CHOCOLATE for a WOMAN'S SPIRIT by KAY ALLENBAUGH

Author:KAY ALLENBAUGH
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Self-Help
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Published: 2001-03-27T00:00:00+00:00

ANN ALBERS

THE ICE STORM

I was teaching students between the ages of twelve and seventeen in an alternative education program. I had gotten this job after a five-year hiatus at home, caring for my son.

Unfortunately, during that time, delinquent had come to encompass violent, drug-ridden, psychotic, and out-of-control behavior. A far cry from the slow-learning, mildly disruptive students I had taught before my son was born.

I soon found that these students had no intention of fitting in the school population. They made no secret of the fact that they were there only because their probation demanded it. Motivating these young men would be no mean feat.

Before, I could interest my students in work permits and want ads—but these kids were into dealing drugs and stealing. They probably made more in a week than I did in a month. Attempts to interest them in things like bank accounts and budgets were dismissed as outdated and silly.

I first learned about my most powerful motivator when I called the probation officer to inform him that one of his little “court reluctants” was in danger of failing English. I made the call from my classroom and a deathly pall came over the room. At that moment, I could have asked my students to do anything and they would have done it.

In spite of their very tough and supposedly nonchalant attitudes, they did develop a grudging respect for me and would police one another on language or particularly deviant behavior.

I stumbled on another motivator quite by accident. I was driving a 1969 Nova with 150,000 miles on it. There wasn’t a day that something didn’t go wrong with that heap. The kids were fascinated with the antics I had to go through to get it started and keep it going—sticking a ruler in the carburetor so it wouldn’t flood while I was trying to start it, priming the radiator so it wouldn’t overheat, or filling up the oil.

Watching me perform all of these tasks just to get home in the afternoon peaked their interest. I banked on that and invited Bob, my mechanic, to class. He brought with him a blender motor and within five minutes, they were hooked.

Bob, himself a high school dropout, peppered his demonstrations with admonitions to the young men to behave themselves and take school more seriously. They seemed to hang on his every word, which gave me an idea: I’d give them lots of repair time with Bob if they’d give me time to prepare them for the general equivalency diploma (GED)—a process that would allow them to complete high school in less than four years.

The success they were experiencing was changing them. Their gruff exteriors were softening. In my classroom, anyway, I caught a glimpse of what they might have been if the streets had not taken over. One particular incident comes to mind.

They had become quite solicitous of my well-being and were particularly concerned one afternoon during an ice storm about whether or not I would even make it to my car.

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