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

Hi everyone!

Hi all! 

Last week we returned from spring break and we got right back into the swing of things by finishing up our Unit 2 projects and setting goals for the remainder of the semester! 

Monday was a professional development day with no students. Teachers met for PSAT/SAT Training and then broke up into different workshops and planning time. It was nice to take advantage of this time and reset before the students arrived on Tuesday. 

On Tuesday, classes resumed and we spent our time completing our grade trackers and conferencing with Neill and myself on both academic and personal goals for the remainder of the semester. As we are entering our final stretch of the year, we wanted students to identify where they are, where they want to be, and what changes or adjustments they need to make in order reach their goals. 

Wednesday and Thursday were dedicated work days for the Unit 2 project. Students worked individually, in their mentoring matches, and in small groups over the course of two days leading up to their presentations. 

With the purpose of the project asking for students to: "inspire others to examine and take action to improve their own relationships", we decided to have a conversation about inspiration and influence and how we can not only inspire others, but influence them to take action and make change. With the 50th anniversary of MLK Jr's passing, it seemed like an appropriate time to talk about how one can effectively make a difference. To do this, we compared a couple of lists as a class: 100 People Who've Changed the World and Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People of 2017. These two lists led to a great discussion on inspiration versus influence. Students enjoyed talking about people on the world changer list like MLK, Gandhi, etc and comparing them to who made Time's list. Students made great points about how the selflessness and passion for helping others was a common theme for the all-time world changers list while self-promotion and social media popularity led to a lot of influence in today's society. 

Friday the class was spent presenting their Unit 2 projects and we had quite a bit of variety! Students did everything from movie trailers about self-love to podcasts, hotlines, children's books, a newspaper, interviews with teachers and students, a few YouTube videos, a rap, and banners and posters to hang around the school! It was incredible to see students come up with such creative ways to get their message across to a broader audience. The quality of the work was impressive and I'm so proud of their efforts. With limited time in class on Friday we weren't able to get through most of the presentations so we will have to finish them up later next week after testing - pictures and links to come at our next post! Stay tuned! -Ben