Skip to main content

Week 1 -- January 7th -- 11th, 2019

West Leadership Academy -- January 7th through January 11th,  2019


The Grind Continues, Pt. I

Good Morning YESS Community,

     My name is Carlos Villagrana-Juarez and I am the new YESS West Leadership Academy Instructor. I am beyond blessed to be serving this community this semester and I am looking forward towards finishing the year STRONG.

This past week, students reported back to school from Christmas break. We are now operating in a new, bigger room. Check it out!



I am a firm believer in TRUST and TRANSPARENCY in the classroom. The only way to develop these skills is by leading by example and being honest with the classes. That being said, I laid out my powerpoint presentation detailing my life and let students get a glimpse of my past. Now that they were able to see what an example of trust and transparency looks like, they have to do it themselves.

The first assignment of the semester is for themselves to make their own presentations about their lives. Not only that, they will be presenting this in front of the class this week. Be on the lookout for next week's blog to see photos of our students presenting.

One of the biggest skills we need to develop in our classes is public speaking and being able to command the attention of those around. On the flipside, we need students to understand the importance of being able to listen and ultimately, be invested in what the person is saying, whether it be a teacher or a student. This allows students to be able to understand the perspective of a teacher/presenter, something that may not be so clear nor easy to many.

Not only that, but this assignment will let students have a glimpse into the lives of their peers, which may not always be the case. To build a community, we must trust one another. To trust one another, we must be willing to listen. Once we are willing to listen and willing to understand, the rest will come.

The semester and the process is just beginning.


Thank you.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

January, 2020 -- A Fresh Start

Welcome back to the Westside! Thank you for visiting this blog and checking out what our organization did here at West leadership Academy in the month of December.   Before I get into the month's activities, I just want to give a shout out to those of you who keep supporting and sending us positive vibes to this classroom from wherever you are. It is truly appreciated and it is something we do not take for granted. That being said let’s get to work. In today’s blog, you are going to be reading about the lesson we did before break, our Christmas dinner party at La Alma rec center, and last but not least the preparation and overall process For the final our Mentor Leadership Team and I conducted with our students. #1 -- The Brain: The unit revolves around healthy relationships specifically how to build one, how to maintain one, and to identify what we as individuals can do to make sure we are in healthy relationships with anyone we encounter. In December, we to...

September, 2019 -- Welcome to WEST

Welcome back to the YESS Institute at West Leadership Academy. I am delighted to once again be able to write my blogs about the work my Mentor Leadership Team and I are doing in our brand new room here at West Leadership Academy. For those of you who do not know me, my name is Carlos Villagrana-Juarez and I am a proud West Cowboy graduate, Class of 2012. I am also a proud University of Denver graduate, Class of 2016, and I am also a former student of the program. I am immensely involved in the school by coaching high school football and also, our feeder program, the Jr. Cowboy League middle school football team. In other words, Orange and Black run through my veins.  A true Cowboy to the heart.  For those of you returning to the blog...Welcome back, and as always, thank you for supporting the program here at West. This is now my 3rd year with the organization, and it has been a journey to get to this point in my life. That being said, there is no othe...

June, 2020 -- The Parting of the Ways

Good Morning and Welcome back to the final blog of the 2020 school year.      The purpose of this blog is to give one final report on what happened these past 3 months over in our virtual classroom. You will read about the following topics: The Murder of George Floyd & Supporting #BlackLivesMatter YESS Final Projects Senior Graduation Parade & Dedication to Teresa Klava Senior YESS Buckets Mentor Leadership Team The Murder of George Floyd & Supporting #BlackLivesMatter      The murder of George Floyd has brought forth a new age of  people of color  who are expressing their 1st amendment rights throughout the country. It has sparked conversations that needed to be had at dinner tables, legislature chambers, and on the streets of America.       As an educator, I cannot stand idly by and not support the movement that has come from this horrendous act of police brutality against African-Americans li...