Tutoring Tuesday & A Word to the Wise...

We have really been enjoying our new unit on relationships in our YESS classes at Shaw Heights this past week. So many mentors were eager to get into this unit in order to have their mentees gain more insight as to why these relationships in particular- mentor and mentee- can really be impactful IF we are considerate about the needs of others. We have been slowly delving into several topics around forming healthy relationships, and this week we reflected back on our lessons on listening, exhibiting an equal effort in relationships, and honesty/trust. Our scholars noted how these characteristics were imperative to forming lasting relationships with their mentor or mentee, and we had a wonderful conversation about the need for direct communication- not just in our classroom, but in every area of our lives.

Building on our discussion of the need for direct communication, we played the "telephone game" as a class in order to see first hand just how convoluted a message can be when relayed from person to person. Many scholars touched on how this game reflected the "rumor mills" or "gossip trains" that run rampant through social circles at school and even beyond, on social media. With this in mind, our scholars each wrote a personal letter to either their mentor or mentee(s), stating their feelings about YESS, their expectations for one another, and some of their fears and worries. While some found it difficult to get started, we soon had every scholar working hard on expressing his or her feelings and desires.

Since the weather has been so warm lately, we headed outside on Friday afternoon to share letters with one another. So many were nervous to hand off their carefully crafted letter as these letters were certainly emotionally charged and held private information that some individuals were hesitant to share. With a little encouragement everyone received and read their letter, and it was great to see so many re-reading and even gushing over the letter he or she had received. There were some beautiful moments of bravery and courage as some mentors really opened up to their mentees, and the gratitude on the faces of some of these mentees was so incredibly genuine.

In other news, our scholars have really begun to benefit from our "Tutoring Tuesday," a time set aside every Tuesday where mentors help mentees get caught up on assignments from other classes, and all scholars have an opportunity to get a handle on their classwork and future tests and quizzes. The mentees have really been able to see just how lucky they are to have the support of YESS and their mentors as the school year continues and assignments become more difficult. We are all growing so much!

Delving into Relationships: Listening Skills & Apple Pie!

This week in YESS our scholars began a new unit on relationships. We started our unit with a lesson on listening as many of our mentees are struggling to listen to the advice of their mentors. Our journal prompt asked the scholars to contemplate the following Turkish proverb:

"If speaking is silver, listening is gold."

We shared out our ideas about what this meant and how it pertains to our YESS classroom. Scholars pointed out that while speaking is valuable, one can learn much more by listening, which is the greater asset of the two. I then passed out the a listening quiz which each mentor and mentee pair did together. There were 28 questions which asked each individual to consider how they act when someone else is speaking to them. Once they were done, we went over the scores together as a group and discussed why we thought we earned the scores we did. One could score a total of 140 points on the quiz, and there were three different "levels" for listening skills. The majority of our students fell into the level 2 category, scoring between 81 and 111 points.

Many of our scholars struggle to listen when the speaker is controlling the conversation and/or they feel bored by the subject matter. Many also struggle to focus on the conversation at hand when they are either on the telephone or are surrounded by other people conversing. A very large number of our scholars admitted to daydreaming or fidgeting while trying to listen to someone else. Yet all agreed that healthy listening is imperative to the success of their mentor/mentee relationship.

The next day were able to put this information to work by creating skits in our mentor/mentee pairs. Each was asked to select a listening level to act out for the class while keeping that level a secret. It was great to see the scholars exhibiting these behaviors in our classroom so that we are able to comment as a class on what works well and what does not.

While I was away for my sister's wedding the scholars went over a lesson on "Apple Pie," a worksheet which details the necessity of forming equal relationships. Many of our mentors were looking forward to this lesson for quite some time as they really connect with the need to form healthy, balanced relationships. It was wonderful to see mentors remembering lessons and sharing the importance of those lessons with their mentees.

This week was also our spirit week as Shaw Heights and so many of our YESS scholars dressed up for the occasion. Pictured are outfits from the Hippie or Preppy day and the Night In or Night Out day.

Defining Success & Student Conferences

We finished our first unit this week in our YESS program at Shaw Heights by wrapping up with a lesson on defining success. Scholars brainstormed a list of individuals they knew to be successful (no celebrities allowed!) and had to indicate why they believed these people were successful. When we shared out our ideas as a class, we touched on the values and characteristics these individuals possessed that helped them become successful. Many noticed that there were shared values such as grit and perseverance, organization and responsibility, and the ability to ask for help when necessary.

With this in mind, the scholars started working on a detailed worksheet about success. They worked in pairs and collaborated as tables to discuss various questions such as: 

What is the difference between success and failure?

What does success look like for you when you are 25? 45?

What are the three dominating factors that will contribute to your success right now?

