I Had To Ban The Word, 'Homie"

My new job is unlike any I've had before. I teach adults who want to get their GED. But I also help students right out of high school pass their high school exit exam. Basically, I have 2 or 3 classes running within my classroom. Very confusing and busy, but I think I have the hang of it.

The most interesting part of my job are the people I get to teach. I have some people who are only there to work on language skills because they have just arrived from another country. Then I have people who truly want to work on their skills to get their GED. But the most interesting group of students I have are the ones who don't want to be there. They have to be there as a requirement for probation or some other government program they are involved in like welfare. So getting them to show up consistently and actually do work is a chore.

We had a bit of a breakthrough last week. After reading some paragraphs we were working on writing, I made a whole class announcement that the word, "homie" was banned from all writing in my class. They didn't quite understand this, so I had to explain the difference between the spoken word and the written word. But this banning of "homie" led into an extensive and eye opening conversation about gangs, which is the world that most of them either live in or are familiar with.

I've learned lots about gangs, and what these particular students think of them. I've learned that:

-everyone is a homie

-wearing red or blue can be dangerous to your health--although they informed me that if they saw me at Target in red, they'd leave me alone because I am OBVIOUSLY not in a gang.

-people are born into gangs and it's a way of life.

-some would rather commit crimes as opposed to have a job

-a lot of it's about protecting neighborhoods and family members

-education is not valued very highly

Out of that conversation came understanding on both my part and theirs. But I think I have gained some respect in trying to learn about their lives instead of judging them. This morning they came in and made fun of my choice of music, because I told them I was into the Dave Matthews Band and Counting Crows. They actually tried to accuse me of having ticket to the sold out show for the New Kids On The Block. (yeah right:)

So I'm feeling good about my class. I never thought I'd be teaching gang members, but it's kind of exciting to me to be teaching people who have been counted out by the rest of the educational system.