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:

1. The Murder of George Floyd & Supporting #BlackLivesMatter
2. YESS Final Projects
3. Senior Graduation Parade & Dedication to Teresa Klava
4. Senior YESS Buckets
5. 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 living in the United States. I will never truly understand what it means to be an African-American person living in this country, but what I can do is clearly see and acknowledge the overwhelming evidence of police officers who have unjustly killed African-American men all over this country.

    That being said, I support and truly believe that #BlackLivesMatter. They will always matter. Now is the time to have those uncomfortable talks about race, ethnicity, and civil rights for all Americans with those who might not have had those conversations yet. It is a civic duty for all of us to bring forth the change we want to see in our communities. More importantly, it’s necessary to empower the voiceless and believe in each other, as the country is now bringing forth a new generation of people who believe in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in all areas of life.

    Donate. Listen to those who have a story to tell. Listen some more. Express your first amendment right to protest. Challenge others to get outside of their comfort zone. Ultimately, if we are not fighting for the change we want, people of color will never truly live free from discrimination. It is up to us, so let us stand by them, now and always. 

There is work to be done, so let’s get started.

Final Projects: What did you take away from our community?

    The final project assignment was a combination of photography, creative artwork, and truly reflecting on what the year has meant to our students. 

    It consisted of picking 1 of the 5 Social Emotional Learning areas to reflect what our students have learned throughout the year to build healthy relationships in their community. 

The project had three components:

1. Choose 1 of the 5 SEL skills.

2. Provide 3 reasons why this skill is important to you building healthy relationships. You can use the bullet points provided in the box of the skill to add details as to why this skill is important to you.

3. Submit a photo of themselves holding a handmade sign of the actual skill they chose to write about.

Here are the 5 SEL:

• Self-Awareness -- Identifying their emotions, accurate self-perception, recognizing their strengths, self-confidence, self-efficacy 

• Self-Management -- impulse control, stress management, self-discipline, self-motivation, goal-setting, organizational skills

• Social Awareness -- perspective-taking, empathy, appreciating diversity, respect for others

• Relationship Skills -- communication skills, social engagement, relationship-building, teamwork

• Responsible Decision Making -- identifying problems, analyzing solutions, solving problems, evaluating, reflecting, ethical responsibility.

    I also provided them with an example of myself and the SEL (SELF - MANAGEMENT) that I work on every day to be a better instructor, better coach, better man, better teammate, better brother, and better son. 

I received great work from them, take a look for yourself. 

Here are some examples:

 

    Words alone cannot describe the immense gratitude, amazing fulfillment, and an overwhelming sense of joy that I experienced reading and seeing the final results of what the class means to my students. Furthermore, seeing that as a community, they have truly embraced the message they have given to each other every day and that is to stick together, push each other to be better students, but more importantly, to know that they mean something wonderful to each other in the classroom. They matter to each other and that has made all the difference in the world.

Senior Graduation Parade

    West Leadership had their Graduation parade Saturday, May 23rd at 10am. I was fortunate to be at the parade and was directing the big caravans of our wonderful students who even though were graduating under different circumstances, still came out and truly lived in the moment. Moreover, our 11 YESS seniors showed up with their families ready to drive through the front of the school with our fearless principal, Ms. Teresa Klava at the helm of her last year as Executive Principal of West Leadership Academy.

Here are some photos of the day that I took with my Seniors:

    I would be remiss if I didn’t write about our fearless leader, Teresa Klava. I am very happy to have served under her leadership at West. What she has been able to accomplish in the 9 years she was principal is truly remarkable. It is not only that she has roots in the community but our principal knows the impact her staff has had on our students. By having the teachers we have had in the building, we have been able to see our kids grow into adults and push them out to venture on their own.

    Personally speaking, this woman has made all the difference in my life. She has mentored me, she has guided me, and she has embraced what I bring to the table for our students. She has empowered me and believed in me. From the moment I walked into the building 3 years ago as a Math Fellow to now as the instructor of the program, I knew that her heart was in the right place the entire time she walked into the building. We will miss you Ms. Klava! Thank you for everything you have done for our lovely community. 

You truly are a Cowboy to the heart. 

Senior YESS Buckets

    Our family advocate, Coach Dino Abeyta stepped into the role in August. What he has been able to accomplish with our families has been nothing short of amazing. I had the privilege of working with him as he split his time between North and West this year but all of my students embraced him. Coach Dino has been at the forefront of our family resource events and has taken on the challenge of establishing our presence in the neighborhoods our kids live in. To his credit, he has done just that. Our kids have embraced him, our families have called him for help, and our organization has empowered and trusted him with the responsibility of representing us with dignity and compassion.

    Through his services, we were able to organize Senior Buckets for our graduating class. We were fortunate enough to spend Wednesday and Thursday together and drop off the buckets to our amazing seniors. It was a way for us to send them out with something other than a “good job” or “congratulations” or some my comments like “get a job and pay taxes like the rest of us.” The biggest gift that our FA was able to provide was a custom made West face mask for them to wear out in public. I hope that all of them wear it with pride, but more importantly, it keeps them safe as they are out in public. 

Here are some photos we took with them:

To you 11 Seniors, I now speak to you directly. 

    First and foremost, thank you for being part of my class. I cannot thank all of you enough for making my class what is became this year. There was not a day when I wasn’t happy to see anyone of you come through those doors, ready to put up with the voice that cracked at least 5 times a day to make me sound like a child. 

