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Week 3 -- 01/22/2019 -- 01/25/2019

Good Morning YESS Community,

Happy Snowy Monday! The classroom here at West today literally had 17 students show up as the storm that came through this morning presented some difficulties to some of our staff and our students. I am glad to report that the ones who did show up were in great spirits, even as the world outside was Frosty's igloo. 

For the most part, last week seemed to fly by immensely fast, seeing as how we had Monday off in remembrance of MLK Day. On Tuesday and Wednesday, we spent the better part of the day finishing up the student's presentations.

The 3 biggest takeaway from this assignment were:

1. Resilience = Growth -- Our students here at WLA have shown to the rest of their classmates some of the challenges that they have faced and overcame. I had many students who, regardless of how nervous or shy or even afraid of presenting, still faced the challenge. Our students supported one another as they were presenting and encouraged one another if the presenter seemed a bit uneasy. We came together when we needed to, and that was goal all along.

2. The Value of Transparency -- Our students shared some of the biggest moments in their lives, and we all became aware of our students dreams and hopes, but also, some of the less positive moments in their lives. Those who had suffered loss in the family took solace in knowing they weren't the only one's who had. All of us are better off for listening and empathizing with each other, all because we trusted the value of transparency and embraced our voices

3. A growth in Confidence -- For some of our students, this was the first time they had presented in front of a large crowd, and as you may imagine, some did not know how to navigate the spotlight. Some were shy, others were extremely loud. Some presented their lives in chronological order while others simply put together what they could find. Some simply put up the slide and read word for word their presentation while others went from one topic to another to another. What is very clear to me is that the students were relieved once they presented, and seemed to walk out of here with their head held higher than before. We still need a lot of work to do, as our students will be presenting once again in a few weeks, but this is where they are learning how to create, present, re-evaluate, and present once again. 

We finished up the week by discussing our emotional trolls and reading other people's posts on what type of troll they are. I want our students to understand that although some of these trolls may seem a bit far-fetched, it is better to operate our lives with the knowledge of the type of troll we can be, than without it. That way, we are aware and we know our focal points that tend to go unnoticed. 



Next week, we will be learning about our personality traits by taking a personality test, as well as finishing up our bully-lesson before we head into February. 

Happy Reading, y'all.

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