Ranum Week 17

Hello and welcome to the final post of 2016!

I can't believe it's already Winter Break. It was a great first semester filled with lots of laughs and learning. I think students and teachers are both excited for the very much deserved break.

This final week we focused on a big project called Emotion Sculptures. The idea of the project was for mentors and mentees to choose any emotion they have felt recently and try to create an abstract sculpture of that emotion. Pretty simple directions, they could be as creative as they wanted to be as long as they could explain the emotion and why they chose shape it in the way they did. Here are a few examples:

I was very impressed by what some of the students created (they are way more creative than me). They really took the project head on and ran with it.

I wish everyone a happy and safe holiday and looking forward to 2017!

Ranum Week 16

Welcome back for Week 16 at Ranum Middle School.

This past week we discussed anger, and peaceful conflict resolution. It was perfect because we talked about different things that made us frustrated which led to a lot of our anger. We also found out that most of us do not take the time to go back, think about the cause and how we could've handled the situation better or even to go back to the person we had fought with and figure out what happened. There were a lot of great discussions and it's obviously a big topic that everyone can relate to.

After anger, we talked about conflict resolution, so basically how we solve some of those anger outbursts. Again, this was very helpful because it broke down whatever conflict happened to you into very simple steps that allow you to try to avoid the same thing from happening again in the future. Here is an example from one of the students:

Another great week in the books and just one more week until Winter Break!

Ranum Week 15

Hello and welcome back!

After a nice week long Thanksgiving Break we dove right back into where we left off, emotions.

Before we continued with emotions, we had Mentor Monday. We discussed leadership and started learning about a current leader in our world, Malala Yousafzai. Students learned her backstory and how she came back after being targeted by the Taliban. She is a huge supporter of education, specifically a woman's right to education. The mentors loved learning about her and her inspirational story.

Tutoring Tuesday went well with students being asked to check in with all of their teachers to find out where they are behind. Mentors are also required to check in with their mentees teachers to insure they are on the same page.

Wednesday through Friday was all about the Emo Trolls. We talked about what they are, where they come from and how to handle them. The kids loved the analogy and the variety of Emo Trolls out there. We discussed how sometimes we act as Trolls for a variety of reasons and we related it back to how our Hot Buttons can sometimes trigger these Trolls to come out. After discussion, they were required to draw each Emo Troll and give a personal definition and example. Here is one of the students posters:

Overall, it was a great and fun week. Looking forward to continue with emotions this week!

Ranum Week 14

Welcome back to the Ranum Middle School weekly blog!

As always we started the week with Mentor Monday and we talked about leadership styles that we feel we display. The following day we had Tutoring Tuesday which allowed students to catch up in their classes they are falling behind in.

On Wednesday, we continued discussing emotional intelligence (EQ) in order for students to truly understand where it originated from and how it impacts them on a daily basis. In order to hammer this point home, we played a fun game of Kahoot! Some questions would dive into who thought of emotional intelligence whereas others asked about countries around the world that had high or low EQ scores. Most questions were pretty challenging but they lead to great discussions.

We wrapped up the week talking about hot buttons (the situations in our lives that typically cause us to have a negative reaction because it bothers us in some way, shape or form). Students were very open to sharing some of their buttons and how their reactions have effected them in the past. We ended the week by creating skits based off of popular hot buttons and the students did an excellent job of representing the entire range of their hot buttons.

This was a great week talking about emotions and I think we all earned a well deserved Thanksgiving Break.

Ranum Week 13

Welcome back to the Ranum Middle School blog!

This past week we started off by wrapping up the short film, "The Quiet", with some questions that had students thinking more critically about why they were feeling different emotions throughout the film. After that, we had Tutoring Tuesday so students could catch up with some of their work in other classes and if they were all caught up, I had some worksheets for them to complete to reinforce some math and literacy skills.

On Wednesday we learned about the 5 core emotions, different emotions that branch off of those 5 core ones, and learned some key skills to emotional intelligence (EQ). The rest of the week was dedicated to a group project on each one of the key skills (Social Awareness, Self Awareness, Relationship Management, Self Management). Students had to work together to do research on whichever skill they were assigned and had the choice to either create a poster or a Google Slideshow.

On Friday, we presented our projects and I was happy to see their research skills put to good use but they definitely need a little refresher on how to create a flowing slideshow.

