Standing Taller
Once I had a young girl sent to my class by her probation officer.  She
was only 17 and had little or no self-confidence.  She also had no
particular desire to be in class.  However, to stay out of trouble, she
was there every night of class, on time, and stayed until the end of the
evening.  She was easily frustrated by doing the work recommended to her
and started asking to take practice tests.

In hopes that taking one would convince her that she needed to work
more, I let her take one.  When she was finished, we discussed her
errors.  Then she wanted to take another.  Amazingly she passed each
test, but not by much...pretty much straight 42's and 43's.  She knew
she had to do better to pass the real thing.  She was still unwilling to
actually study and got into the habit of trying every practice test I
had to offer.  After a month or two of this, she decided to take the
real thing.

A month later she was back...with her GED in hand.  I let her know that
she had to know more than she gave herself credit for.  People don't
just pass because they are lucky (her opinion).  Last time I saw her she
was planning to go to community college.  Even though she still talked
about being lucky, she stood a little taller when she said it.

Claire Ludovico