Values - Reflection

I am still mad about the Inglewood police and the never ending violence, but I want to start to use this blog as a record of reflection as well. 

I am currently work on Summer Bridge. I am the leadership teacher. Summer Bridge is a program for in-coming 9th graders to prepare them for the regular year. It is a two week program to get them on point. The first two week session went well, but I wanted to change a few of the lessons to be more meaningful. I tried to do a lesson on values today. I wanted to communicate to the students that we as a staff want to instill in them a value for personal responsibility at school. 

I started the lesson by telling them a little about the new Locke High School. It has changed significantly. We looked at a map of the school and I showed them where our classrooms would be and how "big" our part of the campus was. Further, I showed them the schedule for the year, which includes 100 minute classes. The students were not thrilled about this information. Then, we looked to brainstorm what were some of their values and morals. We started as a class, and then the students had to pick their top 5 and explain why they are important. This went ok. One thing that disappointed me was that not all the students finished their work, even when prompted and checked. But I could have done a better job of making sure they were on point. Then, we broke up into groups and the students had to determine how to approach several different situations responsibly, such as being absent. Not all of the students understood that they were to solve the problem with a responsible solution. Also, some groups had a hard time starting or did not do very much of the work. Even though this was only a small part of the class, it was still a disappointment. To top it all off, we were interrupted by a minor earthquake in 3rd period. So I just don't feel that that class was on point. We had a lot of new students today and that probably contributed. 

Bottom line, I want to do well and I want to connect with the students. I want to connect with them on the level that they connect because they enjoy the class and see the structure of the class. I left today disappointed because I want to do better. This year, I will be creating a curriculum around leadership and technology. I don't even know what this will look like. It is starting to make me nervous because I want to do well! I want to be the best of the best. I have been given a lot of credit over the last year. I definitely had the best 10th grade class at my school last year. Now that it is over there, I can say that (although I would never have said that during the year). I need to repeat that. 

Another Man Shot in Inglewood by the Same Officer Who Shot the Teenager Earlier This Year

This is just plain out ridiculous. The uncle of one of my students was this man's best friend. The man has two daughters and works at the post office. The police went to the wrong house. Check out more at this link. This is highly upsetting. I will post more tomorrow when I have more time. 

Crazy As Usual

With starting up a new school, I am busy as ever. I can't even find time to sit down and relax (notice I am writing this at midnight!). I have had a chance to travel a little bit. I went to see some family in the Bay and then some peoples in New Orleans. All while my girlfriend is in Cuba for two weeks! Anyway, here is a quick breakdown of the highlights. 

• Went to the Bay and celebrate my 4 year anniversary with my girlfriend (soon to be wifey!) 
• Went to New Orleans - the people have severe post-traumatic stress syndrome - They are struggling, but have a beautiful and proud culture
• Came back to helicopters and arrests across the street. They are doing major sweeps across the area - These sweeps do absolutely nothing. 
• Another young Black man was shot by the cops in Inglewood and then another in Compton while I was gone. 
• On the positive, our school is coming together. I will post up our logo later. 
• At Locke, I was banged on by some South Los bangers. South Los is a Latino gang in the area - I am racially mixed and will often be perceived as many different ethnicities - including Latino. 
• I have so much work to do it is not even funny. I guess I should get to it.