Thanks for reading, have a great week!

Ranum Week 12

Hello again!

The week started off with no students as it was a non contact day on Monday, which allowed students to maximize their trick or treating.

On Tuesday, the 8th graders went to a play at Westminster High School so I had the mentees write a letter to their mentors about the skills they want help with this year and how much they appreciate their mentor. The letters were pretty good overall but students were still a little shy/proud about asking for help from someone.

On Wednesday we went over basic organization skills like how to keep your binder structured, how to use your planner and where to keep certain paperwork you get from different teachers. Let's just say my recycling bin was full by the end of the day after students tossed all unnecessary papers from their binders. After they cleaned out their binders, I had them clean out their lockers, which are a mess.

On Thursday and Friday we went over Thoughts and Emotions and what is the big difference between the two. We dove in pretty deep to see what is defined as a thought and what makes up an emotion in order for students to be able to separate the two in their minds. We wrapped it up by watching a short film called "The Quiet". It's basically a film about a girl being chased by a man who is supposed to pick her up after school because her mother asked him too. The problem is she has no idea who he is so she runs away into the woods. Between the music and the chase scenes, it really makes students feel a variety of emotions.

This week we will continue to dive into more emotions!

Thanks for reading!

Ranum Week 11

Hello all!

This past week was a little crazy. First we had a great anti-bullying organization called Connecting the Dots come to our school and do a work shop with every grade level that focuses on the concept that we are all basically the same and that life is about positive relationships with one another. There were lots of activities that made students get out of their comfort zones by partnering with other students they don't usually talk to. The last activity was emotional for a lot of students because it involved sharing out some difficult things going on in their lives but I was proud to see them being honest and genuinely caring for one another.

Since this workshop pulled out different grade levels on different days it made my classes pretty small for most of the week which is great but hard to complete a lesson plan. So, I decided to show The Book of Life. This movie honors El Dia De Los Muertos (The Day of the Dead) in a funny, educational and positive way. It educates students on other cultures but it also showed what it meant to be a good friend and an even better person to your family and community.

Overall, another great week here at Ranum!

Ranum Week 10

Hello! 10 weeks!?!?!

This week kicked off with Listening Level skits. Groups of 4 were asked to demonstrate all 3 listening levels over the course of a 2-3 minute skit. There were a lot of funny presentations but overall students understood the general concept of all the levels. We continued with relationship management by talking about boundaries on Wednesday. We went over physical and emotional/psychological boundaries within our daily lives. Physical boundaries were the easiest to understand for students but most could definitely relate to having some more of their personal/emotional/psychological boundaries tested.

We wrapped up the week with the Apple Pie theory. It's a great concept for students to begin to understand how their roles in life can effect others. Whether it be group projects, friendships, or any relationships in general, students learned that by being a hungry turkey or crumb eater, it is really draining and a big stress for both people.

Another great week of lessons and looking forward to this week!

Ranum Week 9

Welcome back!

It was a short week this past week but we tried to fit in as much as possible. Mentoring Monday went well and we started those early conversations about how we can be better mentors and connect more with our mentees.

We tried out Tutoring Tuesdays for the first time with moderate success. There are still some students who claim they do not have any work to do but that was quickly solved by providing them with a book to read and a summary assignment. On Wednesday, we had a great group discussion around success and what it looks like at various points(ages) in our lives. Most students defined success in the same way and it had a lot to do with various accomplishments such as going to college, buying a house, owning a car, having a good job, etc. Finally, on Thursday we started a Listening Levels Activity. The first part required students to take a "quiz" on how well they listen to others. Many students were surprised that they were not at the highest level of listening but are starting to recognize why some of their actions/behaviors are not the best while listening.

I'm have the students perform skits on Tuesday of the different listening levels so it should be an entertaining class. Another fun week in the books!

Ranum Week 8

Hello again!

The week started off with the first edition of Mentor Monday/the Why Try curriculum. Going forward, on every Monday, I will take the mentors to a separate room and we will work on their mentoring/leadership skills. At the same time, our team from Community Reach comes in to work with the mentees on some more of their personal/social/behavioral skills.

