Teach What Helps

Peter was a former special education student of mine with an IQ of 75.  In spite of his limited intellect, he learned how to cover up his disability.  He was a personable young man and easily got a job in a nearby fast food restaurant.  He worked hard and was promoted to manager, a job he did exceedingly well most of the time.  I say most of the time because he had a big problem when the computer that ran the register went out.  He couldn't make change and needed someone to help him out.

I remembered Peter today when a friend told me the story of a cashier who didn't know what to do with the dime he was handed when the change due was $9.90.  I told this friend the story and he was glad.  He never thought of people being too limited to even make change.  I then told him about a girl I taught several years earlier who would not ride the bus by herself because she could not count out the four quarters she needed for her fare.  No one would have guessed this about her.  She looked like you and me.

Things are different today.  These two students would probably be in an ICT class because some administrator or guidance counselor with an IQ slightly above that of those two kids decided it was right for them.  They would not be able to pass.  If by cheating some miracle they did pass, what good would it do them?  College should never be in their future.

I don't know what happened to the young woman but Peter's life has been a success.  He got a job sweeping floors at a major company.  The guys liked him and taught him to drive the truck, a job that paid a lot more money.  He married a registered nurse and became the father of two wonderful children.  He didn't waste time or money pursuing a college education, something he never could have completed.

Make It Fun And Give Them What They Can Do

(The soap dispenser in the trailer I covered a class in.  Most conditions are not as bad as they used to be, but other things  never change.)

The kids in the English class don't like school much and some can't read or write very well, but the teacher is great and is managing to make progress with them.  He read some def jam poetry with them, which the kids loved, and then had them write their own, focusing on the neighborhoods they live in.  He helped them clean up their spelling and their grammar (without losing integrity of their poem) and hung the poems in the classroom.  He found a fun way to get them to learn.

I covered an ESL class for a friend last week.  He told the kids to find a partner and pair up.  (The math teacher in me had to go through odd and even numbers and divisibility, giving them English terms for concepts they already knew.)  Their assignment was to create a dialog between a student and a teacher, where the student would be asking for a higher report card grade.  The kids seemed interested, but as soon as he left the room, they became kids again and tried to avoid the assignment.  I quickly picked up my camera and pointed it at the boy who thought he would be getting away with a card game.  I said, "I don't know your name, but the camera doesn't lie."  The cards went away and the work began.  I was in awe as I watched this group of ninth and tenth graders working together, looking up words and putting them down on paper.  I wondered why they never did the same during math.  And then it occurred to me, they were having fun!  


A writing assignment in an English class is something everyone can do.  There are no wrong answers.  While previous knowledge is required, it is knowledge they have.  You can't do this in math.  I'm not saying writing is easy, or that the work will be masterful, but it is approachable.

I heard the Principal say he needed to find out why some kids behave better in some classes than others.  I think I've stumbled upon an answer and that is the ability to have fun and succeed, to do both at the same time.  I've seen art projects kids do for English and I've heard about the movies they watch.  We can't do those things.  While math is fun for the teacher, and we try to make it fun for the kids, the bottom line is that it is work, work that cannot be disguised.  Math has no gray areas of right or wrong.  The misspelled word in an essay is not the same as a misplaced decimal point.

I should have been an English teacher.