• Joe, who came always came in talking about how he was “that dude” (You are, kid)
• Sergio, who I could always count on to countermeasure my sarcasm with his sarcasm as well (Never change, Serg)
• Beatriz, who I know I could count on to be the positive ray of light for the room to guide to in times of need (Gracias Beatriz)
• Brian, who always brought his intellect and curiosity to the class that sparked conversations with the freshmen (Way to guide them, Brian)
• Fantasia, who always came with food and a wonderful heart for her mentees (those spicy chicken sandwiches came in clutch)
• Fernando, “Güero” who came in and set the tone immediately with our middle schoolers and embraced all of them for who they were. (You’re the true alpha)
• Joel, who always came to class bug-eyed because he had been working the night before but still chose to make a reason to succeed and came to class. ( A echarle duro, con ganas Joel)
• Ulises, who always came to class eager to improve as a student and as a man. (You’ll get there, trust me)
• Fernie, who rejoined us in the middle of the semester and immediately re-challenged me to a race he knows he would lose. (You know you can’t keep up)
• Chris, who always came to class and lead by example and was not afraid to speak up about who he was as a man (Chris goes hard, I gueeesssss)
• Jacob, who came in always talking about how he “be going through it” but how he “do be vibing tho” (Way to always show up, kid)
• Mo, who always came in with his pretty boy swag but being his humble-true self (Way to show out and be the top dawg, Big Poppa)

    I have had several conversations with all of you about this. Yes, congratulations on graduating. No, the work does not stop here. All of you are of an able mind, body, and soul o accomplish everything you have set your eyes on. You want to know what’s getting in your way? 

Yourself.

Get out of your own way. 

You may not be the smartest, richest, fastest, tallest, person in the room.  But you can always count on your work-ethic to literally outwork everyone. Aim to be the hardest worker in the room, and I guarantee you, there is nothing you cannot accomplish.

A few tips: 

You do not have to have a college degree to be successful. 

You do not need to have a fast car to be accomplished. 

You do not need to have money to be happy. 

You do not need jewelry/brand clothes to be considered rich. 

You do not need a lot of friends to be considered popular. 

You do not need a 4.0 GPA to be considered smart.

You do need your family around you to lean on when you need it.

You do need love from your sphere of influence to keep you grounded.

You do need to show empathy to others to be reliable and trustworthy.

You do need a relentless drive to open locked doors

You do need to listen twice as much as you talk.

You do need help from others who are willing to help you for the right reasons.

You do need to have a moral code to not lose sight of who you are. 

You do need to believe in yourself.

You will fall.

You will face challenges.

You will doubt yourself.

You will hit rock bottom

But more importantly

You will rise.

    To quote one of my favorite teachers of all time, I will leave you Seniors with this:

“Soon we must all face the choice between what is right and what is easy.” — A.P.W.B.D.

    I trust you will make the right decision. I am excited for this next chapter of yours, as I will patiently wait for you to accomplish wonders. 

    I am excited for all of you, I truly am. 

    Congratulations.

Mentor Leadership Team: A dedication to you 5.

    When I took over the program, I inherited 5 students who were tasked with a hard challenge: Adapt to a new teacher in the middle of the semester. How Fantasia, Joe, Abigail, Natalie & Naisett were able to do that, I have no idea. Never the less, they were able to show me why they were considered for the job to be a clear role model for our students in the class. They embraced the philosophy that I brought to the program. Not only did they buy-in, but we were able to retain 3 of the 5 students this year.

    Naisett, Joe, and Fantasia all took it upon themselves to return this year and participate in bringing on 2 new members into the team, Viviana and Fernando. This team was able to be coordinated, dedicated, & flexible for everything that they faced this year. They were able to build a safe community for their class. They were able to bring new perspectives to the room. They were able to coordinate 2 family resource events for our families. They were able to plan and bring their own ideas to lessons we did in the class. They were able to feed our kids snacks out of the closet that I apparently hoarded (how many bags of hot Cheetos y’all went through, I will never truly know.) 

    They were able to have a voice in the room, because they empowered each other from within to speak up for themselves but more importantly, they were able to be a part of something more than themselves. They were a team.

And for that, I cannot thank them enough. 

Joe, Fantasia, and Fernando thank you for what you brought this year. Thank you for everything you have done for your community. 

Naisett and Viviana, time to game plan for next year.

The Parting of the Ways:

    This year was unlike anything we have ever experienced, which is why it was a painful way to end the year the way we did. This virus got in the way of us truly realizing and fulfilling our End of the Year hike and party. That doesn't mean that we didn't have fun nor does it mean it was a total failure

    I go back and I see what the classes were doing at the beginning of the year to now. Our kids grew in all areas, and it wasn’t just because of what the MLT did or even what I did. They deserve individual credit for actually showing up and putting the work into themselves, all while they listened to the wide range of music I played in the room. 

    I treat this blog as somewhat a journal of some sort. I read about what our students were talking about in class. I remember my life to what it was then to what it is now. I remember the hot summer days in August where everyone was still really shy with each other, complaining about why I was stuck in such a hot room to the peaceful snowy days of December when the kids would come into the room and ask me why my heater wasn’t working. 

    I remember at one point seeing days where my room at lunch was empty to in a couple of weeks being full of kids coming in and seeing that I was lesson/game planning / watching game film/grading/meeting with students / talking with Coach Dino or any other colleague about what the hallway was about this week. 

    The room was alive and vibrant. It is a place where my students felt comfortable, and because of that, I knew that what the team built with them was proof enough to show our school that our class was a true representation of growth. Nevertheless, I am now more hopeful than I was before. 

To end this year, I will leave you all with a quote from Lord Tennyson's "Ulysses"

    "To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield."

    Thank you to all of you who have taken the time to read this final report of what our room was able to accomplish this year. Thank you for all the energy you have sent our students. Thank you for empowering our students.

Until next year. Stay safe, stay healthy, and take care of one another.

As always, happy reading, y’all.

Cowboys, out.