Our first GED of the year!

E called today to tell me she had just found out online that she passed the GED exam--and not by just a little bit!  She had an average score of 530 which is good enough to enable her to enroll at IUSB.  She said she would come back to class to talk to everyone.

E is in her mid-twenties.  She has been a dedicated student and very involved in knowing and deciding what she needed to work on.  I asked her once if she would have had that kind of motivation when she was 17 or 18 like my younger students who have such poor work habits.  I wish I could remember what she said.  I know she said she always liked school and liked to read and that certainly helps.  She has a ten year old child but I think she said she tried to go to school again after she was born but it just didn't work.

In any case, this was her time to stick with it and do well.  And now she can go on with her life.

A miracle!

Over the years, I have sent several students to take the GED exam with pretty definite expectations of their passing.  Sometimes they don't and I am disappointed and of course, so are they!  Sometimes it's just one test that is below the minimum. But this time, the best possible outcome happened!

T has been in our classes off and on for three years.  We chatted in the spring almost four years ago and put her on the list for the fall.  At that point she was pregnant and caring for ten siblings because her mother had a stroke.  Over the summer, I recognized her name in the news when her newborn died under suspicious circumstances.  After investigation, it was determined that the baby died of SIDs.  T came to class the following fall with her 2 year old and three of her sisters of whom she had custody.  She has always been a class leader and an example to others.  One of the child care aides said "T is a gift."  She was the one who would be willing to speak on our behalf in public settings.  She even became trained in the Talk With Your Baby program and started leading sessions for others this fall at St. Margaret's House, a drop-in center in our city.

Last spring I applied for accommodations for T.  She passed the predictor tests without much to spare and only by taking them in the office by herself where she could read aloud, take her time, and use a calculator.  After months of waiting we were turned down by the official GED testing board because there was not enough discrepancy between her potential and her achievement.  This is no longer the definition of a learning disability in most assessments, but that was the reason given.  

T decided to go ahead and take the test anyway.  She felt terrible about her performance, saying she didn't have nearly enough time to do well.  I gave her credit for her courage in trying.

Meanwhile, I began to pursue other ways to get her accommodations.  I talked to the head of assessment of the school corporation and he advised I talk to the head of special education which I planned to do after Christmas break. 

Yesterday I was in the GED examiner's office working on attendance records.  I asked hesitantly if T's scores were in and learned that she had passed the exam!  I could not believe it, but I saw the numbers on the paper.  Every test was at least 20 points over the minimum and one was well over so she had a passing average--barely over the average, but barely is good enough!  

I called her and told her to check the documents online site where she could learn her scores.  She said she didn't have internet access, so I told her the good news.  She asked if I was happy!  Of course!  I was so happy that I have been telling everyone since then-- everyone in the adult education office, our small group that prayed for her, our church council that met last night, and all those who worked with her over the years in Family Literacy.  

Passing the GED demands a certain amount of ability including abstract thinking and skill in doing multi-step math problems.  It's not easy.  But she did it.  She has worked hard, but it takes more than hard work.  I am so grateful that she achieved this first step in opening doors for her.  Now we'll see what is next!

The Gospel According to St. Luke

I heard the Christmas story afresh yesterday and I was grateful.

It was our last day of classes so we had a brunch for the first class and a lunch for the second class.  I put a few activities on the whiteboard asking them to estimate the distance from South Bend to the North Pole, to do a Christmas calculator activity and word search, and to find the Christmas story in the Bible.  I found several Bibles of various sorts on the shelf upstairs where Granger Community Church stores books.

In the first class, I think E was the only one who could find the story in Luke 2.  When he told us the story was in Luke, several were able to find it in the table of contents of their Bibles.  Many had no idea of where to start.  When someone opens the Bible and reads Psalms, pronouncing both the "p" and the "s" and then reads Job with a short vowel, you know that Bibles are not familiar books to him or her.  I asked E to read us the story and he did so slowly and beautifully with his Kenyan accent.  We were all perfectly quiet, following along in our own Bibles.  I felt as if I were hearing it for the first time as possibly some of the students were doing so.   We also found the story of the wise men in Matthew and then others read that aloud.

