The Ripple Effect of Setting High Expectations

One day last week I received about 10 emails in my in box begging people to employ 14-15 year old teenagers. The teenagers are employed through Texas WorkSource so there is absolutely no cost to the organization. They only have to be supervised and given work. Yet, WorkSource is having a hard time finding placements.

Thinking about my dad and the blog post I wrote recently, I inquired about the teenagers. Katrina explained that 3000 teenagers had applied, but they had only been able to take 1400. She kept asking me to please take more than one, explaining that they were having a hard time placing the kids because no one wanted 14-15 year olds, even though the younger ones are often the best workers because they are so eager to have a job.

She did explain that these are "at-risk" teenagers so they do need coaching sometimes, but as the supervisor, she would step in at any time. If they didn't improve, they would replace them with one of the other 1600 on the waiting list.

Unfortunately, I could only agree to take one. Katrina told me he would report to me at 10:00 a.m. on Friday.

Shaquomm showed up precisely at 10:00 a.m. As he walked in, the first thing he told me was, "Fred said hi." Confused, I asked him if he was talking about the Fred that I knew...the Fred that I've known since he was 9. He explained that Fred was his step-brother. And then I had to laugh as Shaquomm reiterated the lecture Fred had given him before leaving the house. "Pull your pants up. Make sure and wear a belt. Do your job. Janet doesn't play."

I love it when the kids set the expectations for me. I'm sure Shaquomm is a great kid. In the right setting, my experience has been that the majority usually are. Shaquomm came in knowing the expectations put forth before him, without me saying a word.

Shaquomm's job is to scan in and label all of the photos I have taken of the kids over the last 14 years (about 40+ photo albums worth). I was afraid this would get extremely tedious and boring. But as I showed him the process, I saw him grin at one point. He mumbled half way to himself, "I can't wait to see my cousin." I asked him why. "I can't wait to tell him, 'I know more about computers than you do!'"

I smiled, knowing that that's exactly why I love interacting with and employing teenagers for the summer. Shaquomm's a quick learner and a quick worker. I left him in "his" office scanning away, listening to his mp3 player through his headphones and singing loudly (obviously not realizing others could hear).

Since I'm the only other person in the office, we'll work later on the professionalism and appropriateness of his singing-in-the-shower type performance. :)

Tough Choices

Yesterday, I was faced with a dilemma that, sadly, I know is not unique.

One of the parents of four kids in our summer program has not been sending her kids. Since we are an educational program, we feel it's important for the kids to be in attendance each day. However, as I looked deeper into the situation, I discovered that the solution is not easy.

Kiela (not her real name) was encouraged to sign her kids up for our summer program by a friend of hers. Kiela goes to work at 6:00 a.m. so she takes her kids to their grandma's house. Her friend works over night until 8:00 or 9:00 a.m. so he agreed to pick them up at their grandma's and bring them back to Roseland so they could attend the program.

Unfortunately, things have come up on her friend's job and he hasn't been able to pick up the kids at their grandma's. As a result, the kids haven't been coming regularly.

As I tried to help them find a solution, I realized the dilemma this mother must be in. Her children are all under the age of 12. She has a tough decision to make. She wants her children enrolled in our program; she recognizes that her extended family is not a good influence on them. But her decision lies between providing the kids with adult supervision (albeit, negative influences) from the time she leaves for work until the time she returns, or leaving them alone from 6:00-9:00 a.m. until the summer programs open up.

When we enrolled her children, I was told they were going to be hard to handle. However, in just one week, her kids seem to adjusting quickly. Evidently, they go home every day excited about the program. They greet well and the anger I saw in one of them seems to slowly be dissapating. Earlier this week, one of her children went home and cleaned up the house. She said he had *never* done that before. I can only figure his cleaning initiative resulted from the daily cleaning tasks and responsibilities the children are given at the University of Values.

I can only imagine her frustration. I would never want to leave my elementary-aged children alone in the house for 3 hours. The likelihood of something happening that early in the morning may be small. But I know as an adult if I hear noises or see shadows I feel helpless and vulnerable. I can't imagine being a child feeling that fear. As a parent, if something happened to my children while I was gone, I would never forgive myself.

