Tutoring Pleasures and Pitfalls

One of the parcel of activities I do to keep afloat is tutoring in the public school system.

While there is much to debate about the value of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) as a policy, and it’s impact on education, it is this policy that funds what I do, and I am convinced that my part of the puzzle has value. And the system that delivers this supplementary educational product is fraught with pitfalls. Like most of our national policy, it is couched in complexity, legislated in language that seems designed to be obscure, and the relevant data to address a particular concern is a challenge to procure.

I’d love to be able to point to studies that verify my “foot on the ground” findings. I’d love to be able to address my concerns to the proper persons. I’d love to find the right pressure points to push for a more effective results from this system I’m caught up in, but I don’t have the resources in time and energy to do so. Besides, I’d rather teach. And I can easily share the bottom line of my research, there’s just not enough opportunity for teaching in our public schools. We need to do everything we can to support the human element in the educational transaction.

Personally, there is no greater sense of achievement than witnessing student progress and interest. I am an odd duck: I have always loved learning. If I can instill just a teaspoon of my enthusiasm for this discovery process in my students, I give myself a virtual gold star!

A 4^th grade boy says, after finally getting focused attention on some simple math strategies, like, for instance keeping the numerical columns straight so that he doesn’t make mistakes when adding up the results of multi-column math, “Wow! I feel like I just got new batteries!” I don’t fault his classroom teacher for not being able to get this notion working for him, because Iknow how challenging it was, working one-on-one, to achieve this success. Progress is incremental, and often requires individualized attention.

Entering the library, where she waits for me for a half hour to begin our sessions, I discover a 7th grade girl of Pueblo heritage bent over the stacks, reading! She doesn’t want to stop for our regular instruction; she motions me to “Come look.” On her own she has found a book about Pueblo Culture in New Mexico, and she wants to show me some pictures from her ancestral Pueblo, her grandfather’s house.

What a breakthrough for this young girl who is struggling to maintain interest in school in the midst of myriad distractions, including younger siblings at home, puberty, and a history of not getting what she needs to be successful in the classroom. No blame here, just how things are.

Many of the students I encounter tutoring just need a tailored approach to revive their interest in learning. They also need success. Most frequently I find that the students I see suffer from compound failures – to the point where they have already learned that they are “stupid” by the time they are in 4th grade. Perhaps the most essential task for a tutor is to convince these students that success in school is possible – they need to experience this feeling before they can hope to become willingly engaged in the challenges of learning new skills.

With my Pueblo tutee, I hit on success by a fortunate “accident.” I had been visiting the Bandelier National Monument and rushed back to Albuquerque to tutor. I had collected a brochure from the Park, and out it popped when I was searching my bookbag to figure out what reading material to work on with my student. Thinking, well, it has graphics and lots of new vocabulary about culture, nature, and archeology, I spread it out on the library table. Bingo! My student was fascinated with this material and we read both sides of the brochure. She had heard of this ancient pueblo site, but had never been there. That’s when she began talking about her Pueblo, and I knew that we had unlocked a new pathway for her to find pleasure and value in reading.

My point here is that tutors have time and opportunity to be creative and experimental in working with students, and, as a tutor I can concentrate on what works for the individual in front of me rather than what might work for a whole class.

The pitfall is that tutors don’t have ENOUGH time. Each child is allotted a mere 23 hours. It takes 5 or 10 hours just to earn respect and trust from a child who has not had a positive experience in school. Sometimes it takes 5 hours just to get a child to sit still and begin to focus their attention. It’s important to establish a dialogue with each student, and this frequently means “time off” from a strictly educational focus. I haven’t found a way to do this “instantly,” observing a child’s learning style and the deficits I need to address takes time. It also takes time to discover what material sparks their interest. Each year, I get a bit more perceptive, develop better strategies.

Each year I am also disappointed when I find, just as I am finally getting some success, I only have five hours left with a student. It seems very wasteful that there is not enough time to cover more ground and reinforce the learning process once it’s begun.

I encourage my readers to forward this story to their public officials and to people who administer schools. Another 10-20 hours per year per student involved in tutoring could make a massive difference in school performance. It would make this tutor happier also.

Now about those "incentives' for graduates:)

A Granny Visits GAZA

On March 20th, I received this Granny Email…
Grannies,
I just got back from a 2 week stay in Gaza!
We were an international presence who, after protesting overnight, succeeded in having the border opened. Some of the people we were with to get the Rafah Crossing open are organizing an ongoing international presence to open and keep open the Egyptian/Gaza border.
Please consider getting involved in a "Grannie presence" at the Rafah border.
More to follow.
Grannie hugs from Paki,
Western Massachusetts Gaggle
Gaza, the prison without a roof! Photo, Paki Wieland
Dear Paki,
I have a blog site and would be delighted to publish something about your recent visit to Gaza.
It has occurred to me that if we could put a Granny on every block in Gaza maybe these traumatic incursions would be less likely.

