A postscript to the last post: our morning class had a pretty good sense of those population numbers. Except for two young'uns, they are mature students. All of them have decent skills--and most probably have a chance to get a GED. What a difference in the two classes.
I look at the clock more this year than last. I wonder why that is. Last year it never seemed as if there never was enough time to do what I had scheduled. Of course, we had Parent and Child Together time at the beginning and end of the morning and with a break, there really wasn't that much more academic time available. This year I especially look at the clock in the afternoon. The day is longer for me and those afternoon students have so little zeal for learning.
So I will try not to despair about the fact that the lesson I had on equivalents with decimals, fractions, and percents was totally lost in 24 hours with two of the afternoon students. It was as if we had never done the lesson the day before. I had pulled out coins both days to "contextualize instruction." Me: "B, how would you write nine cents as money?" Written answer: 9, then .9. Me: "How would you write one dollar and nine cents?" Written answer: $1.09. Me: "So there is your answer!" But I really am not sure that the generalization took place. We'll see next week on the weekly review quiz!
So let me try to hang on to the positives. N, in the morning class, has passed three predictor tests and is thrilled. He is a community builder in class and very supportive to me. He works 12 hour shifts and is tired when he comes to class. Yesterday he apologized for taking a few calls from work (in Spanish, I noticed) and had to leave early. I think he has a position of responsibility at his factory--even without a diploma.
J, in the afternoon class, has very low math skills and language skills, but can read at about a 6th grade level. She has been very shy and reluctant to participate in any way. I have tried to encourage her to join in and not be afraid to be wrong. Her new year's resolution was to develop self-confidence and I already see evidence of that! So I can seize on the positives and encourage her. She was eager to share the population of the USA which she found on her cell phone. She has volunteered to read answers aloud. And maybe most significantly, she told me that the next time I do a newsletter, she would like to have me take her photo and include it!
Getting D, in the afternoon class, to write essays has been torture for me and her. She wrote one introductory paragraph on new year's resolutions last week. Yesterday I said she had 30 minutes to finish it and I would score whatever she wrote. She had only one more sentence written in the first seven minutes. I bit my tongue but did look at the clock and her paper--maybe obviously. She managed to write three more paragraphs with five minutes to spare. I asked for a concluding paragraph which she wrote. Then I asked for proofreading. She gave her essay a cursory look and made no changes. I scored her higher than I might have just to be encouraging. Her essay used the black state-of-being verb "be" instead of "am" or "was". One of her resolutions was not to leave the house after 11:30 pm because that was when people got killed in the neighborhood. Another was not to talk to people--which seemed to be code for not getting involved with any boys this year. The third one was the only positive one--to be nice to others. The essay was a glimpse into her negative attitude and her world.
The despairing part for me is that three students in the afternoon class are always there but probably will never have the skills to pass the GED exam. Yet they are determined and say they will if they try hard enough. In one case, B doesn't know how to try hard enough. The others mean well, but the ability isn't there. Sometimes I talk about how hard it is to get a GED and how you need to have at least 9th grade skills and how there are other options, but I don't say to them that it isn't going to happen. Is that dishonest? Sometimes I feel it is.
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