Archive for the ‘reading’ Category

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Weaned too early

July 13, 2010

I read on the Internet that when a kitten is weaned too early, it doesn’t get a chance to learn about acceptable (and non-acceptable) behaviors from its mom and littermates.

It just so happens that a litter was born four weeks ago at the rehab and I have woven this story into recent posts. At my break today I went to check on the kittens and was told they were all given away to family visitors over the weekend. There are two problems with this. One, they were much too young to be weaned from the mother; and second, I was promised the gray and white one. This is the first cat I would have had in 23 years and I got very attached to the idea of taking it home with me.

I leave work every Friday, and on Mondays I return to a board with the names of students who were kicked out of or simply walked out of the rehab. More often than not, one of my students’ names is listed on the board. I’m never really surprised or disappointed by who left because it comes with this kind of job. But to suddenly find the kitten I was promised missing really threw me for a loop. Even if the kitten miraculously returned I would put it back with its mother.

I realize that I am a bit of a mother figure to my students. I try to help them practice acceptable behavior, an attitude and manners that will help them in the workplace. When they get aggressive or needy I call them on it and steer them back to the reason they are in my school: holes in their early education. They were weaned too early from math and reading.

Posted in adult education, cats, education, math, parolees, reading | 1 Comment »

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143 words

June 18, 2010

The kittens have disappeared under the shed and now the mother cat spends most of her time there. So I celebrate this thing called hope and give a shout-out to everyone who reads my blog. There were 65,784,046 words generated on WordPress today and you are reading mine.  I’ll try not to overburden you with excess blog.

Marcus was the last one left in the classroom yesterday so I decided to read him a few pages from the book, You Are Enough. After I finished reading Marcus looked at me with tears in his eyes. “Was it upsetting?” I asked. “No, Ms. P, ” Marcus said. “No one has ever read to me in my whole life, that was the first time.” Marcus is 42. This morning he told me again how much it meant. I hope Marcus will join one of our in-class reading groups.

Posted in adult education, literacy, parolees, reading, teacher | Leave a Comment »

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Reading – the great escape

May 17, 2010

“Four policemen, frowning and looking at their watches, stood on the front steps of the hotel. One of the officers held two pairs of handcuffs, and another had two heavy chains slung over his shoulder.” We are reading aloud in a small circle in my classroom.  My students are all ears and everyone in the room at the computers is listening too. Is this a news story of a notorious criminal about to be arrested, a murder mystery, a Patterson novel? Far from it, we are reading a biography of Ehrich Weiss, known today as The Amazing Harry Houdini. We read about Ehrich’s early exploits charging the neighbors to watch him tightrope, tricks he learned working for a locksmith, and how he hustled selling flowers on the streets of New York.  We learn that his immigrant father, once a respected rabbi in Hungary, loses his job because of his heavy accent. I ask my students if they know what a rabbi is? One answers, “A teacher.” That’s right, I say, a leader and teacher of Judaism.” I tell my students that it’s a good thing Houdini’s family came to America in the late 19th Century.  If not, I say, Houdini might never have escaped anything. I feel that way about my family, I say, as I show them a tiny dot on a map of Russia; they got out long before the rise of Hitler. “Are you Jewish?” Ronald asks. “Yes,” I say. “You rich?” he murmurs. I just smile and roll my eyes, like “I wish.”

I often forget how street-smart my students are and at the same time most have never left the neighborhoods where they grew up. I may be one of the first Jews they’ve ever met, or at least the first who’s ever talked to them about being Jewish.

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Everyday life

May 6, 2010

Traffic has been light in my school the past few days. Yesterday, I only had two students after lunch. Both of these gals, in their 40s, are low-level readers — between fourth and sixth grade. I busted out my new set of easy readers, choosing one titled Reading Changed My Life, which contains three true stories. I sat with my students at a circular table and we began to read the one told by a Mexican woman who comes to the United States as a child in a migrant farm family. Poverty, abuse, and violence pervade her story. Her father is an alcoholic who beats her. She marries a man who raped her and has a daughter. Growing up poor and itinerant she never learned to read. However all that changes when, after leaving her husband, she picks up her young daughter’s Dr. Seuss books and starts teaching herself to read. It nearly brought me to tears working with my students, helping them to brave reading aloud. For me the saddest part was not the horrors of the story we read together but the fact that my students see this is as everyday life.

Posted in adult education, education, literacy, parolees, reading | Leave a Comment »