The whole week was about trust and trust building and the project that really got the point across was students building their own trust bridges. I explained to them that just like you want a really strong bridge made of the best materials if you're going to trust to go over it, you have to want the same things in any trusting relationship. The foundations of the bridge have to be strong, just like the foundations of your relationships. That means there needs to be honesty, good communication, reliability, respect, care, etc. If your relationship does not have these things, just like if a bridge does not have strong material, both will crumble and fail.

They had a really fun time with the project and some students came up with pretty unique bridges. It was also their responsibility to come up with 10 things that they need in order to feel comfortable/have a trusting relationship.

Another fun week with a great lesson in the books!

Ranum Week 7!

Hello all!

Another week in the books, I can't believe it's already the end of September!

On Monday we presented our communities and I was so impressed and happy to see all the unique creations the students came up with. Some of their communities had themes like Halloween, rich city, or kids only and it was funny to see all the different buildings and organizations they prioritized.

On Tuesday and Wednesday we worked on a YESS Success worksheet that had mentors and mentees getting to know each other a little more personally with questions about their world, relationships, strengths, changes and challenges that they face daily. Some students still aren't there in terms of opening up completely, which is just fine, but for the most part, some of their answers were really personal and meaningful. After those questions, we dove in even deeper, asking what some of their strengths, achievements, internal/external barriers to success and internal/external support systems are. This sparked some great conversations and I was happy to see the level of support and comforting that mentors provided to their mentees.

On Thursday and Friday we played some team building activities. All 8th graders were gone on Friday so classes were a bit small but the team builders were a lot of fun. The kids favorite was the Cup Challenge. They were in groups of 4 and had 6 cups, 4 pieces of string and a rubber band. Only the rubber band could touch the cups so no hands allowed to move the cups. They had to figure out how to move the 6 cups into a variety of formations like a pyramid and 3 cup tower stacks. Once they figured out the best strategy, it still did not make things easier because they had to work together and communicate effectively. Only 1 group (Matt, Erick, Eduardo, and Eddie) was able to stack all 6 cups one on top of the other and that came at the end of the day! Great job guys!

Again, very fun week but ready for the weekend!

Ranum Week 6 - Community Building

Welcome back!

Another week just flew by! At the beginning of the week we attempted to create some new art work for the curriculum. Mostly we were trying to come up with new representations of the Emo Trolls and a lot of students had very similar ideas by making them into Emoji's (more on Emo Trolls later in the year).

The rest of the week was dedicated to creating our own small communities. Mentors and mentees paired up and were put into groups of 4 and their job was to come up with their idea of the perfect community. They had the freedom to put whatever buildings, municipals, sports fields, etc. that they wanted in their cities. The only stipulation was I made sure that for each building they put into their city, they had to explain why mentoring would be beneficial there and how would mentoring occur at that location.

Overall, another great week and I'm excited for the kids to present their communities on Monday!

Ranum Week 5 - Diving In

Hello all,

Mentors and mentees have been matched and we spent last week getting to know one another on a deeper level. Mentor and mentee pairs were responsible for creating their own Google Slideshow about each other. They had a little questionnaire they could follow along with or they could ask their mentor/mentee any questions they may have thought of or wanted to know.

The mentors introduced their mentees to the class and the mentees introduced their mentors. We talked about some basic presentation skills like eye contact, posture and clear voices in hopes that this would be great practice for them. Most students were not nervous but eye contact is a skill that will need to be worked on going forward. Overall, the presentations were great and it helped mentors and mentees get off on the right foot in their relationships.

See you next week!

Ranum Week 4 - Matching!

Welcome back to the Ranum blog, hope you had a great week!

It was a short week but somehow it felt full. We started with an activity called speed matching. Speed matching was a chance for every mentor to meet every mentee and vice versa. Students were given some generic questions but also had the freedom to ask whatever they may have wanted to know about the other person. The following day I had each mentor and mentee choose their top 3 students that they wanted to be paired with and they had to give a solid reason for their choice.

The week ended with us working on our individual time capsules. Students went through a little questionnaire that asked them what their current favorite things are, like movies or music or activities, etc. They also wrote a letter to their future self talking about their current self. We took down their current heights, did a hand measurement and will put in a current picture of themselves. It's a great activity and at the end of the year, they can see how much they've grown, literally and figuratively, or they can hold onto it until they graduate high school or however long they want to.

Another great week in the books, can't wait for this week!

