West Leadership Weekly Round Up: October 23rd-25th

Hello!

We had a short week here at West Leadership Academy with no school for students on Thursday and Friday. That said, we made sure to make the most of it! 

On Monday, the class wrapped up our conversations regarding the 6 basic universal emotions and began a discussion on one emotion in particular: fear. Our conversations focused on how we can use fear as a motivating tool that helps us accomplish our goals. 

As with our typical Tutoring Tuesday, mentees checked their grades and listed their missing assignments, 0's, and late work. From there, mentors created action plans to help resolve these issues. We are continuing to track our grades and follow up on our action plans each week in order to maintain accountability and see academic improvement take shape. 

Making time to clean and get organized on Thursday

On Wednesday the class was introduced to the concept of negativity bias - the idea that things of a negative nature have more of an affect on us than things that are positive or neutral. By understanding negativity bias, we can counteract it by focusing on the positive in our lives. I challenged the students to come up with 3 positives for every 1 negative in order to start thinking along these lines. Negativity bias and control of one's emotions will continue to be an important lesson that we will come back to. 


On Thursday and Friday no classes took place. Thursday was a teacher planning day where I was able to focus on lesson planning and getting things reorganized in the classroom. 

Empty hallways for the first time all year

On Friday, teachers attended a C.L.A.V.E.S. training (Contextualized Learning for Access, Validation, Equity and Success) led by the group Dual Language Education of New Mexico. In our second session since the year began, we discussed the pathways and strategies to support dual language learners in our classrooms. For YESS in particular, several pathways stood out as being important including: Planning for Peer Interaction, Creating Shared Knowledge, and Affirming Identity. By using the strategies and being cognizant of the challenges faced by dual language learners, we can better support them and bring out their full potential as learners. 

Next week we will have parent teacher conferences  on Wednesday and Thursday. I'm looking forward to it! See you next time! -Ben 

West Leadership Weekly Round Up: October 16th - 20th

Hello!

A brainy week here at West Leadership as we continue to work on our Healthy Relationships unit - this week discussing the brain and emotional intelligence. 

This week we started a new unit over the brain and it's functions - discussing how our brain develops from adolescence into adulthood. By understanding this development process and being cognizant of it's effects, students will better understand their emotional responses and take more control of the decision-making process. Students enjoyed discussing three important points from this unit 1) The functions of the brain are localized 2) Our prefrontal cortex is still developing until our mid 20's, making executive functioning and rational decision making more difficult in our early years. 3) The limbic system is the emotion system of the brain - controlling basic emotions and instincts. 

Student rendering of the brain during 9th period

During our Tutoring Tuesday, mentees checked their grades and listed their missing assignments, 0's, and late work. From there, mentors created action plans to help resolve these issues. Most low grades were due to participation and late/missing work so recommendations typically involved following up with teachers, chunking out the work day by day, and seeking out additional resources such as tutoring after school. 

On Wednesday and Thursday we tied our discussions regarding the brain and its limbic system (emotional part) to a broader conversation regarding emotional intelligence and expressing oneself. First, students were introduced to the 6 basic universal human emotions: Happiness/Joy, Surprise, Sadness, Anger, Disgust, and Fear. We discussed what we associate with each of these words and how, by understanding the brain and its workings, we can better control these emotions and expressions.

Keeping our brains sharp with a quick quiz over what else?
The brain of course!   

On Friday our conversations regarding emotions continued to take a deep dive as we explored the Atlas of Emotions website - an interactive tool that focuses on helping people be aware of their emotions: understanding how they are triggered, what they feel like, and how to respond.  Once we finished our highly intelligent conversations regarding intelligence, students ended the week on a fun note by designing YESS at West t-shirts. Students from each class will complete a t-shirt design with final sketches submitted by next Friday. One design will be selected and printed on t-shirts for all YESS students. So far the designs have been impressive so I'm looking forward to seeing the final product next week. 

That about does it for this week. 

See you next time! -Ben

West Leadership Weekly Round Up: October 9th - 13th

Hello!

