Luis Valdez Leadership Academy
Lion Roar
Week of May 4 - May 10, 2020
From Your Principal
Hello Leones,
As we begin the 4th week of Remote Learning, I have been thinking about you. The entire staff has been thinking about you. I have been thinking about those of you participating in classes and those of you that have had a bit more difficulty in making it to your remote learning classes. For those of you in routine, keep going, full steam ahead! If you have not logged on, do it now. Start today! If you need support, reach out! It is not too late. Do not worry, today can be your start. We want to see and hear you. If you have not completed assignments, it is okay, begin today. Start today. Do not worry about days missed. We are here to support you and together we will close this year as best as possible. Now more than ever it is important to stay connected.
Please read this week's newsletter, there are important tasks to complete this week, and do not hesitate to call me directly if you have any questions, 408-913-5009.
This is an opportunity to WIN the semester. It is not too late.
Your Principal,
Ms.Gonzalez
p.s. Be kind to each other, act in love, talk in love, and become love.
ACADEMICS
Struggling to get motivated??? A few things you can try:
Organize study groups with classmates. Meet virtually or over the phone and have someone share a motivation tip or quote each time!
Try the Pomodoro Method! Choose a task, work for 25 minutes (set a timer) then take a break. Repeat! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNBmG24djoY
Intent to Enroll forms are due Friday, May 8, 2020. Please discard the April 30th deadline on the form and return them by May 8th!
FROM THE DEAN OF STUDENTS
A message from Mr. Monroy!
Teacher Appreciation Week!
We LOVE Teachers!
#ThankATeacher during Teacher Appreciation Week, May 4-8, 2020!
Teachers change the lives of millions of young people every day—their immense work and impact moves us beyond words, so we need to share with them how we feel. With the abrupt end to the physical school year, our teachers have done even more to continue education with virtual classrooms and learning at home lessons. Our teachers guide you, serve as your advisors, and care for you deeply. They were heroes in preparing for remote learning, making the needed changes rapidly, and they are doing all they can to be present and there for you during this interesting time.
It's in these challenging times that we truly recognize and appreciate how our nation’s educators play such a pivotal role in young people's lives and we are so grateful and appreciative of each and every one of our teachers. So, shower teachers with appreciation and share how much you love, like, care, and appreciate them! Show some Lion love!
RESOURCES
Food Distribution:
Mondays: Our Lady of Peace (2800 Mission College Blvd Santa Clara, CA 95054)
Tuesdays: Our Lady of Refuge (Closest to LVLA) (2165 Lucretia Ave San Jose, CA 95122) (5PM-7PM)
Wednesdays: St. Martin of Tours (200 O'Connor Dr. San Jose, CA 95128) (9AM-11AM)
Thursdays: St. John Vianney (4600 Hyland Ave San Jose, CA 95127) (9AM-11AM)
Fridays: St. Lucy's Campbell (2350 S Winchester Blvd Campbell, CA 95008) (10AM-12PM)
Saturdays: Santa Teresa Parish (794 Calero Ave San Jose, CA 95123)
ACADEMIC COUNSELING CORNER
Hello Students,
I hope you are having a great start to the week. Last week I had live webinars and I presented the process of selecting classes for the next academic year. Below you will find a tutorial that will show you step by step on how to select your classes in Power School. If you have any questions please let me know and I will help you.
Best,
Mrs. Canales
English tutorial:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Rx18fOrAMwv_UtzOLpgBDlegjIfgLswd/view
Hola Estudiantes, Espero y se encuentren bien y esten teniendo un lindo comienzo al mes de Mayo. La semana pasada repasamos el proceso de cómo elegir classes para el año académico que entra. En este correo estoy incluyendo un video de como elegir las clases en Power School. Si necesitas ayuda por favor de dejarme saber y yo te puedo ayudar. Con cariño, Mrs. Canales
Spanish Tutorial:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dVqhTyylDNMfOkv05uB3dAKCiDI8bzPc/view
COLLEGE and CAREER
Happy May! The College & Career Pathway team is ready to support your college going and post high school plans. Be sure to respond to any communications we send, so that we can be sure that you are on track. Seniors, please respond to the survey below and finish strong with your classes and next steps for college. Sophomores and Juniors, please review the updates and take advantage of the opportunities to get started on your college applications!
Announcements for Seniors:
If you haven’t yet, complete the Senior Decision Survey! It is really important for us to have this information so we can best support you moving forward. We will start bugging you with reminder calls and texts next week:
Still need to finish up your registration for Community Colleges? Application & Next Steps Resources are here for you! Access this doc for information and videos on applying to CCs, setting up portals, and scheduling/completing orientations and counselor appointments.