Ranum Week 3

Welcome back!

This week was jam packed with fun activities and we even mixed in some classroom procedures. We started off the week creating our shared agreements and how we want the class to run. After that was finished, we talked about our personal values and how they lead us towards different decisions.

Wednesday was all about communication! I gave students directions while their eyes were closed so they had to rely solely on their interpretation of my directions. We also did back to back drawing which pairs up students and requires one student to draw a picture that their partner is holding and they can only go by how their partner describes the picture. The message I wanted them to understand is that we all communicate and interpret messages differently. So in the future, if there is a miscommunication, do not react negatively, but be open and try to figure out what you're not understanding.

We wrapped up the week working on T-shirt designs and had a great agree/disagree debate on Friday. The topics ranged from current issues in the world/community to things that happened in the past and its effect on the world. I was delightfully surprised by some of the students statements and it's definitely an activity we'll do again in the future!

Thanks for reading!

Ranum Week 2

Hello!

Our first full week of school is complete and we participated in a lot of team builders to begin the trust and relationship building process. We started the week by creating our journals that we will use for the rest of the year to work on our literacy skills and also as an outlet for anything that is on our minds that we do not want to share out yet.

We continued the week with introducing some things about ourselves such as our family structures, what we want to be when we grow up and other interesting things we haven't shared yet. We also discussed the difference between a student and a scholar and how they have been referred to as students their whole lives and it's time to change that into an attitude that they are scholars and they care about all the work they do.

Classroom rules and procedures were also developed and they loved having their voices involved in that process. We wrapped up the week by playing more team builders; one of which was the M&M game. The M&M game has questions that align with the color M&M you choose so you must answer that question before eating the M&M. Some questions were silly but it was a good mix of silly and serious and so were their answers.

Overall another great week of getting to know one another and the mentors can't stop asking when are we going to finally pair up with mentees!

Welcome Back Ranum!

Welcome to the 2016 - 2017 YESS Program at Ranum Middle School blog!

Wow, summer flew bye! Although it seemed short, it was great and relaxing but now it's time to shake off the rust and get back into the swing of things.

The first day of school was spent with our Knighthood Families. Knighthood Families is a new initiative this year, kind of like a homeroom, with a focus on developing the personal and social skills of students through "circle-ups". I had a group of 6th graders the whole day and it was a great way to get them acclimated while calming their nerves as they entered middle school. Throughout the day we played some team builders and we went over some school procedures.

Here's a note from a student in my Knighthood family. Looks like we'll have to work on some literacy skills.

The rest of the week we were back to normal schedule and I got to meet the new group of mentors and mentees. The mentors energy was so great the first week that it made all of the mentees immediately comfortable and excited for class. We played a lot of team builders and activities to get everyone acquainted. One of those team builders was a ball toss name game where students stood in a circle and you had to continually throw the ball to the same person, but before you threw to them you had to say their name. With 1 ball it was pretty easy but as the game progressed I threw in multiple balls to make it a little more challenging.

Overall the kids had a lot of fun this week and it'll be exciting to see how their relationships will continue to grow.

Last Weeks Before Summer...

Hey all,

So it has been a crazy last couple of weeks here at Ranum. There were a lot of celebrations, awards, field trips, and of course, reminiscing. We spent a lot of time going through past projects and reflecting on how they helped shape us this school year. Many of these projects were taken home by students so they could remind themselves over the summer of some of the things they learned. Whether it's how to better control anger (or any emotion), how to get through a difficult time, or how to keep pursuing those goals they set for themselves.

This final week of school started off with a celebration dedicated to the mentors and mentees on a successful school year. Food was brought in and we had some great superlatives ranging from most likely to be the next president to most likely to be the next spongebob. They had a lot of fun choosing superlatives for their respective mentor or mentee. Tuesday we played a few team builders that we had done at the beginning of the year and students wanted to attempt again. Wednesday was a lot of cleaning up and taking home of a lot of projects. The final day of school, Thursday, we had a rotation schedule that had students participating in different games and activities around the school. It was a nice way for students to spend their final day relaxed and able to say good bye to their friends until next school year.

Overall it was an amazing year and I wouldn't change a thing. I'm excited for a new crew of mentors and mentees next year.

Have a great summer!

Life after Spring Break

Hello!

