Peek Inside: Teaching and Learning!

"A new study suggests that mindfulness education — lessons on techniques to calm the mind and body — can reduce the negative effects of stress and increase students’ ability to stay engaged, helping them stay on track academically and avoid behavior problems." ~Grace Tatter, Harvard Graduate School of Education

The Bored and Brilliant Challenge- Ms. Gretchen Larese, ERWC

ERWC Larese April 2024.mp4

After reading about the effects of cell phone usage on adolescents, Ms. Larese’s ERWC Classes participated in Note to Self’s Bored and Brilliant Project, which is a week of challenges that will guide you to less phone time and more creativity!

“The Bored and Brilliant Challenge is six consecutive days where we try and do different things to be creative and try and be off our phones. What this does is have us look deeper into the world. In this day and age, we are always on our phones and we should try and go off of them.” ~Liberty Felix, Senior

At the end of the challenge, students created their own board games and enjoyed playing them with each other.

If you want to participate in this amazing challenge, check out all six of the challenges and listen to the podcasts HERE.

Using Student Data to Drive School Initiatives

In January, our Safety Team presented school-wide data from the Fall Student Panorama Survey to our Math 1 and 2 students. We noticed 24% of our students reported the energy of our school was neither negative nor positive.

So, we asked our students, “If you could choose one priority area of focus to change the way we feel about the energy of our school, what would it be?” The options we gave them included focusing on athletics, activities/clubs, school-wide lessons, mental health, community engagement, and classroom instruction.

Our students ranked mental health awareness as the number one priority to focus on in trying to increase the positive energy on our campus.

As staff, we do our best to care for our students. We know that caring for our students’ mental health is part of providing comprehensive education for them.

"The Mental Health and Wellness Center exemplifies our Sixer Community because it shows we care about our students' health whether it be mentally. Independence is truly a school that cares. " ~Ito Sardar, Freshman

Wellness Wednesdays

Every Wednesday during lunch, our social workers Ilse Ruiz and Tim Gale host Wellness Wednesdays, a way engage students in learning more about mental health. Consistency is the key. You never know when a student who may not know about the Wellness Center will walk by and learn about mental health and the resources available on campus.

Mental Health Awareness Week, May 2023

On Monday, we wore red to show the importance of practicing self-care. Self-care is crucial because it allows us to prioritize our physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing. Practicing self-care is an important investment in ourselves that can lead to a happier and more fulfilling life. Students were invited to practice self-care on senior stage at lunch by enjoying a round of giant Jenga, art activities, and being present with your peers.

On Tuesday, we wore yellow to represent the importance of being kind to others. Students stopped by the stage to write a note and share a sticker with a friend, family member, or teacher who has made an impact.

On Wednesday, we wore purple to represent the importance of self-perseverance. At senior stage, students shared affirmations that helped them get through the difficult times.

On Thursday, we wore blue to represent acceptance and recognize that it is okay to feel blue sometimes.. Just like when they were children, we enjoyed bubbles, which represented accepting change and served as a reminder that most things are temporary.

On Friday, we wore green to represent IHS’s commitment to mental health and to remind ourselves that mental health is important every day of the year.

Thank you to all of our students who participated in Mental Health Awareness Week!

Peek Inside: Ms. Jenny Wilson's Mindful Mondays

MHW Mindfulness.mp4

There can be this perception that mental health is siloed to therapy. There are concrete actions being done all around us that take care of students beyond their academic needs.

Mindfulness is being present in the moment. Practicing mindfulness can help reduce stress.

Daily and Weekly Check-Ins

Daily and Weekly check-ins are helpful in building school connectedness and community with our students. It is important for all students to feel welcomed and supported. Daily check-ins are one way teachers on campus promote an inclusive learning environment.

MHW Video 2: Daily Check-Ins 2023.mp4

Stop by A-204 and add a piece to our puzzle. This week’s highlight is Edgar Allen Poe. :)

My Accidental A-ha Moment

By Gretchen Larese, English Teacher

Earlier this month I bought a puzzle of classic novel covers and brought it into the classroom for students to work on. I wasn’t sure how it would go, but this is what I have discovered:

The puzzle gets students off their screens.
Those who finish work early move to the puzzle.
Stressed and anxious students like to work on it.
Students sometimes pop in during the passing period to add a few pieces.
They see the progress each day and want to contribute to the project.

The puzzle is helping students with necessary skills such as cooperation, collaboration and communication skills. They are learning that there is a step-by-step process to organizing 1000 pieces, and so far I don’t think they have learned those skills from any viral videos on TikTok. ;) At first the kids started putting pieces together and had little pods of colors all over the table, but once I started demonstrating how to put the edge pieces together first and then fill in the rest, they took off!

They have been discussing novels and authors as they work together, and they don’t even realize that they are having mini discussions about plots and genres. After we finished the classic novels cover puzzle last week, they asked for more! Challenge accepted!! I found a great store in Berkeley with an excellent variety of puzzles and games.

When I asked the students what they like about having a working puzzle in the classroom, their responses included, “I want to get my work done so I can get to the puzzle.” and “It’s a great way to use my brain differently.”

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