Gosh, why would anyone think lefties are traitors?

[Annie]

In Detroit, my partner and I created a program that stood as a buffer between hign school students and the police. Troubled students were assignerd to our program when they were on the verge of being kicked out of school or worse, going to jail. If they failed our program they weren't allowed back in school or the police would step in.

Sometimes it was hard being tough on these kids because you could see the pain in their eyes. Most came from broken homes and desperate environments.

An example was a 16 year-old girl who dressed, acted, and talked like a boy. She was as hard and macho as any boy in the program .. which led to her being constantly in trouble. But one day after our sessions, she asked me if I could take her home and I did. "Home" is far too generous for the environment she lived in. I realized that she was pretending to be a boy to keep others from taking advantage of her. She was hiding inside a character she felt she needed to play to survive.

Her teachers couldn't teach her because they couldn't reach her. She needed psychological help far beyond the scope of classroom teaching. We were able to get her that help and even able to convince her mother that having her daughter live with her aunt in a better neighborhood would be in the best interest of the child. The transformation was difficult, but at the same time incredible.

I believe she asked me to take her home so that I could better understand and I would do something about it. I will never forget her face, never forget her pain. I guess that even beneath my own tough exterior there is a wimpy living there .. because I cannot remember her without tears.

She and many others like her are why I strongly believe that sometimes teachers have to reach those children who come to class burdened by circumstance. I understand how difficult this is when you have a class of 40 students, but somehow we must find a way.

Ok, we're going to be a weird couple, that's for sure. Note my opening:

...I think in most circumstances by teaching them, we reach them.

what you site was the type of exception I was acknowledging. Children abused, neglected cannot learn until the problem is at least acknowledged and addressed where possible. If they are hungry, feed them. If they need help with social services, get them that help. If abuse is the problem, report the parents and protect the child to the best of one's ability, (If I suspect abuse I report it to DCFS, as teachers are mandated, but too often fear to do.) Oftentimes it seems like nothing is going on, at least for awhile. I make it a point to write notes home saying what a pleasure it is to have XXXX in my class, emphasizing what they do well.

When I first started teaching, the first part time gig I got was at a high school pretty close into the city. It was a grant program for high school students who had quit school and wished to return and for 'at risk' students that needed extra help. I was hired to teach constitution 2 nights and psychology 2 nights.

An average class had 15 students. Within a week they were usually down to 8 or 9. It was at that point that more conversations would start, but I always felt bad about those lost from the get go, but was told that was to be expected as a lot of them were gang bangers. Until about 5 years ago, I always got a Christmas card and occasional letter from one of the kids from that program. With the Constitution test passed, he graduated and joined the Navy. He always thanked me for giving him confidence and being respectful to everyone.

Funny thing BAC, not once did I feel the kids there were any different than the kids I teach now, in a much more affluent area; just older and more mature they were. Perhaps in a regular classroom there would have been more jockeying for position, but luckily I had small classes, in 8 weeks there was plenty of time to talk.

 

[blackascoal]

Ok, we're going to be a weird couple, that's for sure. Note my opening:

what you site was the type of exception I was acknowledging. Children abused, neglected cannot learn until the problem is at least acknowledged and addressed where possible. If they are hungry, feed them. If they need help with social services, get them that help. If abuse is the problem, report the parents and protect the child to the best of one's ability, (If I suspect abuse I report it to DCFS, as teachers are mandated, but too often fear to do.) Oftentimes it seems like nothing is going on, at least for awhile. I make it a point to write notes home saying what a pleasure it is to have XXXX in my class, emphasizing what they do well.

When I first started teaching, the first part time gig I got was at a high school pretty close into the city. It was a grant program for high school students who had quit school and wished to return and for 'at risk' students that needed extra help. I was hired to teach constitution 2 nights and psychology 2 nights.

An average class had 15 students. Within a week they were usually down to 8 or 9. It was at that point that more conversations would start, but I always felt bad about those lost from the get go, but was told that was to be expected as a lot of them were gang bangers. Until about 5 years ago, I always got a Christmas card and occasional letter from one of the kids from that program. With the Constitution test passed, he graduated and joined the Navy. He always thanked me for giving him confidence and being respectful to everyone.

Funny thing BAC, not once did I feel the kids there were any different than the kids I teach now, in a much more affluent area; just older and more mature they were. Perhaps in a regular classroom there would have been more jockeying for position, but luckily I had small classes, in 8 weeks there was plenty of time to talk.

I'm having an increasingly difficult time trying to find where we differ. Although we may use different words and different examples they end up saying the same thing.

Perhaps we aren't so weird after all.