West Leadership Weekly Round Up: September 10th - 14th

Hi all!

Another busy week here at West Leadership Academy!

Monday and Tuesday we spent the class completing Shared Agreements and coming up with rules for the classroom. Students shared with each other and with me what they need in order to be successful in and outside of the classroom. This conversation led to an introduction into mentoring - why it is important, what it looks like, etc. Once we established the rules for the year, we filled out our grade trackers and introduced the students to their first EmoSmart goals.

Wednesday was also busy couple of day as we introduced students to the Social and Emotional Domains and had them start their Time Capsule project. Students did a fun poster activity where they wrote examples for each of the SEL domains and shared experiences from their own lives. The time capsules were also a fun activity. We started by just filling in the first portion and going over what it means and why it is helpful to reflect on this later in the year. Some of my students from last year still had theirs so they opened them up and were surprised with some of the things they had written. On Thursday we continued the busy streak with Sara visiting for some mentor training. Due to having middle school and high school students in the same classes, it is rare that we are able to split them up. By Sara coming in to meet with our high schoolers, we were able to start some much needed and helpful mentor training. I am looking forward to picking up where Sara left off this week.

Friday we wrapped the week up with some fun games and community building activities including a fun Around the World game and our Fishbowl questions. The day and week seemed to go by very quickly and students are already looking forward to the mentor matching section which is fast approaching. Stay tuned! -Ben