GrannyNel From Albuquerque Gaggle




Dear GrannyNel,

I love the idea of so many grannies stopping violence, in Gaza, or wherever we are! We have seen suffering, resilience and resistance! I am pursuaded that there will not be resolution to violence, injustice in the Palestinian lands, but we each do her part.
What I have come away with is a deep appreciation for the people of Palestine.
The Israelis want security and the Palestinians want justice. I do not believe they are mutually exclusive! The leaders on all sides need to be led by the people, they do not seem capable to think beyond the old programs of "us/them."
As grannies, we have a deeper wisdom; we know that all children are our children, our grandchildren. As members of the global community, we the people of the world may have to put ourselves in the way. I have a modest proposal, please circulate is, edit or do what you will if it resonates with you.

Thanks! Paki

A proposal—Drop “Terrorism”!

I have just returned from a very troubling visit to Gaza. Mental health reports suggest that 98% of the people are suffering greatly from the trauma of the recent war on them. There are many practical actions we can take on behalf of the suffering people of Gaza. However, I have another suggestion for peacemaking.

Lets drop the word “terrorist” from our discourse. It undermines the meaning of language, which is to communicate. “Terrorist” not only short cuts conversation but, unless we deconstruct the word, it is a block to understanding. And isn’t the purpose of conversation, to understand the other person and to make oneself understood?

"Terrorist” has become such a buzzword, with the underlying assumption that we know what each other means by the word. It seems to me that the label “terrorist” is applied by those in power, those who name, to those who are subjugated, the powerless.

As I scan the history of the U.S. in light of those who are currently called “enemy combatants,” I wonder about the people we today call Patriots. Many of them would meet the criteria for "enemy combatants:" insurgents. Many soldiers in the colonists war for independence from England did not wear uniforms, and were not regular army!

More recently, in Ireland, the Irish Republican Army was considered a “terrorist” organization. Today, Gerry Adams, a member of the political branch of the IRA, Sinn Fein, holds a government position. The Jewish freedom fighters in the 40’s were considered “terrorists.” They later became government leaders of the State of Israel. And so it goes, but this is more than an issue of semantics.

Today, knowing the history of the indigenous people of North and South America, of Africa, Australia, and Asia, I pray that we will learn from those crimes against humanity. In the ancient land of Palestine, the U.S, Israeli, and Palestinian governments have the opportunity to do what is right.

For the sake of our children and our children’s children, it is time to say goodbye to the discourse of modernity reflected in notions of hierarchy, the either/or, and to embrace the possibilities for us in our ever expanding universe.

What is our calling as humans if not to see all women and men as our sisters and brothers? And is not every child your child?

A small step for the human race is to clean up our language by not using the word, “terrorist!” Please give it a try.

Thanks, Paki Wieland

HEAT

January 2009

Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). The LIHEAP program helps low income families pay heating or cooling costs with a once-a-year benefit. The benefit can be used to help pay gas; electric; or bulk fuels, such as propane, firewood or wood pellet bills. This year’s average benefit per family is $309. A family of three earning up to $26,400 can qualify for this program. There are 65,960 families participating in this program. (From a New Mexico Human Services publication entitled "Human Services Department is Prepared to Help New Mexicans During Difficult Economic Times."

For about $2000 a homeowner can dramatically reduce their heating bills by installing a solar-powered heat collector on their roof or the south side of their dwelling. The annual savings would likely be more than a LIHEAP allocation (50-75% of fuel costs, more in sunny locations). This would be a great starting place to use solar power in your home if you live in a state where there are sunny days in winter. Obama’s Recovery program SHOULD get behind this.

My HOT PROPOSAL is that homeowners on fixed limited incomes, perhaps not quite a low as LIHEAP demands, should be allocated very low interest loans to install these charming recirculating air collectors on their homes. I have it on good authority that with these air collectors on your roof or a south-facing wall you won’t need other heat from 9 am til perhaps 7pm in a home that is properly insulated, and that the technology is simple and low to no maintenance. These collectors don’t even need power to help circulate the air, a small solar panel is all that is needed to run a fan. They even provide heat when there is a power outage as long as there is partial sun on the panel.

In New Mexico, where the percentage of "poor" folks who own their own homes is higher than many states (48% of "poor children" live in owner occupied housing in New Mexico, as opposed to 34% in Maryland) , this proposal is particularly relevant, especially since earned income figures are much lower in this state than the national average.

A contractor I interviewed recently to get quotes on a number of minor renovations for my home testified that his home, where the previous homeowner had spent substantial money on solar devices, has these “air-to-air” heat collectors. The other systems, water heating solar devices, have been abandoned because of leakage. But the air-to-air devices work like a charm. He says he pays $140 per year to heat a 2000+ square foot home. This really prompted my interest!

People on fixed incomes, as huge proportion of our population will be with the “retirement” of the baby boomers, need to utilize every option to reduce fixed expenses. If we were given encouragement, and tax rebates won’t do it because we have so little taxable income in the first place, we would be the pioneers in adopting solar power in our homes. A fundamental truth about technological innovation is that the MORE folks who get on board, the more bang for the buck. We have all watched the declining price of personal computers.