We had a great week here at West Leadership as we celebrated homecoming and dove into our Healthy Relationships unit!

We started the week on Monday by discussing our 'spheres of influence' - the area or network that influences a person or place. Students listed out who influences them as well as who they have influenced. This activity led to a broader conversation regarding trust and communication and we reiterated that our goal this year is to add more people to our trust list such as our mentors/mentees, friends, and other members of the community.

Hallway decorations by WLA seniors.

During our normal Tutoring Tuesdays, students checked their grades with their mentors and mentees. Students were asked to document the percentage, letter, and why the grade is where it is. For example, if a mentee had a D in a course, their mentor would help them identify why they had a D (missing work, low participation, need to retake a quiz, etc). Students continue to find this process helpful as it helps them identify both where they stand as well as how they can fix their situation.

Best decorations went to the seniors this year with
the sophomores coming in a close second.

Wednesday and Thursday were fun class days as we connected our "spheres of influence" with the topics of trust and communication. Students participated in a trust activity that highlighted actions that build, damage, and repair trust - finding communication to be crucial in maintaining trust with someone. From there, students participated in activities such as telephone and charades to emphasize how easy miscommunication can occur and how to avoid it when establishing and maintaining trust.

Great homecoming participation
throughout WLA

By the time we finished checking our grades again on Friday and wrapping up our discussions over communication, we decided to take the last portion of class and enjoy the beautiful weather before this weekend's homecoming festivities.

I hope everyone enjoys the homecoming festivities this weekend. Go Cowboys!!

See you next week! -Ben

West Leadership Weekly Round Up: October 2nd - 6th

Students completed interviews in the HS wing the last two weeks for
the coveted Mentor Leader positions

Hello!

Another fast and fun week here at West Leadership! With homecoming up next week, we made sure to work hard and have a productive week before the madness begins!

Last Friday the class completed their Speed Matching interviews and identified potential matches for mentors and mentees. Students really enjoyed the activity and took the interviews seriously before making their selections. Upon review of each student's top three choices, matches were announced on Monday and students were quite excited to hear who they will be working with. We then worked on our May I Introduce lesson where students completed autobiographies and shared stories about themselves with their mentors/mentees. This was a great opportunity to bond and get to know each other even more and the students certainly enjoyed it.

Several students shared their values were strongly
influenced by their school communities.

After spending our normal Tutoring Tuesday on grade checks and homework help, the class spent Wednesday and Thursday discussing their values and goals. Students first completed a survey that helped them identify their values. From there, they created a list of goals for themselves and connected them to each value (i.e. Goal: I want to graduate from high school. Value: Education, Career, Security). Students shared many inspiring and passionate goals including graduating from college, starting their own businesses, and taking care of their parents and family.

We finished the week by choosing one goal and breaking it down through the EmoSmart process. After doing some research and breaking down our goals, many students felt like their goals (no matter how big) were more manageable and attainable. This was certainly excellent to see and we plan to continue to work on accomplishing all types of goals this year as we work together.

Next week will mark homecoming here at West and we are looking forward to sharing all of the fun activities in our next blog post. Stay tuned! -Ben

West Leadership Weekly Round Up: September 25th - 29th

Hello!

We had an exciting week here at West Leadership Academy!


This week the class was able to finish our Race unit and then move into our mentor and mentee matches! 

At the start of the week, we finished our conversations on race and created public service announcements discussing highlighting statistics around issues of race, ethnicity, and bias.
It was an important conversation that worked to bring the class together and the student really enjoyed.

In the second half of the week, we worked to identify our possible mentors and mentees for this year. We got together and discussed what's important in a mentor/mentee and how we can continue to help one another throughout the year. From there we completed our speed matching activity. In this activity, students sat across from one another and interviewed each other for 3-4 minutes. Students really enjoyed this and seemed to have quite a bit of fun asking questions, telling stories, and getting to know each other even more. At the conclusion of the activity, I had students write a list of their potential matches and informed them that their matches will be announced on Monday. They can't wait! I'm looking forward to sharing the matches on Monday and working together throughout the year!