Still Need Help Completing Any CC Next Steps?
Access our Google Meet on Wednesday, 5/6, where we'll go over the the steps you need to complete to enroll at a Community College: meet.google.com/yyf-ppps-uwz
Need help understanding your financial aid package? Text Brittany at (408) 430-7402!
Announcements for Sophomores & Juniors:
Sign Up for Junior Lesson on Majors and Careers this Thursday 5/7!
Sign up for a FREE college essay workshop series from June 1-5!: https://forms.gle/9F2eceaRNqCRyUex6
Details: Get a head start on your college essays! College essay expert Ethan Sawyer (The College Essay Guy) will provide a FREE college essay workshop series from June 1-5.
Complete this survey by Friday, 5/8 to sign up! The College and Career team will follow up with further details. This is open to all grade levels! Sign up form: https://forms.gle/9F2eceaRNqCRyUex6
Topics include:
Brainstorming + Picking a Topic (Other than Covid-19)
Homework: Write a first draft
Revising your first draft
Homework: Write a second draft
Upleveling your essay
How to Research Colleges (Without Visiting a Campus) - If you’re a 10th or 11th grader getting a headstart on college research, or a 12th grader still trying to decide where you’ll be the next four years, this guide covers four great resources.
All Grades:
Sign up for free classes through “Rainstorm”! Want to take a free class, taught by a college student? Think: short, interactive, and unique classes. Yoga! Cooking demonstrations! Rocket Science! Computer coding!
When is Rainstorm?
May 30 + 31, 12-5pm EDT / 9am-2pm both days
How Do I Sign Up?
Register for a student account on cloud.learningu.org (Register April 27 - May 13)
With a parent/guardian, agree to the codes of conduct
Fill out your student profile
Enter the student lottery
Once admitted to Rainstorm through the lottery, rank classes of interest
Check your class schedule and join us on the weekend of May 30/31!
Community College Resources:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CZZLTxx8-Y5wHOaiqdy8ABVEfkB4OLQxsI9rKgO_a8w/edit?usp=sharing
As always, email or text us if you have any questions or need any support! We will continue to post updates on your Class of Google Classroom site, so check that every few days, too.
Call or Text us via Google Voice:
Brittany: (408) 430-7402
Angel: (408) 766-0771
Information Technology
Birthdays
MAY
Aaliyah C. (4th)
Diana Ruby C. (5th)
Gerardo M. (5th)
Ariana J. (6th)
Evelen S. (6th)
Juan A. (7th)
Miguel Angel G. (7th)
Angel G. (10th)
Lesly R. (10th)
The Foundation for Hispanic Education Updates
MINDFULNESS
Mindful Listening
This exercise is designed to open your ears to sound in a non-judgmental way, and indeed to train your mind to be less swayed by the influence of past experiences and preconception.
So much of what we “feel” is influenced by past experience. For example, we may dislike a song because it reminds of us of a breakup or another period of life when things felt negative.
So the idea of this exercise is to listen to some music from a neutral standpoint, with a present awareness that is unhindered by preconception.
Select a piece of music you have never heard before. You may have something in your own collection that you have never listened to, or you might choose to turn the radio dial until something catches your ear.
- Close your eyes and put on your headphones.
- Try not to get drawn into judging the music by its genre, title or artist name before it has begun. Instead, ignore any labels and neutrally allow yourself to get lost in the journey of sound for the duration of the song.
- Allow yourself to explore every aspect of track. Even if the music isn’t to your liking at first, let go of your dislike and give your awareness full permission to climb inside the track and dance among the sound waves.
- Explore the song by listening to the dynamics of each instrument. Separate each sound in your mind and analyze each one by one.
- Hone in on the vocals: the sound of the voice, its range and tones. If there is more than one voice, separate them out as you did in step 4.
The idea is to listen intently, to become fully entwined with the composition without preconception or judgment of the genre, artist, lyrics or instrumentation. Don't think, hear.
Class of 2020 College Acceptances
Nancy M.
UC Berkeley
CSU East Bay
CSU San Jose
CSU Sacramento
CSU Dominguez Hills
Giselle M.
UC Riverside
UC Santa Cruz
CSU Humboldt
CSU Sacramento
CSU East Bay
CSU Los Angeles
Ana Brenda R.
CSU East Bay
Maria Yocelin R.