The following day we regrouped to have a class discussion about the worksheet and the answers each scholar had provided. Using the Kagan technique of "No Hands Up," I called on students by way of shuffling index cards with each scholar's name so that everyone contributed equally to our conversation. It was wonderful to hear the opinions on what success looks like and how each believes they will achieve success. By far the most rewarding part of the lesson was when we went over the questions pertaining to future success. Our mentors and mentees were very eager to share their visions and dreams for their futures, and their hopes and desires provided meaningful framework for our  discussion about how we can implement changes in order to be more successful in the present.

As we discussed success, little did I know that our Community Reach liaison, Lorainne, had planned a special gift and surprise to honor my winning the staff member of the month award at Shaw Heights. She organized a beautiful assortment of gifts from the scholars, and she also had each write a very sweet message congratulating me on all the hard work which had lead to this success. I even had several scholars point out that I had won this award due to my awesome grit as I had to work through two surgeries this month. What great timing with this week's lesson on how to attain success!

This week we also had our first Student Conferences for the year, so we spent time as a class filling out a script which asked each individual to evaluate their performance thus far. Mentors and mentees were asked to grade the following: attendance and readiness to work; participation; demonstrating grit/perseverance and respect; organization; and lastly the academic work each has done by way of assignments, journal prompts, and projects. We will use student numbers to display each scholar's current progress on our new classroom charts, which will allow for more transparency in our classroom.

It was so wonderful to be able to meet so many of the family members I had heard so much about in class. Our conferences lasted from 5:00 until 8:00 the first night, and until 7:30 the second night. We had a great turnout and a lot of families said that they had heard so much about YESS and were so excited to come into our classroom. Next week we will delve further into relationships in our lesson plans!

Trust Bridges

This week in YESS we did an amazing art project centered around trust. We began by doing a journal entry on trust. I asked the scholars to use a circle map to brainstorm words they associated with trust- adjectives, synonyms, even the names of people they actually trust. After we shared out some of the ideas we had come up with, we broke into mentor/mentee pairs to complete a worksheet on trust. The worksheet asked the scholars to identify certain people in their lives--such as parents, siblings, friends, teachers, counselors, and mentors--and to indicate how much they trust those individuals--never, sometimes, mostly, or always. There were several questions on the worksheet as well as to why they trusted certain people and not others, and whether they believed they were considered trustworthy by their peers.

The scholars really took to this topic as many are struggling to trust others. We discussed how people can earn or break your trust, how time is a major factor, and how trust can be repaired. We then discussed the objective of constructing a trust bridge to visually represent how each mentor and mentee felt about trust and why. After we took some time to come up with our initial designs I let the scholars get to work on their projects.

It was so wonderful to see so many taking creative initiative on this assignment. We had a ton of innovative designs and concepts, and once everyone was done (we took almost two days to complete these amazing projects!) we did a gallery walk and share out. Scholars were asked to identify a trust bridge other than their own with which they connected. They also had to speak as to why they felt a connection with that particular bridge. We had a couple of class favorites from each period as the art and design students really excelled with this lesson, yet all the scholars said how much they enjoyed doing this project.

We are looking forward to next week when we will be wrapping up our current unit with a lesson on defining success before moving on to our next unit on relationship management.

Facebook Questionnaires & 6 Word Sentences

This week in YESS we worked on the Facebook Questionnaire, which each student filled out according to whatever her or she currently likes- favorites, family information, future dreams, and fun facts. These worksheets were a great exercise for scholars who were in YESS last year because they provided perspective as to how one's interests can change over time. For those new to YESS, the worksheets were a fun exercise which allowed for us all to get to know one another better.

When the scholars finished filling out the worksheets (with quite a bit of information!) we then moved on to making Google slide presentations. Each mentor and mentee pair exchanged Facebook Questionnaire's in order to create a slide show on his or her partner. We spent a day in the computer lab putting the slide shows together, and then had a day of presentations. The scholars were all quite nervous to present, but did a great job using our new Smart TV. We all learned a lot about each person and many realized they had several things in common with people they did not know very well.

We also did a lesson this week on "6 Word Sentences," where the scholars had to use 6 words to provide a summary of themselves, a relationship that they value, and what they would NOT want their mentor or mentee to ever say to them. After brainstorming some ideas out with circle maps we got to work on the sentences. It was a slow start for some as they worked out sentences and whittled them down to only 6 words, but once they got the hang of it they really started writing very poignant sentences. Here a few that really resonated with some of our scholars when we shared out in class:

"I miss you, its lonely here." -Andres Armenta
"Make me smile, make me cry." -Ingrid Duran
"Try hard, work harder, gain more." - Robert Montes
"Lost trust, lost them, forever hurt." -Stacey Tejada Sandoval
"Full of deep thoughts, seeking happiness." -Ava Martinez
"Artistic and hardworking- effort is important." -Julianna Romero
"Everything was fine until now- darn." -Brisa DeAlba Gonzalez
"People in disguises...trust very few." -Haley Gonzalez

I would also like to mention that two of our YESS scholars have been selected as Student of the Month here at Shaw Heights. Cora Walters was 7th grade Student of the Month for August, and Juilanna Romero was just selected as 8th grade Student of the Month for September. We are so proud of our YESS leaders!

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!