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

Hi all!

We had a fun week before Thanksgiving break as we had our Apple Pie lessons!

Monday and Tuesday students had their normal study hall and work time with grade checks, meeting with teachers, and individual conferencing with myself and Ms. Patricia. We also had them write down some of the upcoming vocabulary for the unit in order to get a jump start on the lessons for Wednesday and Thursday. After this, the students were asked to create to do lists to help fix grades that are a C or lower and then work on completing this list. We really want students to take advantage of this time in the coming weeks as we near the end of the semester.

Wednesday and Thursday were Apple Pie lesson days. We discussed the metaphor between an apple pie and our relationships. Different types of relationships and pie eaters - controlling, balanced, victim and whole, balanced, and pie crumb eaters. The students liked and understood the metaphor but more importantly seemed to like the pie! We bought mostly apple and pumpkin pie for the students to enjoy on the day of the lessons which also fell on our last day before break.

Friday was an interesting day with no classes for high school students due to them taking the PSAT and getting out at lunch time. Middle school students had normal school so we did our fishbowl activity and played a fun Kahoot! game to wrap up before break.

With only 3 weeks left until finals the next few weeks will certainly be busy! Stay tuned! -Ben

West Leadership Weekly Round Up: November 5th - 9th

Hi all!

We were back to normal last week and were able to get quite a bit accomplished over the course of the week!

On Monday and Tuesday we spent the class focusing on grade checks, study hall, meeting with our teachers, and conferencing with Ms. Patricia. Students created to do lists with their mentors, were taken to classes to follow up on missing work, and had a chance to meet with Ms. Patricia to discuss if they need any support or help outside of school. It was a productive couple of days and I'm glad to see students take advantage of this time as we near the end of the semester.

Wednesday and Thursday classes were spent discussing Gratitude. We started by introducing the concept and vocabulary through a couple videos. From there we had our Gallery Walk where students went around the room and wrote out things they are grateful for in various categories such as: Places, Health, People, etc. It was nice to hear all of the ways in which students were grateful/thankful and many students caught on to the concept quite quickly.

Friday we wrapped up the week by taking a quiz over the major concepts of Gratitude as well as some other items we talked about in the past couple of weeks: 6 universal emotions, negativity bias, and some random questions over the midterm elections on Tuesday. Students then played a Kahoot! and then finished our Fishbowl discussion for the day. It was a good way to wrap up the week. Next week we will be having the Apple Pie lessons, just in time before Thanksgiving break. Stay tuned!

West Leadership Weekly Round Up: October 29th - November 2nd

Hi all!

We had a fun and busy week here with both Halloween and Dia de los Muertos celebrations taking place on Wednesday and Thursday!

Traditional dancing during Day of the Dead on Thursday

We started the week on Monday and Tuesday with our regular grade checks with our mentors/mentees. Students then met with teachers for them to complete missing and late work. From there we had our high school students complete the annual YoBD survey which was pretty quick and easy. After this we started discussing Emotions and began this conversation with an activity: Web of Emotions. On a piece of poster paper, a emotion was listed and then students were asked to write down everything they associate with that emotion. We had quite a few interesting examples - some reasonable, some funny, and some questionable...it was certainly a fun and interesting conversation about what makes us happy, angry, sad, fearful, etc.

Wednesday was Halloween and the school asked the students to keep it low key since we had so much going on during the Day of the Dead on Thursday. That said, our YESS classes still made sure to have fun by having a small Halloween party. I brought in plates, cups, some soda, and some chips and salsa for us to get started. Students contributed with additional sugary sweets.

Parade through the hallways during Day of the Dead on Thursday

Thursday our classes were sidelined due to the Day of the Dead activities. We were able to sign students up for Chocolate, Storytelling, and then of course the Parade and Dancing. Students really enjoyed checking out the altars that were on display (including Ms. Patricia's!) and had a good time watching the dancing and performances - it was a really fun day for everyone.

Friday we finished the week with a conversation on Negativity Bias and the 3 to 1 ratio of negative to positive thoughts. I asked students to write down 9 positive things about themselves and share something positive about another classmate so we could end the week on an uplifting note.

Another fun week here at WLA! Next week we will continue our focus on grades and getting them up before the semester as well as starting our discussions on gratitude. See ya then! -Ben

West Leadership Weekly Round Up: October 22nd-26th

Hi all!

We had a shortened week here at West Leadership Academy last week due to parent teacher conferences the week before and professional development at the start of the week.

On Monday we had a district wide professional development, I was fortunate to take a day off and finish a hiking trip with a friend who was visiting.

Tuesday we had a school wide professional development where staff, community members, and several students came to discuss the school's vision and plan with a team from DPS. It was a pretty interesting conversation and discussion with fellow colleagues about how the school is working towards its goals, what we are addressing, and how we can continue to improve.

Wednesday and Thursday we were back with students and our classes focused on grade checks, finishing their presentations/Google slides about the brain, and a general study hall. This led to us wrapping up the Brain unit on Friday. Friday students did a Brain Kahoot! that I created for them. We then did a vocabulary quiz / check in before finishing the day with our presentations. Using the research days from the week prior, students were asked to create a Google slideshow about a particular part of the brain, it functions, and some facts about it before presenting to the class. Presentations are something we will need to continue to work on but several students have already improved since our last ones. That wrapped up a short week for us while this upcoming week will be another busy one with both Halloween and Dia de Muertos. It should be plenty of fun and we are looking forward to participating in all the cool events! Stay tuned! -Ben

West Leadership Weekly Round Up: October 15th - 18th

Hi all!

