Our one room school house

Years ago a volunteer said our classroom reminded him of a one room school house.  We do have a great variety of abilities and styles.  Two new students in 2011 have many skills and a sense of enjoyment in learning.  One whooped with delight when she remembered how to do long division today.   The other has easily moved through decimals, fractions, and percents in a quick review.  But another new student cannot tell you how many dimes are in a dollar or subtract 8 from 10 without using her fingers.  And then there all those in the middle who have been with us for a few months and need constant review and reminders to use every strategy they have available to do their math problems.  They can usually compute, but get stumped by any two or three step problems or any slightly different than the usual template.

We need to remember that Family Literacy exists for many reasons, not just the "I want to get a GED" reason.  The first two students have the ability to pass the GED exam, but if they are like others, they will need encouragement to take that step.  The second student can certainly improve in her basic skills, but maybe even more importantly, we can help her be a better teacher for her four year old.  He is delayed in speech and socialization and can act out quite violently to others.  We need to be a source of referrals for him and a source of support for her.  So I will try to hang on to her just as much as the students who have the ability to achieve a GED.

  And then all those in the middle are really my biggest challenge.  How can I nudge them to get just those few extra points in order to pass the GED exam?  I can't make them into great students, but I can help them open the doors to better employment and further education if they can just score a 410 in math instead of the failing 400!