Trust Bridges & Conference Scripts

Jayleen's Trust Bridge worksheet.

This past week in YESS we finally got started on one of the most beloved lessons--the "Trust Bridge." Trust is a cornerstone of our YESS classroom and community so we took a few days to discuss trust so that all understanding the significance and importance of building trust in our room. We began with writing in our journals about a time we built trust and a time we destroyed trust in one of our personal relationships. This really got our scholars thinking and sharing out all the various ways trust has been broken in their lives. We always get a lot of participation during this lesson as I believe trust is so important to our scholars and it is something with which they struggle on a daily basis.

Chadaey, myself and Anisea after the awards ceremony on Friday. Very proud!

We spent the first day filling in our "trust charts" with a lot of detail so that the mentor and mentee know whom each trusts and, more importantly, to what degree. We filled in the boxes with names of people to designate whether they are trusted "never/sometimes/mostly/always," and then as a class we had to share out two people we trusted either, "mostly," or "always." This allowed the whole class to better understand whom each trusts and why, further building our YESS community.

7th hour right before we headed up to the dodge-ball tournament/

The next day we went over the various ways one can build and destroy trust in a relationship. Our scholars noted that confidentiality, accountability, active listening, clear and honest communication, kindness, sharing about one's self, and being able to "hold space" are all great ways to help build trust in a relationship; on the flip side they said that lying, cheating, stealing, refusing to take accountability, not listening, being rude, and refusing to open up can really destroy trust. A harder step was for us all to pinpoint ways to rebuild trust once it has been destroyed. I was proud that our scholars noted that, just like when a real bridge has been destroyed, one will need the help of others to repair it. We noted that therapists and some friends or parents are great tools if one wants to work on rebuilding trust; we also noted that time, space, accountability, and making a plan for ways to change certain behaviors can help when trust has been damaged in a relationship. Next week we will have the mentors and mentees build an actual trust bridge together!

Ricky Valles won a special award for his growth!

7th hour plays Twister while we wait to get called to the gym.

Last week we also hosted our first quarterly awards and I was honored to bestow my Academic Award to Anisea Martinez and my Citizenship Award to Chadaey Apodaca. These two ladies have been with YESS all three years (!) and are amazing mentors, leaders, and scholars. They are exemplars in my classroom and I highly value their presence. I am so proud of all their hard work and especially their dedication to their emotional health and well being! An extra shout out goes to Ricky Valles, who was given a very special, very unique award by Mr. Carlson for all the amazing growth he has made since he arrived at Shaw three years ago. Congrats to all the award winners and thanks to all the parents who were able to make it!