The benefits of moving away from everyday use of our scarce non-replenishable natural resources, and particularly petroleum and coal combustion with its nefarious impact on our environment (natural, social and political), are so vast as to be incalculable. This piece of the puzzle is virtually “shovel ready.” Let’s provide the means to implement it now!!!

Let’s also enact legislative changes to all federal, city and state subsidies towards the construction of new housing to ensure that effective and economical solar heat collectors are part of the development package. This proposal we might want to enforce a few years out from the loans I mention above. We need to allow time for the manufacturing segment to catch up, because to date there are only a handful of companies manufacturing these devices and the larger population doesn’t even have a clue that this alternative exists.

If you are among them, I urge you to visit this website. After much research it’s the most informative site I’ve found. http://home.att.net/~cleardomesolar/BISFAheatingpanels.html

I encourage my readers to forward this blog to their local and federal legislators. Let’s stop throwing good money after bad by our expenditures on LIHEAP. Let’s move on to a more rational use of our resources. And, let’s STAY WARM!

Synergy

Forward Thinking for Boomers and the Disabled:
Job Share for the Public Sector

Synergy means creating energy by bringing together a new paradigm by combining action or functioning of energy. In brief, it’s a useful way to look for tools for change.

We know that this country needs change. And our minds return to the same old ruts when searching for the mechanisms to accomplish that change, particularly the minds of the folks who enact most of our legislation. If you don’t believe me, just try reading the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/arra_public_review/. Most of the proposals are couched in terms that reference previous legislation; governmental shorthand that demands such expertise that one has to wonder how the legislators knew what they were voting for.

We, as ordinary citizens, have to figure that our elected officials were just trying to give our President some tools to craft change in our country, as quickly as they could because of the urgency of the need.

As a simple-minded member of this citizenry, I worry. And while there are many things one could worry about, I choose to be simple minded and worry about my own interests, because I feel they are representative of a segment of concerns that are not being met. My concerns and the synergist approach I have developed to create a personal and a segmental solution for economic survival and benefit to the nation may constitute just a small piece of the jigsaw puzzle of how to reassemble this country and I want them heard and addressed.

I believe that my ideas are important keys to solving some of the problems we as a nation seem to grapple with only in the privacy of our homes, with dread, in our sleepless nights. I am searching for others who see these problems and are interested in the solutions I am proposing because THIS IS THE TIME to get these issues on the table, before the opportunity presented by the ARRA is lost.

So I welcome all response to this blog, whether private (live.wire2@comcast.net) or public.

I read with great interest an article in the Washington Post published this day, March 3, 2009, “Many Hires Needed for Budget Goals.” http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/02/AR2009030202935.html?wpisrc=newsletter

My thoughts as I read this article were simple:“What about me?”

More and more today the aging and disabled population needs to work, and would relish viable part-time employment. The nation needs us too. Many thought they had enough salted away, or enough forthcoming in pensions to retire comfortably and find that these funds have vanished. Others are still working full time into their seventies.

For many of us, a part time job would make a huge difference. Our society regards us as a “burden,” when many of us would leap at the opportunity to be useful, and have years of expertise to contribute in just those areas where workers are overwhelmed by low pay and staggering workloads, like teaching and social services. If only someone would agitate to make a portion of those jobs part-time! Then they could be filled by people who find it physically overwhelming to work a full day, but who would come to their jobs with a sense of gratitude and the desire to serve.

It would not be too hard to find a mechanism to reserve a portion of the new need for governmental workers this segment of the population. Our numbers are known: relative to the larger population and by income levels. We count. We have skills. We even have medical insurance. Nonetheless, we find it a tremendous challenge to find the part-time employment that would fulfill the yearning we have to be useful and create the small piece of income we need to survive with greater choices.

There is such a crying need skilled service workers of every stripe–particularly in today’s economy. But there is no one negotiating on behalf of a solution.

Personally, I have been searching for year-round stable part time employment for 3 years. The best solution I have been able to patch together is seasonal and fragmented and doesn’t allow me to use my skills in a consistent fashion. I am always worrying about the next job. During the last year I have worked as a tutor in the public schools, a great job for my tutees, and me but only funded for 23 hours per student per year. I have also scored “No Child Left Behind” tests –even though this work is also seasonal and the only option for part of the season is to work full-time, which depletes my small fund of “ticket to work” months. I have no comment about the nature of this work other than to say I would not do it if I had other options. Next, I registered 500 voters for Acorn at minimum wage. I could only do this because most of the time I could sit, and I could stop when my pain made me cross. I only did this because in order to work for the most dynamic Presidential campaign of my lifetime I needed to have financial support, minimal though it was. Next, I worked for the Board of Elections for a month and a half, until the full-time plus workload shot me down. Then, in November, I resumed work as a tutor. Put plainly, while I performed valuable service and learned a lot, this scatter-brained approach to obtaining some semblance of economic survival really sucks! Do you hear me???

Please join me or help me find allies in bringing this idea to the attention of the pertinent state and federal legislators and agency administrators. The need of the boomers and the disabled (who are not infrequently the same population) for part-time employment has, in my view great potential as an untapped source of public sector skills.