THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, December 8, 1995 TAG: 9512060211
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 05 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PHYLLIS SPEIDELL, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 71 lines
Robin Patrick has added three new ``R's" - responsibility, respect and reality - to the traditional school basics in her Hunt-Mapp Middle School special education classroom.
For one hour four days a week, her students enter the world of work, volunteering their time as cafeteria aides, custodial aides, office aides and teacher aides.
With Hunt-Mapp employees serving as mentors, the young interns sweep floors, run errands, help with kitchen duties, patrol the school grounds for litter and learn what it takes to perform well on an entry level job.
The student's paycheck comes in the form of a grade and, it is hoped, a huge boost to his or her self-respect.
A special education teacher with 10 years experience as an instructor in the Navy, Patrick insists on respect as her single, inviolate classroom rule.
``You respect yourselves and everyone around you as well as the equipment you use,'' she tells her students.
Patrick's seventh-grade class of six boys and four girls - all special needs students, ages 12 to 14 - came to her last September with one of the highest suspension rates in the school.
``It is very difficult for these kids to make it in the academic mainstream and they need an alternative,'' she said. ``There are behavioral problems because their needs are not being met in special or regular education.''
Patrick came up with the work-intern program as an extension of her class emphasis on life survival skills and as a way to boost the self-esteem of her students. Classroom training was the first step.
``We talked about job skills, the interpersonal skills you need on a job, appropriate dress and what behaviors are expected, like being on time and how to deal with an angry customer,'' she said.
The students also practiced basic custodial job skills by following a classroom chore chart focused on keeping their room in good order.
Then Patrick assigned the youngsters to their jobs based on their personalities and their skills.
Cassandra Skeeter, 13, splits her time between working as an aide in the school office and helping out in another special education classroom.
``I help people out at the counter to find what they need and I run messages to the teachers,'' she said.
Robert Chandler, 12, part of the custodial team, feels good about himself when he is working. ``I like to work so I don't get in trouble like I used to with talking and getting up in class,'' he said.
With career goals that range from construction and restaurant work to law and professional basketball, the students were quick to realize that this work experience could be a big help in finding a paid job later.
``I know that when I get older, I will know how to fill out applications to get a real job,'' Cassandra said.
Donte Austin, another member of the custodial team, said he is ``learning responsibility and how to do things'' for when he gets older and wants to get a job, too.
As the next step in the work program, Patrick would like to see her students start a homemade cookie enterprise and is hoping for a donation of an electric oven for the project.
Patrick learned long ago that spectacular results are not the only measures of success, but she has seen gratifying changes in her class since they began the work program. Behavior has improved dramatically and suspension rates are way down. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by MARK MITCHELL
Angela Boone cleans off tables in the cafeteria at Hunt-Mapp Middle
School.
by CNB