WUBA

Jan 28, 2014

OMSH! I am so excited about my WUBA class! This fun little acronym stands for Wake Up & Be AWESOME which is exactly what we intend to accomplish. Jen, my trusty co-mentor, and I have eight youth in our class who have committed to do hard things. The class we are teaching used to be called TJYC or Thomas Jefferson Youth Certification and is an intense reading, writing, and discussion experience. We decided to change up a few things, including the name, from the original TJYC class to make it a better fit for us as mentors and a custom-fit for our students.

Yesterday we met with our students for the first time and it was a blast! They are brimming with excitement, desire to learn and grow, and most of all, life. They are alive. So many of the youth I see today are kind of dead. They have glazed over looks in their eyes and sort of a “come on, just try to teach me something” attitude that breaks my heart. But these youth are still curious, determined to learn, and thoroughly refreshing to spend time with.

Our theme for the class is conviction. We want our youth to find the principle they can stand on and then speak and write that message with conviction. To accomplish this goal, we are studying Martin Luther, Patrick Henry, Abigail Adams, William Wilberforce, John Brown, and C.S. Lewis. Our students will read a biography about each individual, do a document study of a speech or essay from the person, and write a persuasive essay. They will also be reading several other books, reading others resolutions in the book Resolved: 13 Resolutions for LIFE by Orrin Woodward and creating their own personal resolutions.

Yesterday at class we showed them this hilarious (and inspiring) speech by Taylor Mali. Oh my goodness, I love it so much. I WISH I had written it and delivered it, but since I didn’t I am going to memorize it so I can pull it out of my hat whenever it is needed. Here is another version with his voice delivering the speech, but the video is a cool typography display of his words. If you just want to read the text, you can find it here. Doesn’t that make you want speak boldly! Our students were laughing their heads off because they know, they completely know, our culture has been infected “by a totally hip and tragically cool interrogative tone? You know?”

These students are in for an adventure in growth, working their butts off, and finding their strengths and weaknesses. Jen and I will be right there with them working at least as hard!

Tomorrow is the first day of iFamily! We are all silly excited to be back in the groove of learning with our friends. Fisher and Annes have their backpacks ready by the front door and their outfits picked out. Both big girls are in theater productions this semester and rehearsals start tomorrow! We have never had two children in productions at the same time and I know it is going to be a bit crazy with two different rehearsal schedules. Hang on, the next 16 weeks are going to be quite a ride.