The Weekly Ranum: Edition #20

Hi everyone!

Last week we finished up Belief Systems with some individual research about how our lives would look in 10 years if we lived a life of empowering beliefs (thinking positively) and what our lives would look like if we only had limited beliefs (thinking negatively).

The students were pretty creative overall and it showed the different goals and dreams that students want to achieve. Many students wanted to be done with college in the next 10 years, some married, some traveling the world and others in their dream job. We all agreed that living a life of empowering beliefs will be way more beneficial in the long run than having limited beliefs about ourselves.

Last week concluded belief systems and students are excited for the next topic...tune in next week to find out!

The Weekly Ranum: Edition #19

Hello and welcome back to the Weekly Ranum!

This past week we worked on Belief Systems. Students did some research and read some articles about empowering and limiting beliefs and were assigned to create a poster based on the article they read.

The easiest way for students to understand the concept of where their beliefs come from was for them to look around at their families, communities and friend groups and think about their reactions, words and thoughts about different topics.

Students did a great job of understanding that empowering beliefs build them up and are positive thoughts and limiting beliefs are meant to slow them down and be a negative in their life.

We will complete belief systems this week with some individual projects. Have a great week!

The Weekly Ranum: Edition #18

Hello and welcome back!

Hope everyone had a great holiday break!

With our first week back we had a lot of mentees testing very well before break and leveling up in their math and literacy classes which ended up having them moved around to different periods.

We worked on the Apple Pie Theory for a few days. All of the students understood the concept and it was great to see some of the designs they made to represent the theory. The idea is that there are some people in our lives that basically either take too much or too little control and responsibility and some that are actually pretty balanced whether it be in group projects, friendships or any other situation involving people.

Here's an example of some of their work:

Hope you enjoyed reading, have a great week!

The Weekly Ranum: Edition #17

Hey all!

This past week we finished up a movie called Remember the Titans. It's a true story about a high school football team that was desegregated and had to persevere and battle through racism, injustice and hate in order to have a successful season.

We also spent a couple days on gratitude and what it means to be thankful. Students created great lists of different things, people, and  places in their world that they are thankful/grateful for. They had a great understanding of the concept and it was refreshing to hear students sit back and reflect on the things in life that really matter.

Only a few more days until winter break, yay!

Thanks for reading!

The Weekly Ranum: Edition #16

Hello and welcome back!

This past week we finished up talking about our basic emotions and then we jumped into talking about fear.

We discussed why being afraid can be a good and a bad thing. Examples of good fear could be anything that keeps us out of a dangerous situation and an example of fear being a bad thing is when it holds us back from doing something we really want to do.

We ended the week by going to our school play. They were performing Macbeth and we had a lot of YESS students involved in the production.

Thanks for reading and have a great week!

The Weekly Ranum: Edition #15

Hello all,

This past week Mentors finished and presented their leader projects about a leader in history that they knew about and respected. Also, on Tutoring Tuesday we had a lot of students catching up in other classes so they can finish this first semester strong!

The rest of the week we talked about Emotions, what are the main ones, which category emotions fall into, what we think of when we see/hear that emotion and we also read an article talking about the purpose of emotions.

Students could relate to a lot of the emotions but it was good for them to vocalize how certain emotions cause them to act/react. It was a great intro into emotions for students and it set a great stage for the future lessons that revolve around emotions.

Have a great week!

The Weekly Ranum: Edition #14

Hello and welcome back!

Students and teachers are currently on Thanksgiving break. A great time to catch up and be with family and friends but also it can be a difficult time for some. We discussed what Thanksgiving looks like for each student and how we can use this holiday as a chance to be aware of other people's emotions and challenges that they may be going through and to show compassion.

Veteran's Day was last Sunday so on Monday we recognized those who served by watching a short documentary on why we celebrate Veteran's Day and then we wrote some letters/cards thanking Veteran's for everything they've done.

We ended the week by creating a turkey that was all about giving thanks. On the feathers we wrote all the things we're thankful for. It came out looking great!

Thanks for reading and see you in 2 weeks! Have a great Thanksgiving!