We had a short but busy week here at WLA as we worked on some of the early lessons in the Healthy Relationships unit and wrapped up the week with parent - teacher conferences.

On Monday and Tuesday we started off by continuing our conversations about sphere of influences and trust. We then linked it to communication and how it is integral to trusting and healthy relationships. To emphasize this, we had students play several games: telephone, Pictionary, and charades. Students got very competitive (as expected) and we had quite a bit of fun seeing the end result of both the telephone messages and drawings.

Wednesday and Thursday we dove into our lessons on the Brain and covered a lot of vocabulary, videos, and research. There is always a lot to cover with these lessons so we made sure to be thorough with introducing the many (13ish) terms and by showing a couple interesting videos that the students could gather some facts from. After this, students started their Google slideshow presentation with either their mentor/mentee or group members. Students were asked to pick a part of the brain and create a slideshow that details what it does, where it's located, several facts, pictures, and their sources. We tried to give students as much time to work on the projects together as possible and time seemed to fly by. Students got quite a bit of work done but we will certainly have to pick this back up next week!

Also on Wednesday and Thursday evenings this week we had parent-teacher conferences. Wednesday was a bit lighter on attendance but Thursday was pretty busy! It is always enjoyable to get a chance to meet the parents of our mentors and mentees. I tell the students to visit our class last in case the rest of their conferences aren't going too well. That way we can talk them up in front of their parents and help avoid an awkward car ride! Patricia and I did the best we could with our students who visited and we had quite a few positive and enjoyable conversations. We really had a good experience this year and I'm pleased with the improved turnout!

With conferences, students did not have school on Friday or the following Monday and Tuesday. Some well deserved time off. I hope they enjoyed it as we will be diving back into the Brain unit and discussing Emotions this week. Stay tuned! -Ben

West Leadership Weekly Round Up: October 8th - 12th

Hi all!

Last week went by rather fast as we started our Healthy Relationships unit!

Monday and Tuesday we spent our class time checking our grades, discussing goals for the week, and then having our Today I Choose lesson. Students watched a video and had a discussion about the power of positive thinking and how we really do have the choice to decide how we see the world and consequently, how we behave. The most important part of these days were students sharing with each other how they've been able to overcome negative thinking and self-talk and what strategies they have used to either create or maintain a positive outlook on life. Some of the ideas suggested included talking to people you can trust, reaching out when your upset or need something, surrounding yourself with positive people, build regular healthy habits, avoid situations that cause you stress / make you uncomfortable, and make time to focus on just you. All were helpful and great suggestions for students to choose to be happy. 

Wednesday and Thursday we began our discussion on healthy and unhealthy relationships - what they look like, how they affect us, and what you we can do to make them better. From there we did a little self reflection by completing our Sphere of Influence activity. Students thought about how people influence them and impact their day to day lives and listed them in various categories to represent their life. This always leads to a conversation about trust and how the behaviors of healthy/unhealthy relationships determine how much trust we give others. Students often share how they know many people (as seen by their lists), but trust very few. Of the people we know, it is typically the balanced and healthy relationships in which we display the most trust.

Friday we wrapped up the week by completing our Social and Emotional Learning surveys and having our fishbowl questions. Students complete the surveys twice per year, once at the start and once at the end. The fishbowl questions continue to get better - more creative and oftentimes more relatable to content we are discussing in class so that was also good to see. Overall a fast and furious week here. Next week we have another busy one next week with parent teacher conferences on Wednesday and Thursday! Stay tuned! -Ben

West Leadership Weekly Round Up: October 1st - 5th

Another busy week here at WLA as we matched our students with their mentors and groups and lined up our Mentor Leader interviews and applications!

Students sharing presentations about each other after mentor matching!

Monday and Tuesday were spent doing our speed matching activity where students are given the opportunity to interview everyone in the class and then decide their top 3 selections for a mentor / mentee. This is one of my favorite activities in the YESS curriculum as it offers students a chance to get to know their classmates further and really make their own decisions on who they would like to support throughout the year. Last Friday I had students complete this speed matching questionnaire in advance in order to accelerate the process and have them spend more time in their interviews. The interviews went rather smoothly with high school students encouraging middle schoolers to ask questions and participate. In addition to facilitating the process, I also got a chance to play DJ (something I could apparently work on according to the students). 

Wednesday and Thursday students were matched with their mentors and mentees. We also set up our seating charts. Several students who were not here on Monday or Tuesday were also matched and the vast majority of students got their top choice so they seemed pretty pleased with the selections. Now that students are matched, the real work begins as I expect students to be supporting both their mentees and mentors as well as their table mates throughout the year. We will be doing ongoing mentor training as well now that the matches have been confirmed. After we got this set up, I had students complete a Google presentation with each student creating their own slide for their group. On Friday students presented their slides to the class and we discussed how they can continue to support each other this school year. One of the requests for the slide was to have a picture of yourself. Many students were a bit apprehensive of this so I allowed them to include baby pictures instead, which of course many of them agreed to. We finished the week by doing our Fishbowl questions and working on our t-shirt designs. We will be finishing these designs this week as well as starting our Healthy Relationships unit. Stay tuned! -Ben