The second class had a couple of students who knew the story was found in Luke.  There were others who expressed surprise that there was a Christmas story in the Bible.  Were they thinking the Christmas story was about Santa or Rudolf?  I don't know.

B had called in the morning and said she wanted to come back.  She said she had gotten into trouble which I knew.   I said it was our last day and we would meet again in January.  Later I called her and invited her to come today to eat and work.  I was thinking that she would be able to hear the Christmas story too.

In typical fashion, students in the first class brought food to share--soda, donuts, a chicken dish, an egg dish.  We had a feast!  Students in the afternoon class brought nothing but did enjoy the food immensely!  One woman called her mother to tell her about the spread--saying it was "fire!"

Shoplifting

Tuesday Tara subbed for me.  The plan was to give a cumulative math quiz and then use her computer expertise to check on the students' use of the  ITTS online program.  She emailed me that the class sessions went well, but the problem came after class.  She was kind enough to give B a ride to Walmart so she could get some posterboard for a presentation for her probation officer.  When B did not return to the car, she went in after her and found her in police custody for shoplifting.  I am curious about what this will do to her probation status.  Surely she was not shoplifting the posterboard.  She must have seen something else that appealed to her.  I wonder if she'll be back in class.  She must have received my warning letter and still returned last Tuesday.  The saga will continue!  Or possibly my role in it will end.

Who am I? The AM teacher or the PM teacher?

I'm flying from South Bend to San Francisco.  We're near Casper, Wyoming right now.  It's a long flight.  

Earlier this week I said I couldn't wait to get away.  It has been a week of contrasts—and I feel as if I have two different teacher personalities as I meet my two classes.  Today I met the morning class only so I am able to leave with a warm feeling about work.  

This morning was an exceptionally cohesive morning with only five students.   I don't know why there were so few.   It was very cold and windy outside.  Attendance always seems lower on Thursdays. Four of the five who came are really adults and test at middle school level or above.  

They wondered where C was because she is always there.  I said that she was in trouble and when I had asked her foster mother how we could help, she said pray for her.  W asked immediately if she was locked up and I did not say—but that is exactly where she is.  Their concern is an example of the positive classroom climate that is beginning to occur.

Our group lesson was on the Pythagorian Theorem and they were really engaged in learning how it worked.  E's reaction was to  call being in class “sweet.”   He was concerned about how one could find a square root without a calculator because after all, in the old days, we didn't have calculators.  I really couldn't remember how we did it, but suggested trial and error or guess and check.  M went to the computer and found a you-tube video in Spanish, unfortunately, that showed how to do it.  The lesson went so well that I pulled out an example of a problem from the GED predictor and they were all able to solve it easily.  N said he was really learning things. When he did make a mistake, he quickly admitted he had not read carefully. He said that he knew this was the place to make mistakes.  N left today saying “Thank you for being the way you are!”  

So that's the morning class.  Yesterday's afternoon class went well enough too—mostly because A and D and B were absent.  I wrote up warnings for both A and B and mailed them this morning.  It was so clear that those three are the culprits behind making that such a difficult class to manage.  I was able to handle the very low-skilled students with patience when I was not distracted by the talking and inability to work that they demonstrate daily.  I contrast their rudeness with E's calling me “Madam" in the morning! 

Have I written about B's using J's lighter to melt her hair extensions—in class?  Did I say that A refused to move to a private place to test and to stop talking while testing?  For good measure, I added B's inability to make any gains in two months on post-tests and A's unexcused absences twice in the last two weeks on my written warnings. 

At one point, I really raised my voice in the afternoon class.  I don't want to be that way.  I can't seem to figure out a way to coax mature behavior and concentration and respect from those three in particular.  It will be better for all of us if they drop out, but it makes me sad.

So I will concentrate on the progress the morning students are making and the positive feedback they give me.  And I will be glad to have a week—almost two weeks away from class.  

It is definitely a new job!