This week is a wild one coming back from Spring Break. Students had it extended by having no school on Monday but 7th and 8th graders were welcomed back with PARCC testing from Wednesday to Friday.

Tuesday we had a fun lesson on budgeting for a completely made up life. It started with giving all students a job that you only needed a high school diploma in order to be hired. The monthly salary range was between $1,300 to $3,100, a lot of money either way when you're only a middle school student (or so they thought). We quickly dove into taxes (federal, state, social security) and they realized that their "huge paycheck" was already dwindling and they haven't even purchased anything yet. Next we moved onto expenses, so students had the choice to live with their parents for a small sum of money, rent an apartment either by yourself or with roommates, or purchase a house and pay a mortgage. Some students wanted the freedom of living on their own, some said their parents wouldn't charge them rent and I said wait until you're in your 30's and still living at home, trust me they'll want some money.

We moved onto car expenses if they wanted one or they had the option to walk/bus/subway to work. Their final expenses we talked about involved their food budget and luxuries like internet, cable, laptop, TV, entertainment, etc. A lot of students initially went over budget but went back and decided to cut some things out of their life that were not necessities. This taught them a great lesson on budgeting and also how a high school diploma will limit your career choices and the amount of money you can make in the future.

For the rest of the week I only had the mentees in class so to continue with finance we did a mock stock scenario. I gave the students an imaginary $1,000 and they used this to invest in stocks that interested them. We'll check back at the end of the year to see if they earned or lost money but it was fun talking with them about how stocks work.

(Student looking through their stock options!)

On Friday we will be working on our own Piggy Banks that will be made from recycled plastic bottles and the students will take them home and use them as their personal piggy banks to collect coins.

Have a great weekend!

First week of March at Ranum

Hello all,

Can you believe it's March already? There were lots of things happening this week so I hope I cover everything.

We've started recruiting and handing out applications for students to be mentors next year. So far there has been a lot of interest and I'm excited to start interviewing and creating our team for next year. Current mentors began preparing for the end of year event in May by writing little bio's of themselves. Parent teacher conferences were this week, which is always great seeing parents and talking about their kids and tying to make sure both sides are doing everything they can to support them. Finally, the in-class work of this week had students completing their Treasure Maps and 10 year reunion biographies.

These treasure maps represented students both short and long term goals and how by completing each goal, they are working towards that end goal or "X" that marks the spot of feeling at peace and completely happy/satisfied. As you can see from the photos, some goals along the way involve going to college, moving to a new state or even buying their own house. And the "X" for most students was having a house, spouse, kids, pets, car, career they love and living in a place they enjoy. The students had a lot of fun with this and it was interesting to dive in a little deeper and see exactly how students have their futures planned out.

After students finished their treasure maps, they moved onto their 10 year reunion biographies. I had them imagine that they were at their 10 year high school reunion, so most of them would be around 28 years old. Their job was to write about all of their accomplishments and general life from the time they graduated (age 18) all the way to the reunion (age 28). Again it was great to see how far ahead some students were looking and how particular they were about certain things later in life. For example, students saying that their families would live right next or how many pets/kids they would have.

Hope everyone had a great week! See you next time!

Ranum Career Week

Hello all!

This week at Ranum we focused on future careers. The week started with students choosing a career that interested them and putting in the time and effort to research it. Questions varied from why do you believe you are a fit for this career, how many jobs are there available in this field, what is the average/top 10%/bottom 10% salary, and all the way to do you believe this industry is growing, shrinking or staying the same. Students did a great job getting to know career tracks better and learned that they will have to put in a lot of effort to achieve their goals.

We continued with family career trees after we finished our research. The goal of this activity was for students to list off family members and include their occupations, education level and career experiences. There were a lot of students saying that their parents did not even finish high school so they talked with excitement about how they not only will finish high school but they'll go on and complete a college degree.

Closing out the week was a great discussion based class about key tips for job interviews. Some tips, such as how to shake hands properly, many students were already accustomed to. However, they learned a lot about body language and how big of an impact appearance can have on interviews. They asked some great questions and after the discussion, mentors and mentees performed interview skits that were a lot of fun to watch.

Overall, another fun filled week that brought a lot of goal setting and future plans to the forefront of the YESS students minds.

Ranum College Week

Hello!

