January 23rd, Jan 27th

This week students in YESS mentoring at North worked on their emotional sculptures/ art. Students were to create art based on an emotion they often feel. So if they are sad, they must create art that will demonstrate what sad looks likes to them. Students have had all week to create their master piece. Students will present their creation on Friday. Overlall this was a creative week where mentees and mentors were able to discuss their emotions and learn more about each other.

Jan 15th- Jan 20th

This week was a fun week full of learning. This week students came back ready to reflect on the work of Martin Luther King as well as how today many people are still fighting against social injustices. We looked at how musicians use their fame as a platform to talk about real issues. For example Billy Holiday's "Strange Fruit," Buffalo Springfield's "For What it's Worth," Then we looked at music today, for example J Cole's "Be Free" song, which is about the Black Lives Matter movement. Students were to reflect on issues that are important to them and write a song about it. Many students wrote about gentrification in their neighborhoods, racism, wealth inequality, police brutality, and how they can be a catalyst for social change. We talked about how their voice and leadership is needed and how it starts in the classroom!

Also this week we began to talk about healthy relationships which is the Unit we will be working on for now. We talked about miscommunication, code-switching, and we had fun doing some team-building by playing charades and "stand up if."

Overall, this was a great week here at North.

January 9th- January 13th

This week was our first week back at North High School. We spent the first day back discussing what we did over break as well as our goals for this semester. Many seniors' goals included: to earn more scholarships for school, and to end with a high GPA. It seems that many of the seniors are anxious for their graduation day.

On the first day of class I introduced rules and expectation for the semester. These are rules from Love and Logic. It seems that the students really liked the rules because it is not a list of "do's and don'ts."

This week we did a short lesson called, "who is your tribe." Students reflected on who their communities are as well as who they can turn to for extra support. We examined if these were healthy relationship or unhealthy relationships.  We talked about finding new members of our "tribe" and what may hold us back from finding out new members of our tribe. Many students had issues with trust and deception. We discussed ways we can let people into our lives. This was a really good lesson for all mentees and mentors.

Also this week we did a team building activity so that students can bond and get to know one another. We had fun playing charades and doing a "Guess Who." game. Students were to list 5 facts about themselves. We then mixed up the cards so students could read another student's card. After the card was read the class would guess who it was. This was a fun way for us to get to know knew things about each other and welcome the new students into YESS.