Hello, all.
So, beginning in February, I began teacher a GEN Y (Generation Y) Pre-GED class. Over the past couple of years we’ve noticed that one of the largest growing groups of students has been those between the ages of 16-26. These were also the students who dropped out of the program the quickest before getting their GED. Therefore, to better serve these students, we created a class that would focus on their interests and learning styles.
Needless to say, the road hasn’t been the easiest. We tried starting it last fall but scheduled it in the afternoon and had a hard time recruiting students. If you compound the fact that all the students that we did recruit were multiple appointment missers, you have a perfect recipe for a poorly attended class. Once we changed the time to Tuesday and Thursday mornings, the attendance has gotten a lot better.
While there are some snags working with this age group–my students definitely have their angsty days (more to come on this later)–the class has given me the opportunity to really interact and get to know my students in a way that the language and time culture barrier prohibits me from interacting with some of my ESOL students. My GEN Y class has also given me another avenue from which to help make the sort of impact I want to in our country, working with a different set of underprivileged individuals.
Anyway, even though there have been a few snags along the way, our experiment is turning out to be well attended and in the end, I hope, successful for my students. They seem to be enjoying it.