A follow up on B is that she made absolutely no gains on the post-test she took.  She did work quietly on the test and took a long time to do it.  She told me of a friend who got a GED in just 20 days when she was locked up.  She said she was going to take the test herself in December.  I told her it was very hard and she needed at least a 9th grade level in her work to pass.  I asked her if she wanted to try a practice test.

She spent probably two or three times the time limit in taking the reading predictor test and still failed it by quite a bit.  When I showed her the score, she said she'd have to try another one.  The idea of actually learning something in order to improve a score doesn't seem to be a part of her outlook!

On Tuesday I lost patience with D who had failed to take notes on my presentation on something last week and then refused to write an essay this week.  I gave her a topic of writing about a person she admired and she said she didn't admire anyone.  I told her she would not have options for the real GED, but eventually I gave in and gave her a topic of a job she would like to have.  Getting her to write one paragraph and then two paragraphs was so difficult.  She was defiant about not working.  So I wrote out a warning for her,  had her sign it and gave her a copy.  She was angry and said she would transfer to Bendix.  I asked her if she wanted to make the call right then!

I was very frustrated with the immaturity of the afternoon class and was really unsure of how to turn it around.  Maybe I am not the person to teach young black low-skilled teenagers.  At 9:30 pm I had the idea of writing a letter for a proofreading exercise, but in it I would express my thoughts about what adult education needs to be and how it is not worth showing up if you are not ready to work.

Much to my surprise, D and her sister A showed up the next day.  D worked pretty well although A needed reminders to stop singing and talking.  We proofread the letter, but I didn't comment any further on it.

The following day, I gave D a note praising her for coming back and working.  She proofread her essay which was pretty minimal in content and had numerous errors, but I determined could be passing.  She actually had a smile on her face when we finished working on it.

Maybe it will be a turnaround for her.  I know that when I show students that they are worth my high expectations,  they can begin to meet them.  We'll see.  The street is powerful and there are so many bad habits of distractions and noise and frustrations to overcome.

The point about this really being a "new job" is that I do feel I am starting over in many ways.  In Family Literacy, I usually had students from the previous year who knew me and trusted me and helped me set the classroom climate.  Now I have students from Miss Sally's class and they tend to be some of the hardest ones to get to work.  Plus I have these very immature teenagers who were kicked out of school, are in trouble with the law, and have low skills--but expect to get GEDs by their presence in class, not by the hard work of learning to read and write and  do math.

I am not one bit sorry I made the change, but there are definitely new challenges!

"What can you do with a problem like Maria?" or B?

I don't know.  I asked B if she had to be in class because her probation officer said so.  She said she was there because she wanted to be.  I told her I was not sure it was the right place for her because she gets so little done.

Today she came in with her bosom almost completely showing.  I pulled her aside to ask her to cover up.  She pulled up her shirt but it didn't  help much.  I asked her to keep her jacket closed.

Then she wrote a letter and filled out some application instead of doing the assignment on the board or the quiz she missed yesterday.    I  left her alone for quite a while.  When I did ask her to do some work, it was done only after much insistence on my part.  She texted during my instructions to the group and then asked how to do the work.  She began a reading test and even though she had done this on at least three occasions, she wrote in the book instead of the answer sheet.  Then she had to erase and ended up with just a few answers completed in about 20 minutes.

I would find my life much easier if I told her not to come back.  I may have to do that.  I would like  a post-test gain from her but didn't get it on the language test.  I'll try for the reading test tomorrow again.

   She has had almost perfect attendance and has called to be excused when she couldn't come.  I have praised her for that and even wrote an article in the newsletter congratulating her.  But her accomplishments in class have been very little.

  I looked up her IEP and noted that her mother was incarcerated at the time of the case conference and her grandfather acted as her guardian--which was spelled "gaurdian."  Her attendance at that time was very poor and was blamed for her lack of progress in high school.

I have prayed about her tonight.  Maybe there will be an answer tomorrow.  One answer will be that I will allow no cellphones tomorrow.   Maybe I will assign seats again too.