So, what does she do?? Does she take her children to a relative's home, where the kids have no structure and a potential/probable negative influence all day long? Or does she leave them home alone for 3 hours in the morning so they can have four hours of positive and educational opportunity?

Solutions are not always as easy as they seem.

Back to the Basics

I had set my alarm for 5:30 this morning. It's always set for 5:30. Part of the reason is that I like to get up and enjoy my mornings.

But it's also because I always tell myself I have so much to do...so much to get done by the day's end.

After hitting snooze for about an hour, I realized there was nothing pressing I had to do today so why not sleep in?? I went back to sleep for another hour.

When I woke up again, I had a revelation.

I need to sit back and enjoy life sometimes. When people ask what I've been up to, all I ever say is, "Work, work, work." That's not always true, but I think working is supposed to mean something in our society. Those who work more than their share get the promotions...or simply keep their jobs. A 40-hour work week just isn't good enough anymore. How much we work seems to determine our value.

I grew up on a farm. My parents always chatted about pointless things with whoever happened across their path. Dad would stay for hours after church talking to his cousin about the price of hay, the weather, and whether or not hog prices would go up or down. Quality of life was more about talking with the people around you.

My neighborhood in Dallas is the same way. My neighbors may not make a lot of money, but they have time for each other. They may not work the big-paying, salaried jobs. But sticking to a 40-hour work week allows them to just hang out and talk. I never hear them complaining about being bored.


I think there's a lot to learn from that ability to relax and hang out with the people around us. I'm trying to move back toward that

...beginning today.

Ready or not...

I know there are good things that happen in the DISD (Dallas Independent School District). But when I see the outcomes of so many of the kids, I get frustrated. And when I hear stories like I talk about below, I understand that there are other contributing factors to their lack of education. We can't always blame the parents and the neighborhood environment.

A friend of mine just took a job with DISD. She was unofficially hired over a month ago to teach 6th grade Reading or Social Studies. After she was hired by the principal, she had to complete the paperwork in Human Resources to become official. Knowing they were on vacation during the week of July 10, she waited. The week they came back she called their office once a day, every day, to no avail. She never heard a human voice and never received a return phone call. She persevered. Hearing that DISD would be having a job fair and hearing that HR would be there in the flesh, she went. She finally was able to talk to them and set up an appointment to sign her paperwork. That was Saturday, July 22. New teacher orientation started Monday, July 24. Though she had finally broken through, she was still unable to attend the Monday orientation because her paperwork was not completed yet. She continued on this cycle and finally is now an official DISD teacher as of this week. When she was finally hired, she was told it actually wasn't Reading or Social Studies that she would be teaching, but Langauge Arts. Though her undergraduate degree focused on English, she was not prepared for their uncommunicated change of mind. However, she was already now on the path to teaching and she had already quite her job so she accepted the change of plans.

She received the text books for her class today...1 week and 1 day before 6th graders will be running into her classroom. She has yet to be given passwords, Scope and Sequence guidelines, a working computer in her classroom, etc.

I know another guy who was just hired to teach in Plano. He was hired back in the Spring. This summer parents (AND STUDENTS!) called him asking him when they could meet. The school had requested a reading list to send home with the kids for the summer vacation. Less than a month into the summer, the kids were calling him asking him if they could begin meeting and discussing the summer reading list. They had already completed the first book.

Do you ever wonder why our kids in the inner city (specifically, our kids in DISD) might not be able to read, write and comprehend well upon exiting high school? Ever wonder why so many in our South Dallas sector drop out or aren't prepared for college? My friend in DISD has not entered the easiest school to teach in. I have learned over the years that one of the easiest ways to win over kids is to let them know they mean enough to you to be prepared for them. The least DISD could've done is given her time and resources to prepare. Instead, she now has a week.

Maybe instead of trying to blame and then fix the kids, we should work harder on trying to fix the system and equip teachers with the resources, guidance, and time they need to make their classrooms work. Too often, the hope I experience comes from the individuals that persevere every day with no help from the systems around them.

Thank you

My friend, Olga Rodriguez, sent me this link. Although I know there are many disagreements about what should be done about immigration, I would think we could at least agree to acknowledge the way immigrants have contributed to our society. No matter what we believe, I think it's important to stop and take notice of what they have done for our society and for us individually.

NPR : Thanking Immigrants for the Myriad Jobs They Do
<http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5325714>