Archive for the ‘adult education’ Category
February 23, 2010
I didn’t always teach adults who dropped out of high school. There was a time when I taught K-12 and specialized in secondary school Art. I taught watercolor painting and beginning art history and aesthetics. But I was also required to teach subjects I had no training in, like science and physical education. I still have materials from when I taught Middle School, extra-curricular worksheets in basic art techniques like shading and perspective. Now, sometimes when my adult students are studying geometry on our classroom computers, I hand out a worksheet on shading the basic geometric shapes. One worksheet shows a cartoonish mad scientist in his laboratory. It instructs the students to pick one light source in the picture and, using a pencil, shade the lab. I passed out a few of these sheets at the rehab. “Why are you asking us to shade a meth lab?” my students asked. “It’s not a meth lab,” I said, “the scientist could be inventing a cure for cancer.” I quickly took back all the sheets. “I don’t want to get anyone in trouble here.” Including myself.
Posted in adult education, meth, parolees, rehab, teacher | Leave a Comment »
February 17, 2010
Carlos knocked on the back door of my school today. “Can I come in? You know I split and I’m not supposed to be here but I was wondering if you could look up my scores on the GED test I took two weeks ago?” Carlos looked different. He had cut off his dark curls, he looked…conservative. He told me he was living with his family and had a good job. I looked up his scores. He passed all five sections of the GED, but he failed the exam because he was short 20 points. Carlos scored 2230 and he needed a score of 2250 to pass. His average was 446 and you need a 450 overall to pass. Heartbreaking.
Still, he was optimistic. We both agreed he should retake the writing section. He blamed his low score in this area on a malfunctioning pen they gave him. “I gave you a brand new pen for the test,” I said as I handed him my card. “Call me when you get the results on the re-test.”
Carlos giggled. It’s odd to hear a grown man giggle but I got used to it and will even miss it a little.
Posted in adult education, education, GED, parolees, students, teacher, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
February 9, 2010
Several of my students will be out tomorrow getting their teeth pulled. These extractions will be done for free by university dental students. Needless to say many of my students have destroyed their gums by smoking crack or meth. Recovery isn’t just about avoiding old habits, it’s about confronting and working on the devastation caused by old habits.
I had my first dental scaling last Sunday and was reminded of trepanning and other archaic medical practices. I asked the hygienist if the scraping was harmful to the teeth. “Oh no,” she said, “it’s like removing the barnacles from the bottom of a boat.”
So now my mouth is seaworthy.
Posted in adult education, drug recovery, meth, parolees, rehab, students | Leave a Comment »
February 3, 2010
Carlos is taking the GED exam tomorrow. I gave him several new pencils to take with him, solid cedar, not like those inferior “Depot” pencils. He was definitely a little nervous, coming and going today, not knowing what to do with himself. I told him to relax. He’s studied for over 250 hours and passed every section of the Pre-GED. Carlos is only 24. He has the potential to get his diploma and move on. I was trying to think of some success stories over the years, students who got out of the system for good and closed the door behind them. Students who went to art school, who entered the university, became drug counselors, they are the exceptions. Parolees who got their GED stand out. I’ve seen real progress. Maybe Carlos will become an X-Ray tech or maybe he will work in the oil fields like others in his family.
Posted in adult education, education, GED, parolees, students, teacher | Leave a Comment »
January 20, 2010
This is my tenth entry. I’m pretty sure this is a solo venture. If you are out there and have read any of my entries please leave me a comment, just a note to let me know this is different from keeping a private journal. Today my student Terrence wrote a letter, a response to his mother whom he hadn’t heard from in over a year. Terrence is a transsexual, male to female, and one of my favorite students at the rehab. He is moody and boldly honest and he out-dresses us all. He wrote that he didn’t have anywhere to go when his time at the rehab is up. Sometimes I wonder if he relapsed and returned because our community is a safe haven for him. He tried to explain to his mother that life is worth living, that he was hurt in the past when she hadn’t been there but didn’t hold on to resentment. I loved the end of his letter where he wished everything good for her, a nice home, a good job and a car.
Posted in adult education, drug recovery, education, parolees, rehab, students, teacher | 1 Comment »
January 18, 2010
A new student says he has a low reading level but makes his money counting cards; says he has been kicked out of several casinos, can count up to 5 decks at once. Meth and more meth. Carly told me she had her pregnancy terminated because the baby wasn’t developing. Rain and more rain. Even adults need to be read to. I might read The Little Prince to my students, the perfect antidote to Avatar. Hope and more hope.
Posted in adult education, education, parolees, students, teacher, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P A R O L E . C A L L 