You remember that one of my ESL classes takes place in the county jail. I started teaching a group of adults there in September 2012--all Hispanic men from various Spanish-speaking countries, who had been in the U.S. for anywhere from 5 to 20 years. The youngest one was 27 or 28 and the oldest well into his 50s. Except for the occasional wisecrack, class went smoothly and for the most part, was really fun.
This semester they've added juveniles to my class load, plus more adults, so I have 14 guys over 25 plus 6 kids between the ages of 17 and 21. Some of these kids have been in the U.S. since they were just babies, so the U.S. is all they know. Some of them speak English better than Spanish, and I think most (if not all) are/were some kind of gang members. They're full of tattoos, piercings (using plastic pieces of a broken comb as jewelry now that they can't get to whatever they had before coming to jail), and huge personalities. I'm not afraid of any of them; they're basically all good kids, it's just that they act like the teenagers they are.
And they make teaching really difficult for me. I'm not good at classroom management: that's one of the reasons why I went into adult education instead of working at a public K-12 school. I want to teach students who want to learn. I know the guys who are in my class do want to learn, but they want to play, too. I feel like I need to have a tighter rein on disruptive behavior. Which isn't even anything I want to deal with!
Also, since they've come in, I feel the double weight of teaching English plus shaping futures. I feel like I'm teaching half a regular adult ESL class, and half 9th grade remedial English. The kids can speak English fine, but their writing is atrocious. I know I'm not a social worker anymore, but I want to do something to change these kids' futures while there's still time. But what can I do besides re-read Literacy With An Attitude and think about Paulo Freire? I never took any special education classes, or how to teach English literature classes. All I know is ESL . . .
One of my younger guys told me today that he's needed glasses for a while. "I always sat in the back at school," he said. "But I couldn't see anything, and the teacher, she never moved me, so I just quit coming after a while." I wonder if he would have still ended up in the Wake County Detention Center if he would have gotten glasses in middle school? That might be too much to ask, but just wondering . . .
What a change in students I've had over the past six months! The switch from co-teaching at a Japanese junior high school to being in charge of a program that serves immigrants and refugees from all over the world has been a big one. Even the mistakes they're making in English are worlds apart, worthy of a separate post.
In the meantime, give me some strategies for working with a multi-leveled, multi-aged class of kids and adults who have been in and out of the correctional system, but who are still trying to dream big. How can I help them without going crazy in the meantime?
Hold them to a higher standard than they've ever been held to before. Regard them as the people they want to be, not based on where they are or what they've done. They've most likely heard that they're nothing but if you treat them like something they will (hopefully) rise to that (yeah I know that sounds romantic but it worked for my moma!
ReplyDeleteThanks for that! I have a quote by my desk that says, "Treat a man as he is and he will remain as he is. Treat a man as he can and should be and he will become as a he can and should be." I don't want to lower my expectations of my students: I want to hold them to a high standard. I appreciate your comment!
ReplyDeleteIt's super-idealistic and admirable to want to shape every person you teach, but the reality is that you won't. That doesn't make you any less of an amazing teacher--it just means you can't save everyone, and that's okay. You do the best the can with the students who want to be taught; but I think that in addition to holding them to a higher standard, that you're honestly going to have to work on your classroom management too. It's not something that you want to do, but it'll save you a billion headaches--you really can't be as successful as you want to be without it. I work with a ton of teachers who lack this essential quality, and their instruction suffers because of it.
ReplyDeleteAlso, if you want to help your students dream big, help them realize that they've got to start small and build upon those little victories. Help them set small, achievable goals as they go throughout your lessons, and they'll be amazed at how much they've accomplished. :)
Hope this helps! ~ Candace H.