Elkhart, Indiana, and a vague clue as to why the unemployment rate there is so high...
Generations of people who could simply walk out of school and get a job at 'The Plant'. $19.00 an hour with likely full benefits for installing decals on RVs? $19.00 an hour for a high-school dropout? I do not believe that 'formal schooling' necessarily makes anyone smart or educated, but I'd hate to try to have anything resembling a decent conversation in Elkhart. A lot of people where I live respect knowledge and education, and make efforts to educate themselves and learn new things; but far, far too many have no interest whatsoever in knowing anything outside of what they already know. "Why I gotta learn that? I ain't never gonna need to know nothin bout that!" is a common refrain.
People walk around with blinders on.
I had a nine-year-old girl say this yesterday:
Staff: That's a pretty necklace! Is it new?
Girl; I be have it.
Staff: I'm sorry?
Girl (louder): I be havin it!
Staff: I don't understand, sweetie, you're being... what?
Me: She's had the necklace for a while. Hey, let's keep playing Alphabet Bingo!
The next letter is... A!
Boy: Me gots it!
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Domestic Violence
I've come to the conclusion, recently, that 90% of problems in classroom management are violence-related. By that I mean people so conditioned to 'being smacked' and physically fighting with siblings, family members, etc. that concepts of self-discipline don't really apply.
I've taken polls. I've asked kids what their home lives are like, and the biggest problem kids are the ones with violent home lives. They 'act out' and they get beat; they do something 'wrong', they get beat; they lose a library book and cost their parents $14.00 they get beat.
After a while nothing affects them.
So, you go in and try to communicate to them about concepts of self-control and self-awareness, and they are functioning on an almost entirely physical level, with a range of 'emotions' and 'feelings' that range from a simplistic, animalistic scale from physical pleasure to physical pain. And that's it.
It's all reactive, and they are not accustomed to proactivity. They don't know what it is. They do a worksheet 'right', they get rewarded, if they do it 'wrong' they get punished, which to them means physical violence; and they are so conditioned to such off-the-wall levels of physical pain they are unable to respect anyone who doesn't dish it out.
Crazy.
I gt really sick of hearing about 'whuppins' and 'beatins' and 'buttkickins'. All it does is make my job immeasureably more difficult.
It wa also pointed out to me by my supervisor that I am required to 'report to the appropriate authorites' any knowledge of 'child abuse', in an environment where virtually everyone uses physical chastisement to some degree. It becomes a judgement call as to what is appropriate or within reasonable limits! How am I supposed to make that distinction?
Some kid tells me he got whalled on with a belt for breaking his mother's favorite Hummel figurine, is that abuse? Some kid tells me his mom 'whupped' him with an electrical cord for breaking her car windshield with a basevball, is that too extreme?
Kids come to school all the time looking like they've been thrown in a pile of barbed wire, with old scars under new ones and injuries, bruises, cuts, bumps, scrapes, and burns. Many of these kids simply lead chaotic, extroverted lives, and damage themselves constantly. The most effective sports here are parking lot B-ball and wrestling. Everyone fights with their siblings, most of the time physically. So what to do about any of that?
I'm open to suggestions.
I've taken polls. I've asked kids what their home lives are like, and the biggest problem kids are the ones with violent home lives. They 'act out' and they get beat; they do something 'wrong', they get beat; they lose a library book and cost their parents $14.00 they get beat.
After a while nothing affects them.
So, you go in and try to communicate to them about concepts of self-control and self-awareness, and they are functioning on an almost entirely physical level, with a range of 'emotions' and 'feelings' that range from a simplistic, animalistic scale from physical pleasure to physical pain. And that's it.
It's all reactive, and they are not accustomed to proactivity. They don't know what it is. They do a worksheet 'right', they get rewarded, if they do it 'wrong' they get punished, which to them means physical violence; and they are so conditioned to such off-the-wall levels of physical pain they are unable to respect anyone who doesn't dish it out.
Crazy.
I gt really sick of hearing about 'whuppins' and 'beatins' and 'buttkickins'. All it does is make my job immeasureably more difficult.
It wa also pointed out to me by my supervisor that I am required to 'report to the appropriate authorites' any knowledge of 'child abuse', in an environment where virtually everyone uses physical chastisement to some degree. It becomes a judgement call as to what is appropriate or within reasonable limits! How am I supposed to make that distinction?
Some kid tells me he got whalled on with a belt for breaking his mother's favorite Hummel figurine, is that abuse? Some kid tells me his mom 'whupped' him with an electrical cord for breaking her car windshield with a basevball, is that too extreme?
Kids come to school all the time looking like they've been thrown in a pile of barbed wire, with old scars under new ones and injuries, bruises, cuts, bumps, scrapes, and burns. Many of these kids simply lead chaotic, extroverted lives, and damage themselves constantly. The most effective sports here are parking lot B-ball and wrestling. Everyone fights with their siblings, most of the time physically. So what to do about any of that?
I'm open to suggestions.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
I'm getting better at writing incident reports.
7th grade math class.
And it was a lot harder than a '4', but I'm not going to admit to getting beaten up by a 13-year-old girl, when I could not hit back.
In other news, a boy (again, in 7th grade math class) asked me what my tattoos say and/or mean; this is not uncommon. They are in Serbian, and I typically make everyone guess what alphabet they are in after writing the words on the chalkboard. the exchange went something like this:
Kid: What your tattoos say?
Me: (Explanation)
Kid: I gots a tattoo too!
Me: That's cool, where, and of what?
Kid: On my chest, and it's my son's name.
Freeze!
Ow.
Due to a variety of circumstances I won't describe just now, I ended up having to exercise my best available option for time-constrained transport yesterday evening, which resulted in my biking (yes, the pedal bike) eight miles in Wisconsin winter, on icy trails and streets.
The first section was okay, as the sun was out and it was about F25, but about 6:00 PM the temperature dropped to about F6, which made for some pretty frigid riding. And my butt hurts.
Due to a variety of circumstances I won't describe just now, I ended up having to exercise my best available option for time-constrained transport yesterday evening, which resulted in my biking (yes, the pedal bike) eight miles in Wisconsin winter, on icy trails and streets.
The first section was okay, as the sun was out and it was about F25, but about 6:00 PM the temperature dropped to about F6, which made for some pretty frigid riding. And my butt hurts.
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