wallace Stevens. I mentioned that poetry does not place constraints on language, and many of our mentees connected with the fact that ee cummings did not use puncutation or capitalization and instead made up words like, "mudlucious" and "puddlewonderful." It was amazing to see our scholars connect with the poetry that I read and to see them really take off on the assignment on their own. We had so many moving poems, but perhaps one of the best came from a mentee named Caillou. His poem, "I am funnystrong," is posted here so that you are able to see the format of the worksheet and the way in which he responded.

We made it outside during 6th and 7th hour to write our poems as it was unseasonably warm last week!

We finished out our week in YESS with a guided meditation meant to help our scholars manage stress and anxiety. The guided meditation asks one to relax, muscle by muscle, and then asks one to imagine a peaceful place to which one may return during stressful moments or during high anxiety situations. This was a favorite day for many of our scholars as they really felt empowered and calm afterwards! Stay tuned next week to see some more great artwork from our scholars and to hear about our ESMART goal setting!

Accountability: Heart, Mind, Soul.

We began a new unit on Accountability this past week in our YESS classes at Shaw Heights. Our first lesson was entitled, "Heart, Mind, Soul," and asked our scholars to try and reflect on what is in their heart, mind, and soul and how they can use this information to make wise choices as they work toward specific goals. Before we started the worksheet, however, we did a quick journal prompt on dreams. Each scholar was asked to contemplate what he or she was dreaming for the future, whether it be a simple dream (have my own bedroom) or a more complex dream (have my bank account and my own house). We discussed Langston Hughes and his poem, "Harlem," in order to place some context on what may happen if we defer our dreams. Our scholars quickly connected with the poem which asks, "What happens to a dream deferred?" They were all able to recognize the need to nurture and fulfill dreams if we are to live a happy, successful life. It was agreed upon that not following one's dreams can lead to a very unhappy, resentful life.

Heart, Mind, Soul worksheet

Once we had spoken a bit as a class, our YESS scholars filled out a worksheet which asked them to use the human body as a diagram to better understand what is in their heart, mind, and soul. They were to write their dreams above the head; their favorite sounds next to the ears; how they would like to be seen by others next to the eyes; whatever issues they are facing were to be placed on the shoulders; whatever they loved near the heart; their favorite foods in the stomach area; the hands were to detail on one side who supported them while the other explained what they made or did with their energy; and last, but not least, one foot was representative of where they went each day, while the other details where they would like to go in the future.

A group project from 3rd Period

After each scholar had completed the worksheet, we moved into working as tables of four to bring the worksheet to life as a large project on butcher paper. Each mentor and mentee had to decide which pieces of information were most pertinent and were asked to place this information on the larger version of the human body (which our scholars accomplished by tracing out one member of the group onto butcher paper--it was a quite a fun day!). Once all the written information was done, the groups had to then add detail and color to the project.

A group project from 4th Period

Some of the Emotion Sculpture Projects on display in our YESS classroom.

An "Anger Cave" Emotion Sculpture Project

All in all it was a great start to our new unit. We had a great Mentor Monday talk about Cesar Chavez and the need to remain non-violent while protesting in order to affect real, positive change. This week we will discuss the life and actions of Martin Luther King, Jr., and we will continue our discussions about accountability in the context of creating ESMART goals with our scholars. Below are some more great Emotion Sculpture projects from last week- enjoy!