Prayer

Tuesday was rough.  I found ways to talk to B and to K about their behavior and I prayed about it.  Wednesday was much better with both of them and I took that as an answer to prayer.   This morning I specifically prayed for those two.  The answer to my prayer?  Neither one showed up in class today and neither one called.  It did make for a lot less stressful day.  Was that God's answer to my prayer?

A few laughs

Yesterday H told me he had left some of his work at the "crib."  I asked what was that--the crib--and D said that he couldn't believe I asked that.  A "crib" is your house.  I wonder how many of my colleagues know that!

Monday I used the Reading Profile tests with a student at the library class where I help out.  After misreading several multisyllable words on the Word Recognition list, she said, " I never was good at pronunsation."  I didn't correct her pronunciation or her thought.

And then I have had to chuckle about it being all right to say  "G D it" if you are an atheist according to one young man yesterday.  He also wrote that he was dylexic.  He certainly can't spell.  I have told the story many times of that dear student Kevin in my 6th grade class years ago who wrote on the top of his spelling test "I am dum."  He was smart enough, but he too couldn't spell!

Collaboration

My supervisor asked me to join him as a "learning partner" in the Teaching and Learning Initiative of our school corporation.  We meet with about two dozen educators, administrators and teachers, every two weeks.  There are six such groups.  We are working on a framework for evaluation and developing skills in collegial collaboration.

As a result, I have sent out two emails to my colleagues presenting  problems I am dealing with and asking for advice.  I have gotten great feedback and I think it is a way we can collaborate even if we are not in the same building.

Yesterday I asked for advice about a new student BD, a young man who came in last week smelling like alcohol and mouthwash.  His language was pretty bad with repeated use of a variation on the "f" word.  I warned him and he struggled with compliance.  He came two more times without the odor, but still needed warning about the language.  When he came out with a "GD it" yesterday, I had to write him up.  At that point I asked him if he had been drinking.  He said he had to do so before coming to class because he was so anxious.  I said he could not come in that condition and we could not tolerate his language.

Three colleagues responded and I hope to take their advice.  However, to my relief and to the relief of the other students, he wasn't in class today.  I think I will call him and help him find a medical clinic where he can get treated for his anxiety.  

It was tense yesterday with two lovely new students, both thirty some year old mothers who must have been appalled at the behavior of BD and a few other young'uns.  I also wrote up K for continued cell phone use.  There is plenty of flirting going on in the class and exchange of phone numbers, and it can get to be distracting!  

A postscript to the saga of B

After being assured that she would leave her cell phone home, I told B she could come back.  Her probation depended on it.  She returned, but the cell phone was back.  She had forgotten it in her pocket. She managed to leave it out of sight for a few days, but then it was back again--and she said she had to take a call from her probation officer.  A little bit of sleuthing determined her PO was out of the office that day.

She asked me if I could drop her off after class.  I assumed that meant at home which was not out of my way very far.  When we started out, she told me to bring her to her aunt's house which was a few miles in the opposite direction.  She was very rude about my objecting to this and never said thank you for the ride.

At that point, maybe because I was so tired of her behavior, I decided the cell phone business was the last straw and that she needed to be suspended.  I wrote it up for the PO and faxed it over the weekend.  I was able to talk to him before her court hearing.  I stressed that it is unfair to demand that someone be in adult education classes when it is not a good placement for them.  She could not work independently and had made no progress.

 I don't know the end of the story.  She may be back incarcerated at the Juvenile Justice Center.  There are successes--many of them.  I'll write more about one later.  But she is not and it makes me sad.  However, my life is easier without her.

Follow up a few months later:  I have heard from others that B is pregnant.  She had been pregnant before and had a miscarriage.  It is possible that this will give her a reason to grow up some!

A new student with a story

H began class last week.  He was there before I got there--which is always a good sign!  His math scores were terrific; his reading scores less so.  He said something to me about having lost 18 years of his life and knowing nothing about computers and those phones people have.  I figured that meant he had been in prison.  The next day he mentioned that he had been on Fox News in Chicago and something about his being in prison for something he had not done.  I don't believe everything I am told any more--not like I used to--so when I got home, I checked it out.  There he was, being interviewed on Fox News, earlier this month.  There was also a series of articles in the Chicago Tribune.

Eighteen years ago, when he was 15, he and three other young black men confessed to a rape and murder of a young woman.  Last fall, the Innocence Project in Chicago took up their case and linked DNA results to a serial rapist and killer who died himself of gunshot wounds in 2008.  The men were released and just a few weeks ago, it was determined that they would not be retried.

H has been in class every day.  He stays into the afternoon hours and works on his own.  He had to be shown how to use a mouse and a cursor on a computer, a skill I haven't had to work on with anyone for years.  He said education in prison was limited due to lockdowns.

He told me today he is in no hurry to go on with his life because he is adjusting to being out.  At some point he wants to go to college.  I am overwhelmed by the opportunity given to me to work with him.