Quick Review and Chivalry is Finished!

Today I began two new things with our students in CLASS. First, we are beginning each class with some breathing exercises. If you ever walk into our class and we are all looking down and not saying a word, it's because we are practicing our breathing. You will never hear the sophs this quiet!

Both classes did a great job at their breathing practice. We first had to talk about "how" to breathe -- by filling the belly and then the chest with air. Most of us never think about how we breathe. But those few minutes of forgetting about everything except your breath, can really change a person's energy. It feels totally different in the classroom after we finish our breathing practice. Ryan noticed how "chill" our freshmen were.

The other new thing that we began today is requiring the students to take notes in 3 classes per day. This will be part of their binder check next week, so it will become part of their grade. If they are unable to take notes in 3 classes, then they must do a learning log where they talk about what they learned in a specific class.

I spent some time with the freshmen reviewing past lessons on GPA, test taking and goal setting. They said they do think about their GPA and understand it's importance. I also told them that colleges want to see an upward trend of the GPA. They said they used the test taking tips I gave them and both Kiah and Angelina saw improvement in their test scores! Yay! Shanice hasn't had a test since I taught these skills. Angelina wrote some new goals for herself and all three have their goals taped inside their binders. Kiah also has hers taped to her wall under her Twilight poster of Taylor (the werewolf)!

The sophomores finished their discussion about chivalry. This led to talking about meeting our date's parents and whether or not to put the toilet seat down. Just FYI, it the ladies unanimously felt that the toilet seat should be put down. arrghh.
Cedric wants to talk about how girls treat boys and I think that's a perfect idea, although I had emphasized the idea of mutual respect.

Next I gave an assignment to help the sophs come up with their own code of ethics. This is due on Wednesday. Here is the assignment with my example code below:

PERSONAL CODE OF ETHICS
WORKSHEET

Please answer the following questions on your own sheet of paper.

1. How do you want to treat or take care of yourself?
2. How do you want to treat your family members?
3. How do you want to treat your friends?
4. How do you want to treat your boyfriend/girlfriend? (Answer this even if you are single.)
5. How do you want to handle conflicts with people you love?
6. How do you want to handle conflicts with people you know but don’t necessarily love?
7. How do you want to handle conflicts with strangers?
8. How do you want to treat the environment around you, including your home, school, church, Peace, etc.
9. How do you want to live your life?
10. How do you show that you value your education?




Example Code of Ethics:

I want to take good care of my body so it will last a long time. I want to get enough sleep, exercise and eat nutritious food.

I want each member of my family to know I love them because I talk to them often and ask how they are doing. I send cards for birthdays and I tell them that I love them.

I want my friends to feel special. I want them to feel loved, supported, and uplifted by me. I want to be there for them when they need me.

I want my boyfriend to never worry about my love and care for him. I want to always be honest and authentic in loving relationships

I want to handle conflicts with others in a respectful way and look for a win/win situation or at the very least agree to disagree. I want to not let other’s problems become my problems.

I want to take good care of my home and my stuff. I want to leave places as I found them and make them better if possible, certainly not make them worse.

I want to live in the moment and with intention. I want to control my life and not let life control me.

I show my value for education by learning new things every day and by teaching my students (and others) what I have learned and what I know is true and helpful to them.