Good Days and Great Days

Rewards in the Basic Education classroom are often found in small steps: mastering fractions, finishing a grade-level book that had been beyond reach, understanding how the five-paragraph essay is put together, understanding the sedimentary layering of debris. Added together, they show progress, but on a day-to-day basis, basic education can seem like a slog.

Then there are days like yesterday.

I was able to deliver good news to two students who I have been working with since the fall. The first student is of Filipino descent and had working to improve reading so that she could enter our CNA program. The minimum reading standard is grade level 8.3. For some native speakers, this can be a challenge. For someone new to the language and the country, this is a very tall hurdle. She worked hard in the classroom before Christmas and, disappointed, still fell short of the mark.

After the first of the year, she returned and continued to work in the lab and on an online basic education program called Skills Tutor. The combination of time (probably more than 20-hours) and effort finally worked. Yesterday she showed me her TABE reading score: 8.3, right on the money. She is thrilled to be cleared for entry into the program, though her preparation is not yet complete. She still needs to work on her reading and language skills: 8.3 is college minimum, and higher levels would make the course work easier. I have confidence that she will put in the work.

The second good news was about a final GED test. This student had also been working with me since, I think, October. He had been patiently taking GED tests at the Shawano Regional Center (once a month the test examiner visits us on Tuesday mornings) and had been collecting a series of excellent scores, including two 800-point (perfect) GED tests. His last test, Language Arts: Writing, included a multiple choice grammar and punctuation section and a 45-minute essay. This test had been left to the end, because he was dreading it. The results had been delayed because the dreaded essay needs to be graded by two outside examiners and that takes time, often a couple of weeks.

Yesterday, I received the scores. He passed comfortably and I was able to pass the news on him. This student not only passed the GED tests, but he passed with High Honors. NWTC has a graduation ceremony in the commons of the Green Bay campus in June to celebrate the GED/HSED graduates of the past year. I encouraged him to take the time and "walk" across the stage to receive his diploma and acclaim. He deserves the praise.

All my students deserve the praise.