September Journal
The past year and a half has been a struggle because of Covid and quarantine. I've done online learning for half my sophomore year and my whole junior year. The switch has been brutal for me mentally as I make my switch from online to in-person learning. With all that being said, school has been off to a good start. I've been thinking about what my capstone project should be and I came down to two options (reading to elementary kids or mentoring here at SMSA). I've decided to mentor a 7th grade student here at SMSA. I emailed 3 teachers who I thought knew me very well and asked for recommendations to start my mentoring journey. I've got all 3 back and started the proposal for my capstone. I picked my mentor and i chose Mr. W because the experience he has with middle schoolers and he has been a help during my school experience. I've also finished my proposal for my capstone project and talked with Mrs. Griffin on who she thinks would be a good pair for me. I was told to wait till tomorrow and meet my mentee.
October Journal
I met my mentee Chris and we introduced ourselves and talked about what I need from him and what he needs from me. Next day I established when I would pull him out of class during advisory, class, and during lunch. I would also meet with all of his teachers to ask how he behaves in class and how his grades look. I got a couple of good responses from the teachers and how he was an angel in the virtual learning environment, but I was also told how he has been misbehaving during class and how he fools around with friends. Next day during the advisory I took him out of class and talked about grades and behavior, since behavior was the most talked about we tried to work on that by asking what's the reason for his misbehaving. He told me that he tends to get bored during class and fools around with friends while the teacher is teaching, I told him it's unacceptable while a teacher is teaching but I also told him that when he completes all his work and the teacher says it's cool to chill with friends then it's okay to fool around a little bit. I started picking him up during classes he needed attention in and worked with him on classes and what's the best way to sit and have fun while doing work. I told him some rewards he could get if we get on track with work and listen to teachers such as basketball in the gym, bored games, dunkin donuts, etc. I spoke with Ms. Griffin and she gave me some info about my mentee and she gave me an honest report saying “when he wants too he can sit and do work but sometimes he just gets off track”. I told Ms.Griffin about the experience I had with him so far and we talked like adults. I went on the bus looking out the window and then I realized that i'm transitioning into the adult world with people who looked after me my whole SMSA experience, it was kind of like my AHA moment
November Journal
I started off slow in terms of grades during the beginning of marking period 2. I would be honest and say that I was focusing more on getting my grades up than focusing on my mentees grades. I wasn't able to see him everyday like I would wish to but I knew that if my grades were not great then I would be setting a horrible example for my mentee. The times I would see my mentees would be around more of my free time and we would work on trying to focus on some of the issues he has in and out of school. Ms. Griffin put my mentee on a grading chart for his behavior in classes where he asked his teachers to grade him today in class from five being the best to 1 being the worst. Chris went on an incredible run for about two weeks of doing work and not causing problems to any of his teachers and was rewarded with dunkin doughnuts and a phone call to his father about how good he has been lately. After all the work we put in I had felt like he was at his greatest when he saw me working to get my personal grades up, kind of felt as if I motivated him to push himself to do better.
December Journal
We are almost a month away from the midway point to halfway through my final year of high school. I'm in the process of trying to bring my grades up and get ready for our winter break starting at the end of the month and get my mentees ready for the new year. I said mentees because I was asked to take on another apprentice to mentor as the year goes on. I broke it down to my new mentee on how the schedule would be and what I expect from him educational wise as the year goes on. I really had a moment to myself that I am really trusted by the adults here at SMSA. I wouldn't expect that I would be asked to take on the challenge of mentoring another student if they didn't think I could do it. I walk into the middle school side and feel like an adult that the kids love. I've been greeted so many times by kids in middle school because of how often I'm on the middle school side and our very own tiger talk. It really brighten s my day when I see a kid I never saw before come up to me and ask for a high five or a dap. Nevertheless we are in the process of getting ready for the break every kid in the school been waiting for.