This week at Ranum has been all about college and will culminate with a field trip to the University of Colorado at Denver. The short week began with a few questions for students to see how much they already know about college. Questions such as what do you think when you hear the word college, who do you know who has been to college and what colleges do you know about all seemed to spark a response from most students. When asked what jobs do students think require a college education, they quickly realized that most higher paying and challenging jobs require at least a Bachelors Degree.

On Wednesday we discussed how a higher education equals a higher reward. Students learned that by going to college they have more job opportunities, security, money, stability and even better health. They were surprised to hear how much health insurance costs and how there are companies out there that help you pay for it, as long as you have your degree and in turn, were hired by a great company.

Thursday brought some technology into the classroom and students did virtual tours of campuses around the United States. They had to explore one Colorado based University/College and one out of state University/College. Most students went with University of Colorado because of familiarity and for out of state, they went with Harvard or Yale, mostly Ivy League schools.

As I'm typing this, I'm also preparing for the field trip to CU Denver today. The students are really excited and there will be pictures to follow soon!

Have a great weekend!

Ranum Update - February Edition

Hello all,

We've had a busy couple of weeks here at Ranum. The students have become more accountable and learned some very important peaceful conflict resolution steps that they will start to utilize whenever confronted with an issue/disagreement.

We also created self portraits (pictured below) so students could get a better understanding of who they are right now. They drew how they viewed themselves and included the things that are most important to them in their life currently.

The project we worked on at the end of last week was our hand contracts (pictured below). Students came up with goals for themselves for their second semester in the YESS program. Goals ranged from being a mentor next semester to completed all of their math learning targets. It was a fun activity that culminated with a poster that has their goals on it to remind them why they're here and what they're working for as the semester closes out.

Have a great week!

Mid-January Update

Hello all,

A nice 4 day week leads us into what should be a great game between the Patriots and Broncos (Go Pats)! This week we worked on Anger Management, Consequences, and the Abuse Cycle.

The Anger Management topic resonated with many of the students and the discussions that we had were fantastic. Students learned several new anger management strategies such as taking deep breaths, walking away, or even a nice workout (a.k.a a punching bag). Discussions also focused towards the cause of their anger and students agreed that family/siblings, peers, and teachers were some of the main causes. They were very honest with me and it allowed for some great insight into their world and what they see and think.

The consequences lesson was a fun and challenging one at the same time. They had a lot of trouble thinking of a specific time one of their actions led to a negative outcome but with a little guidance, they finally came up with a good example. It also involved a lot of scenarios so students could diagnose the appropriate vs the inappropriate way to handle the situation. Overall, they made the correct choice when prompted, but they did stress it is difficult in the moment depending on who they were with.

We finished the week talking about the abuse cycle and again I was impressed by the conversations we had. Students shared out examples of situations they've seen both at home and with their friends parents. The topic hit home with all of them and although it was definitely a tough topic to discuss, it is definitely important for them to hear so they can recognize these situations in the future.

It was a great week of work and we're all excited for the weekend!

New Year, New Post

Hello all!

Fresh off of winter break most kids, myself included, seemed to be energized and ready to go while others were still adjusting to having to wake up early again. This week we focused on I am poems, the apple pie metaphor and boundaries.

The I am poems gave students a chance to be creative in their writing and truly express themselves through an outlet they may not use very often, writing. Most students had done one of these before but I asked them to dive a little deeper and express their feelings more, and they did not disappoint. They did such an amazing job I felt they needed to present their poems and although these are personal poems, many students were confident and prepared to share. Here are some examples of poems below:

The apple pie metaphor gave mentor and mentee pairs the chance to talk about their relationship and work towards making it a 50/50 partnership. This was very empowering for the mentees because instead of having the mentor dominate opinions and work, they felt as if the power was now shifting towards them and a more even split of responsibility. Here is an example of what one pair came up with in terms of how they will improve their relationship:

We wrapped up the week talking about personal boundaries. This activity helped students realize each others boundaries in terms of talking, touching, and emotionally. I had mentors and mentees walk towards each other and whoever was being walked towards had the chance to say stop when they felt the other person was close enough. Some students said stop sooner than they thought they would but most felt comfortable with when they told the other to stop.

Overall it was a pretty packed first week back but the energy level was so great we just kept on working! 

Have a great weekend!