1. Today was a good day. We started off with power greeting the students, and I thought today went much better than yesterday. Yesterday was a great first day, but today we were a little more comfortable and goofy and the students were a little more willing to participate. After power greeting, we met in the Diplomas Now office --PAUSE: Diplomas Now is an initiative that brings City Year together with two other agencies, CIS (communities in schools), which involves the social work sector, and Talent Development, a non-profit that focuses on tutoring and helping students reach their potential. Diplomas Now is based on Johns Hopkins University research that shows that the tools we're using to help kids make a real difference in reducing the dropout rate. The program involves having a control school and a Diplomas Now school, so that they can prove these results in the real world. Our school is a Diplomas Now school, which means it is receiving the interventions recommended, and that's why City Year is in this school particularly!
So anyway, they had a breakfast to welcome us today, and we feasted on donuts, quiches, banana bread, and assorted other delicious goodies. We were at this breakfast for the first two periods, so we all ate copious amounts, it was pretty ridiculous. It was really great though because we got to meet everyone that works with Diplomas Now and bond with them over Shipley's Donuts, which is apparently a thing here. A delicious thing. For example, I had a donut that was chocolate flavored with chocolate fudge filling. It was divine. After that, we observed two teachers that we didn't observe yesterday, and I had a great time in the classes. It's wild to be back in 6th and 7th grade after so long!
Then we went back to Region 20 and had some sessions on how to navigate difficult conversations with students and cognitive development in youth. Super informative and I did a much better job of staying engaged today. The trail mix helped, except I got chocolate on my khakis so then I had to do laundry. Lame.
2. High point #1 was during power greeting. I was holding the door for the students to go into school and cheering and clapping and so forth and I had such a great time seeing the students smile as they entered the school! It really did seem like we were brightening everyone's day as they came in, which is exactly the point. I think there should be power greeters everywhere in life. You know, walmart, the gym, the library, the courthouse. Think how happy the world would be! Also, one student walked toward me and asked me, "Are those your real eyes?" My gut reaction was to laugh out loud at how she worded that question, but I understood what she meant, so I confirmed that they were, in fact, my real eyes. She said they were beautiful! :)
Other highlights include watching a reading class, because it totally reminded me AGAIN how much I love to read, and driving back to Region 20 with Alex and Dennis, because every day we have gotten a little off track on our route back, but every day it has been hilariously fun to ride in a car with them. They're great.
3. Low point was honestly probably the chocolate on the khakis thing. I really hate doing laundry. Also, I really need to do some sort of exercise, because I'm feeling very lethargic lately and I know exactly how to fix that, other than going to bed a grandma-hour, which I am already doing.
4. I grew today when we talked about cognitive development and keeping a growth mindset versus a fixed mindset. We talked a lot about how a students' mindset has a huge effect on their grades and success, and how just simply the way we praise them can change the way they think about themselves and their abilities. I love talking about how youth develop and how people come to have the world view that they have, and it was awesome to discuss this mindset topic in more detail. We watched a TED talk on the topic (if you don't know what those are, go to www.TED.com and watch videos on whatever topic tickles your fancy. I bear no responsibility for the amount of time you will spend on that site, but I don't see it as wasting time because the videos are jammed full of knowledge). In this video, the speaker was talking about Josh Waitzkin, a chess prodigy (whom the movie Searching for Bobby Fischer is based on) and how having a growth mindset lead him to become a world champion martial artist after his chessing days were over, just because he thought he could. So Waitzkin is one of the firmest believers in the idea that we can do anything with a little effort and not teaching kids that is totally ruining their lives. My favorite quote that the speaker gave during the presentation was as follows:
So anyway, they had a breakfast to welcome us today, and we feasted on donuts, quiches, banana bread, and assorted other delicious goodies. We were at this breakfast for the first two periods, so we all ate copious amounts, it was pretty ridiculous. It was really great though because we got to meet everyone that works with Diplomas Now and bond with them over Shipley's Donuts, which is apparently a thing here. A delicious thing. For example, I had a donut that was chocolate flavored with chocolate fudge filling. It was divine. After that, we observed two teachers that we didn't observe yesterday, and I had a great time in the classes. It's wild to be back in 6th and 7th grade after so long!
Then we went back to Region 20 and had some sessions on how to navigate difficult conversations with students and cognitive development in youth. Super informative and I did a much better job of staying engaged today. The trail mix helped, except I got chocolate on my khakis so then I had to do laundry. Lame.
2. High point #1 was during power greeting. I was holding the door for the students to go into school and cheering and clapping and so forth and I had such a great time seeing the students smile as they entered the school! It really did seem like we were brightening everyone's day as they came in, which is exactly the point. I think there should be power greeters everywhere in life. You know, walmart, the gym, the library, the courthouse. Think how happy the world would be! Also, one student walked toward me and asked me, "Are those your real eyes?" My gut reaction was to laugh out loud at how she worded that question, but I understood what she meant, so I confirmed that they were, in fact, my real eyes. She said they were beautiful! :)
Other highlights include watching a reading class, because it totally reminded me AGAIN how much I love to read, and driving back to Region 20 with Alex and Dennis, because every day we have gotten a little off track on our route back, but every day it has been hilariously fun to ride in a car with them. They're great.
3. Low point was honestly probably the chocolate on the khakis thing. I really hate doing laundry. Also, I really need to do some sort of exercise, because I'm feeling very lethargic lately and I know exactly how to fix that, other than going to bed a grandma-hour, which I am already doing.
4. I grew today when we talked about cognitive development and keeping a growth mindset versus a fixed mindset. We talked a lot about how a students' mindset has a huge effect on their grades and success, and how just simply the way we praise them can change the way they think about themselves and their abilities. I love talking about how youth develop and how people come to have the world view that they have, and it was awesome to discuss this mindset topic in more detail. We watched a TED talk on the topic (if you don't know what those are, go to www.TED.com and watch videos on whatever topic tickles your fancy. I bear no responsibility for the amount of time you will spend on that site, but I don't see it as wasting time because the videos are jammed full of knowledge). In this video, the speaker was talking about Josh Waitzkin, a chess prodigy (whom the movie Searching for Bobby Fischer is based on) and how having a growth mindset lead him to become a world champion martial artist after his chessing days were over, just because he thought he could. So Waitzkin is one of the firmest believers in the idea that we can do anything with a little effort and not teaching kids that is totally ruining their lives. My favorite quote that the speaker gave during the presentation was as follows:
"If we win because we are a winner, when we lose it must mean we are a loser." -Josh Waitzkin
Seems simple and straight forward, but think about how often parents, teachers, coaches, ANYONE praises kids with words like "you're a winner!" or "you're so smart!" or "you're so good" or "you're so pretty/handsome/cute." Those things are all such positive things that it seems like no harm can come from them, but think about when they do something that isn't positive. If you praise them for being "good" in and of itself, what will they think when you scold them? They might think that they ARE "bad," even if you tell them otherwise. If you praise students/children for things that they can't control, it puts them in a precarious position. So as a corps member, I will strive to always keep the kids in the driver seat. They will be in control of their behavior and grades, and I will show them that by praising them for things that they can control.
5. I am excited to keep observing and getting closer to knowing our placements! Also, I am excited because we got a couple of our uniform pieces and I am going to wear them tomorrow. I'll feel so official! :)
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