CSU East Bay
CSU San Jose
CSU Monterey Bay
CSU San Francisco
San Jose City College
Litzy E.
Evergreen Valley College
Class of 2020 UPDATES
College Decision Day is coming up and Graduation is around the corner! We understand that your senior year is nothing like what you may have expected. However, in an LVLA way, and keeping in mind our this COVID-19 era, we are finding a way to celebrate you.
Upcoming Events:
College Signing Day
Senior Check Out
Graduation
We have concrete dates and events for celebrations scheduled. You will be contacted as a class to share updates and preparations. A live Q & A session will be hosted during this week. Be on the lookout for an invitation this week.
ART CONTEST!
Guidelines
- Email your art to Ms.Gonzalez at ggonzalez@sjlvla.org by Friday, May 8, 2020 midnight, using your LVLA email account.
- Entry must be an LVLA student.
- Art can be any style, on an appropriate subject.
- Must be original work.
- Art must be free of vulgar, offensive, or inappropriate images and language..
People That Changed the World
Luis Valdez
Playwright and director Luis Valdez is thought to be the father of Chicano and Mexican American theater in the United States. As pioneer in the Chicano Movement, Valdez broadened the scope of theatre and arts of the Chicano community.
In 1965 he founded El Teatro Campesino, a theater of farm workers in California. This project inspired young Mexican American activists across the country to use the stage to give voice to the history, the myths, and the present-day political concerns of Mexican Americans. In later years, Valdez has tried to portray Mexican American life for a mainstream audience, and his popular 1987 film La Bamba, helped him do that.
Valdez was born in 1940 in Delano, California, into a family of migrant farm workers. At the age of six he began to work in the fields with his parents and brothers and sisters. Because his family had to travel around California's San Fernando Valley following the ripening of the crops, his education was continuously interrupted. Despite this, Valdez managed to finish high school and to attend California State University, San Jose. He majored in English and explored his interest in theater. While in college he won a writing contest for his play, The Theft. Later, the college's drama department produced The Shrunken Head of Pancho Villa, his play about the problems facing a Mexican couple in America.
After graduating from college in 1964, Valdez joined the San Francisco Mime Troupe, but he couldn't give up telling stories and writing plays. During this time he learned the techniques of agitprop (agitation and propaganda) theater, in which a play puts forth political views and tries to spur the audience to act on those views.
After graduation, Valdez spent the next few months with The San Francisco Mime Troupe, where he was introduced to agitprop theatre, guerrilla theatre, and Italian commedia dell'arte.[3] These two techniques greatly influenced Valdez's development of the basic structure of Chicano theatre: the one-act presentational acto (act).
In 1965, Valdez returned to Delano, where he enlisted in Cesar Chavez' mission to organize farm workers into a comprehensive union. Valdez brought together farm workers and students to form El Teatro Campesino, a farm worker's theater troupe. El Teatro was known for touring migrant camps with their ACTOS, one-act plays, which were usually around fifteen minutes long. The plays were used to educate and inform not only the farm workers, but also the public. Valdez believed that humor was a major asset to his plays in El Teatro Campesino as it was a tool to lift the morale of strikers. Social and political commentary were intertwined within the humor to accomplish the goals of El Teatro Campesino. Original plays of El Teatro were based on the experiences of farm workers, but by 1967 their subject matter expanded to other aspects of Chicano culture; Los Vendidos, for example, discusses various Chicano stereotypes.
Although Valdez left El Teatro in 1967, his legacy lived on. Thanks in large part to Valdez and El Teatro Campesino, the 1970s saw an explosion of Chicano theater. Theater groups sprang up with surprising speed on college campuses and in communities throughout the United States. What began as a farm workers' theater in the migrant camps of Delano flooded into a national Chicano theater movement.
In 2016 Luis Valdez Leadership Academy opened in his honor with a vision to empower students to share their voice through film. Did you know that our/your teachers, Mr. Valdez and Ms. Valdez, are Luis Valdez' niece and nephew?
Learn More
This is Us! https://youtu.be/isPFm9A_xRM
Necessary Theatre: Luis Valdez: https://youtu.be/3-DaYL8cx9o
DIY Nail Polish Phone Case!
HAVE AN IDEA TO SHARE? CONTACT MS.GONZALEZ!
School Contact Information
Instagram Follow us @sjlvla
Website: www.sjlvla.org
Location: 1855 Lucretia Avenue, San Jose, CA, USA
Phone: 408-384-4015
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sjlvla