January Journal
Coming off break we had a lot to speak about on how Christmas and New Years went and it was great talking back and forth on what we did during break and what type of gifts we got. My mentees have been going through some struggles with grades and we plan to clean that up as the new semester is soon to start up. It's been a little rough for me doing these daily check-ups as I started taking a hit on my grades and stressing myself on school work. While in the midst of all this the school got some tragic news about one of their students passing. This student was in 7th grade the same grade as both my mentees. The school went on break for a couple of days. I texted my mentees and asked how they were holding up the day of the tragic news. They told me that they were divested and it hurt me knowing I won't be able to see them for a couple of days
The past year and a half has been a struggle because of Covid and quarantine. I've done online learning for half my sophomore year and my whole junior year. The switch has been brutal for me mentally as I make my switch from online to in-person learning. With all that being said, school has been off to a good start. I've been thinking about what my capstone project should be and I came down to two options (reading to elementary kids or mentoring here at SMSA). I've decided to mentor a 7th grade student here at SMSA. I emailed 3 teachers who I thought knew me very well and asked for recommendations to start my mentoring journey. I've got all 3 back and started the proposal for my capstone. I picked my mentor and i chose Mr. W because the experience he has with middle schoolers and he has been a help during my school experience. I've also finished my proposal for my capstone project and talked with Mrs. Griffin on who she thinks would be a good pair for me. I was told to wait till tomorrow and meet my mentee.
October Journal
I met my mentee Chris and we introduced ourselves and talked about what I need from him and what he needs from me. Next day I established when I would pull him out of class during advisory, class, and during lunch. I would also meet with all of his teachers to ask how he behaves in class and how his grades look. I got a couple of good responses from the teachers and how he was an angel in the virtual learning environment, but I was also told how he has been misbehaving during class and how he fools around with friends. Next day during the advisory I took him out of class and talked about grades and behavior, since behavior was the most talked about we tried to work on that by asking what's the reason for his misbehaving. He told me that he tends to get bored during class and fools around with friends while the teacher is teaching, I told him it's unacceptable while a teacher is teaching but I also told him that when he completes all his work and the teacher says it's cool to chill with friends then it's okay to fool around a little bit. I started picking him up during classes he needed attention in and worked with him on classes and what's the best way to sit and have fun while doing work. I told him some rewards he could get if we get on track with work and listen to teachers such as basketball in the gym, bored games, dunkin donuts, etc. I spoke with Ms. Griffin and she gave me some info about my mentee and she gave me an honest report saying “when he wants too he can sit and do work but sometimes he just gets off track”. I told Ms.Griffin about the experience I had with him so far and we talked like adults. I went on the bus looking out the window and then I realized that i'm transitioning into the adult world with people who looked after me my whole SMSA experience, it was kind of like my AHA moment
November Journal
I started off slow in terms of grades during the beginning of marking period 2. I would be honest and say that I was focusing more on getting my grades up than focusing on my mentees grades. I wasn't able to see him everyday like I would wish to but I knew that if my grades were not great then I would be setting a horrible example for my mentee. The times I would see my mentees would be around more of my free time and we would work on trying to focus on some of the issues he has in and out of school. Ms. Griffin put my mentee on a grading chart for his behavior in classes where he asked his teachers to grade him today in class from five being the best to 1 being the worst. Chris went on an incredible run for about two weeks of doing work and not causing problems to any of his teachers and was rewarded with dunkin doughnuts and a phone call to his father about how good he has been lately. After all the work we put in I had felt like he was at his greatest when he saw me working to get my personal grades up, kind of felt as if I motivated him to push himself to do better.
December Journal
We are almost a month away from the midway point to halfway through my final year of high school. I'm in the process of trying to bring my grades up and get ready for our winter break starting at the end of the month and get my mentees ready for the new year. I said mentees because I was asked to take on another apprentice to mentor as the year goes on. I broke it down to my new mentee on how the schedule would be and what I expect from him educational wise as the year goes on. I really had a moment to myself that I am really trusted by the adults here at SMSA. I wouldn't expect that I would be asked to take on the challenge of mentoring another student if they didn't think I could do it. I walk into the middle school side and feel like an adult that the kids love. I've been greeted so many times by kids in middle school because of how often I'm on the middle school side and our very own tiger talk. It really brighten s my day when I see a kid I never saw before come up to me and ask for a high five or a dap. Nevertheless we are in the process of getting ready for the break every kid in the school been waiting for.
January Journal
Coming off break we had a lot to speak about on how Christmas and New Years went and it was great talking back and forth on what we did during break and what type of gifts we got. My mentees have been going through some struggles with grades and we plan to clean that up as the new semester is soon to start up. It's been a little rough for me doing these daily check-ups as I started taking a hit on my grades and stressing myself on school work. While in the midst of all this the school got some tragic news about one of their students passing. This student was in 7th grade the same grade as both my mentees. The school went on break for a couple of days. I texted my mentees and asked how they were holding up the day of the tragic news. They told me that they were divested and it hurt me knowing I won't be able to see them for a couple of days