Ranum Update 9/25

This week was jam packed with great personal and social skill building lessons. We started the week off discussing trust and each mentor and mentee pair had the chance to share what trust meant to them and how they wanted it to look in their relationships. Many pairs talked about open and honest communication and mentors reassured their mentees to start off by only sharing things they are comfortable with. 

By mid-week we were doing some listening exercises and quizzes to see which level students were at. Many students believed they were level 3 listeners (attentive, responsive, great listeners) but after the quiz they discovered that most of them were actually level 2 and some even level 1. This was a big shock to them and they were jokingly saying that the quiz was a lie. Students also had the chance to create short skits on a listening level of their choice. Many groups chose level 1 because it gave them a chance to be goofy and create some very funny skits.

We capped off the week by talking about thoughts and emotions. What's the difference between a thought and emotion, where do our thoughts come from and what can they lead to, and also what are some of our emotions and where do they come from. When discussing thoughts, many students were already very keen on the difference between fact and opinion and had great examples to share. Also when discussing emotions, students were giving examples of times when they didn't feel comfortable sharing emotions because they were embarrassed, or times when they could not explain the emotion they were feeling.

Overall it was a busy but great week!