The Weekly Ranum: Edition #9

Hello and welcome back to the Weekly Ranum!

This past week flew by! Students did great work all week and were really engaged.

On Tutoring Tuesday many students caught up in a lot of their classes. Conferences are this week so that may be part of the reason why.

Wednesday we completed the lesson called Today I choose...This lesson was all about the attitude and actions you want to follow that given day. For example you could say, today I choose to be positive or today I choose to help someone. Obviously we want the students to say something positive and overall I believe the students understood and like the idea of it.

On Thursday we learned about Social Emotional Learning and what it is all about. I told them that is basically the back bone of the YESS program but also for being a good person throughout life. We did a gallery walk where students learned about the 5 components of SEL; Self Awareness, Self Management, Social Awareness, Relationship Skills and Responsible Decision Making.

For No Fun Friday we played Taboo/Fish Bowl. There were a bunch of random words on paper that was in a box that was passed around in a circle. When it was your turn you had to describe your word to the group and if they got it, you got a point. Each person had a minute to try and get as many points as possible. They loved it!

Another great week in the books!

The Weekly Ranum: Edition #8

Hello and welcome back!

We, the mentors and myself, kicked off the week by creating SMART goals for the mentees and our relationship for the school year. Most mentors really want to grow closer with their mentees and be their go to person.

Tutoring Tuesday went really well this week with most students catching up on some missing assignments and mentors had a chance to see their mentees assignment reports for other classes.

On Wednesday we partnered up and worked on "My Personal Goals". This worksheet had the students dive in a little deeper to see what their world and their values are like and see how those factors lead us towards certain goals.

Thursday we created our own social "networks" to see who are the groups of people we come into contact with every day and how our networks will continue to grow and we need to be able to use them to our advantage when searching for jobs, help or even some advice.

I was out of town on Friday but the substitute played some fun team building games and the report I got back was very positive!

Have a great week!

The Weekly Ranum: Edition #7

Welcome back to the Weekly Ranum! Here's a quick update from this past week!

We had our second Mentor/Mentee Monday last week. The mentors were told their mentee pair for the year and we discussed any challenges we thought may come up to make sure that we had the best matches possible. Most mentors were satisfied with their mentees and excited to get started with them.

We had Tutoring Tuesday and the students seem to be a lot more engaged in it than last year. They are bringing work from other classes and most are using their time wisely.

Wednesday was the big day. We paired up mentors and mentees and started an activity called May I Introduce... It was their responsibility to ask each other a bunch of different questions to find out more about who they are, what they care about and what they'be done in the past or want to do in the future. After they had a good list of fun facts, they created a google slideshow introducing their mentee or mentor with as many fun facts as possible. Some students presented on Friday, and we'll have the rest present on Tuesday.

Overall, a great week of learning more in depth facts about one another!

Here's a link to a couple of their presentations (not 100% sure if you'll be able to view):

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1B4iPkW_vOwRzsQ_4iP-bVjaVKYHk24ixCYnEW1rvPbQ/edit?ts=59cea1bf#slide=id.p

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1RUchgzTwwsR2LIhoLA5Qc3VXZVhkW3i9eJOjbu-o32w/edit?ts=59ce97e1#slide=id.p

The Weekly Ranum: Edition #6

Welcome back to the Weekly Ranum!

Last Monday was our first Mentor/Mentee Monday of the year. During these classes the mentees and mentors are split up into different rooms. The mentees go over a self improvement curriculum called Why Try and the mentors work on their leadership skills and how they can better serve their mentees needs. After talking with the mentors, they are excited to be paired up and ready to dive in with their mentees.

Instead of Tutoring Tuesday we worked on Personal Values. Students went through a list of about 15-20 values and they had to determine which ones were very, kind of and not really important in their own lives. After, they had to justify why they chose some as very important over other values.

On Wednesday we re-wrote our top 3 mentee/mentor choices because students had decided to not give 100% on Friday when they had a substitute teacher. They were not extremely happy with this decision but they understood that this will continue to happen if they do not turn in their best work.

Since we wouldn't be seeing each other on Friday, I decided to have No Fun Friday on Thursday. Students were in teams of 4 and had to build the tallest paper tower using only 3 sheets of paper, 40 cm of tape, 1 ruler and 2 pairs of scissors. There were some really creative ideas that did not pan out, but there were also some that did not seem like they would work and they did really well.

Overall, it was another fun filled week. I'm hoping to have mentees and mentors paired up this week!

Quote of the week:
"I never want to leave this class" - 6th grade mentee, Serenity.

The Weekly Ranum: Edition #5

This past week we finished our Mentoring in the Community projects on Monday. Most of the posters were well thought out and all were definitely creative and colorful.

Tutoring Tuesday allowed students the opportunity to catch up on some missing assignments they had in other classes. Students were focused and glad to have this extra time to work.

On Wednesday we had a team builder that challenged students to create the longest paper chain possible. Good communication skills were needed to follow directions and come up with the most efficient chain building method.

Thursday was the big day students have been waiting for, speed matching. Speed matching gives mentors and mentees the chance to meet and talk one on one and asking as many questions as possible to see if they are potentially good fits to work together for the entire year.

Friday I was out but students were responsible for coming up with their top 3 choices for mentors or mentees for the year. The better the reason, the better the chance you have of matching with them.

My phone isn't emailing pictures for some strange reason so no pictures right now but I'll try to have it figured out and uploaded at some point.

Thanks for reading!

The Weekly Ranum: Edition #4

Hello!

I was out Thursday and Friday so this past week was a short one for me which will make this a shorter than usual blog. Sorry there will be no pictures, my phone has run out of room, so I need to figure that out!

Last week we finished our Time Capsules. Some students got really into it so it will be exciting when they open them at the end of the year. The rest of the week we talked about why mentoring is so important and where does it occur in our communities. Students were responsible for coming up with their own examples and created their own "mentoring communities" on a map.

Overall I think students were surprised to see and hear all the examples of mentoring that happens all around us every single day. This week I'm hoping to get students finally paired up!

Thanks for reading!

The Weekly Ranum: Edition #3

Hello!

Hope you all had a great long weekend. I'm sure the kiddos enjoyed the day off just as much as we did!

This past week we started off with shared agreements so we could determine the do's of the classroom and how we each learn best. We practiced our communication skills Tuesday with an activity that partnered students up and had one of them describe a picture while the other student had to draw it based solely on their partners description. They learned that they needed to be way more descriptive in their directions if they wanted the pictures to match.

On Wednesday we created a Coat of Arms that depicted how students describe themselves in terms of their strengths, weaknesses, things they care about and what they want their future to look like. Thursday, we started Time Capsules. Students love this activity because they have a chance to write to their future selves and see how much they have grown throughout the course of a school year.

For No Fun Friday we played scattergories. Students were challenged to come up with words that fit into a specific category, however, every word had to start with the same letter.

Overall, it was a great week!