West Leadership Weekly Round Up: March 12th - 16th

Hi everyone!

A busy and important week over here at WLA with both the student walkouts as well as the conclusion of our Healthy Relationships unit. 

On Monday the class reviewed our letters of forgiveness and moved onto a discussion regarding love - how its defined, what it looks like, how its expressed, and its overall importance in our relationships and well being. Students were shown a few videos and answered discussion questions that transitioned well into a conversation on self love and our lessons set for Wednesday and Thursday. 

Tuesday was a normal tutoring day focused primarily on completing our grade trackers, working on classwork and job applications, and finishing up our YESS surveys. Students were shown how to email their teachers if they had any questions about their grades or were looking to improve them and make up some work. We asked for students who had grades at a C or lower to inquire with their teachers how to get things fixed. Additionally, I was impressed by the number of students showing interest in wanting to find a job. Several emailed me with a list of job links over the weekend that they'd like to follow up on at our next tutoring Tuesday session which was really exciting. 

Wednesday we had a busy day with both the student walkouts against gun violence and our guests Diane and Breanne in our 5th period class. To start the day, students were allowed to meet at Sunken Gardens for both a moment of silence as well as to protest against gun violence. Most of the high school attended and participated in the moment of silence as well as listened to a few speeches before returning to class. Most students did not participate in the march to the capitol that day. Instead, several have expressed interest in the capitol march set for 3/24. 

Students beginning to gather during
Wednesday's walkout.

During class time on Wednesday and Thursday we focused our time on self love and care. Students were introduced to the concept of self love through both a discussion and the completion of a heart activity. For the activity, students were asked to draw a heart and then divide it up based on what they hold in their hearts at that particular moment. 

Students did a great job with this activity and after sharing their hearts with others, we found many similarities throughout the class, enough so that we even created a class heart shown below. On Thursday the class continued our conversations about self love and how it can be practiced and put into use. Students were also introduced to the concept of Ahmisa and we tied this back into our previous discussions regarding empowering beliefs and positive self-talk. This was an excellent way to wrap up the healthy relationships unit. 

Our class designed "heart" 

On Friday we spent a good portion of the class going over the Unit 2 final project. Students discussed and reviewed some of the topics that were selected last week. From there we talked in depth about the project components, requirements, and deadlines as well as answered any questions students had. Students were already coming up with some very interesting and creative ideas for their project so I'm really looking forward to watching them develop next week. 

Overall we had a great week here at WLA and I'm really pleased with the students finishing the unit on such a strong note. We are looking forward to spending time on our projects next week and then enjoying our well deserved spring break! -Ben






Hola a todos!

Fue una semana ocupado e importante aqui en WLA con la huelga alumna y tambien el fin de nuestra tema de relaciones saludables.

En lunes los alumnos revisaron nuestras cartas de perdon y continuamos una platica sobre amor: como definir amor, lo que es, como expresar, y sus importancia en nuestras relaciones y bienestar. Los alumnos han visto algunos videos y platicaban bien sobre amor a si mismo y nuestras lecciones para miercoles y jueves.

El martes fue un dia normal de tutoria donde enfocamos primariamente en cumplir nuestras una hoja donde mantienen un registro de sus calificaciones, trabajando en tarea y aplicaciones de trabajos, y terminamos los encuestas de YESS. Los alumnos fueron mostrado como madar email a sus maestros si tenian preguntas de sus calificaciones o si tienen que mejorarlos y hacer tarea olvidado. Pedimos a los alumnos que tenian calificaciones a C o menos que preguntan a sus maestros como mejorarlos. Mas, estuve conmovido por tantos alumnos que tenian interes en encontrar trabajo. Muchos me mando email con una lista de trabajos en el fin de semana que querian revisar en el proximo martes que a mi fue emocionado. 

En el miercoloes fue una dia ocupada con la huelga contra violencia de armas y nuestras invitadas Dian y Breanne en la clase de 5o tiempo. Para empezar el dia, los alumnos juntaban en Sunken Gardens para un tiempo de silencio y manifestarse contra violencia de armas. La mayoridad asitieron y partiparon en el tiempo de silencio y prestaban attencion a los discursos antes de regresarse a sus clases. La mayoridad de los alumnos no particpaban en el huelga a la capitolio esta dia. En lugar, querian participar en el huelga alla en el 24 de marzo.

Durante de clase en el miercoles y jueves enfoquemos en amarse y cuidarse a si mismo. Los alumnos fueron introducidos a conceptos de amarse entre una platica y cumplir una actividad de corazon. Para la actividad, los alumnos tenian que dibujar un corazon y dividirlo basado en lo que tienen en sus corazones en este momento.

Los alumnos hicieron un buen trabajo con este actividad y despues de compartir sus corazones con lo demas, encontramos muchas similaridades entre la clase, tanto que podemos creer un corazon de clase en el foto. En el jueves la clase continuaron sus platicas sobre amarse y como usarlo en vida real. Los alumnos tambien empezaron de entender Ahmisa y hablamos de platicas del pasado sobre creencias de apoderar y hablarse a si mismo positivamente. Fue una manera excelente de terminar la tema de relaciones saludables.

En el vienrnes tomamos tiempo de hablar sobre el proyecto final de tema 2. Los alumnos platicaban y revisaron algunos de alas temas que han seleccionado la semana pasada. De alli hablamos sobre los componentes, requizitos, y tiempo de entregar tarea antes de vencer. Tambien conteste preguntas que tenian los alumnos. Ellos tenian ideas interesantes y creativos para el proyectos y estoy emocionado de ver su desarollo en la proxima semana.

De todos modos fue una buena semana en WLA y me gusta ver los alumnos terminar con la tema fuertamente. En la proxima semana usaremos tiempo para los proyectos y disfrutar el spring break!-Ben