January 22nd - 26th

How on earth have we just completed the last full week of January? This year...

On Monday, the mentors began working on a leadership project in which they select an individual that worked to promote the rights of people affected by our federal anti-discrimination laws. Most scholars are leaning toward a leader in Latino rights, but a small minority are focusing on women's rights and even LGBTQ rights! Their task is to write a short, engaging biography and draw a picture. We'll assemble all our pieces and create a mini-book in the style of Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History.

Tuesday was Tutoring Tuesday. The scholars weren't behaving in a very scholarly fashion, however, so we took some time to reflect on what was going on and scheduled a Circle Talk for Thursday.

2nd Hour participating in their Circle Talk

We continued our unit on Belief Systems on Wednesday and part of Thursday. Specifically, we learned how Belief Systems can either help us achieve our goals or prevent us from experiencing success. We watched a brief video and took notes on the key concepts. The biggest lesson from these two days was that we have to envision ourselves succeeding in order to convince our own minds that we can achieve our goals. The kids' homework was to ignore their friends on the way to their least-favorite class and imagine themselves being the best version of themselves. They'll report on their experience this week.

I was happy with how well the Circle Talks went. Many students have noticed the negative actions of their peers and I was proud of how well the students held each other accountable.

Thanks for reading!