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Trudy: Appalachian Springboard

Trudy: Appalachian Springboard PERSONAL REFLECTIONS had a vague familiarity, but I had I said, “I think I got it.” Rudy ~ _______~ wife and I served & VISTA voiun- taught English to secondary then handed me her notebook. teers in Bell County, one of the students. “Why?” I asked. “ltudy I must have looked dumfounded Appalachian counties of Kentucky. has been asking me questions, because Trudy chuckled as I turned How could anyone who had We both grew up in Queens and and I’m having trouble figuring page after page filled with correct were elementary and secondary them out,” she said. “Maybe you never had specific calculations. I could see Trudy school teachers in a New York can help.” was proud of herself. She had instruction identify the City suburb. We were asked to Rudy was preparing to take taught herself these complicated set up an adult education pro- the GED Test and had reached equations and had gotten them value of an gram in the county to address quadratic equations in the math all correct. the high rate of illiteracy. Model- materials. Her home was stark. Rudy had also taught me unknown that is squared? ing our program after a program There were few pieces of furniture something that day seventeen in a neighboring county, we and those were worn and dirty. years ago. She didn’t know it, tutored people in their homes The wind whistled through but I looked dumbfounded not one on one or in small groups. cracks in the clapboard siding only because of the volume of It was my turn to pick up my and books and papers were equations Trudy had completed, wife at Trudy’s home. She lived strewn over an ironing board, but because I didn’t expect her to in one of the grey, weatherbeaten the only place ’Rudy and my I felt a shiver of fear. Everyone be able to do any of them with- shacks left from the coal mining wife had to work. Three of was looking at me in hopeful out some tutoring. I believed that camps of the 1930s. “What do Rudy’s children smiled at me anticipation. unschooled adults needed some you remember about quadratic with big, brown eyes. Trudy kind of instruction if they were “let me see the book,” I asked equations?” she asked me when smiled too, her face round and my wife. She opened it to the to be able to understand and use I arrived, “Quadratic equations,” soft and full of freckles. Only her appropriate section. I read rapidly a complicated mathematical proc- I mumbled to myself. The term eyes hinted at her hard life. while everyone waited. Finally, ess. How could anyone who had never had specific instruction figure out the algebraic calcula- tions required to identify the value of an unknown that is squared? Rudy shattered that belief. *$p STUREC I learned later that l’tudy’s husband had been disabled in the P+O‘ Pupil Accounting Software coal mines. Rudy left school ‘b for Adult Education early to help support her family. The culture in which Rudy grew up did not make it easy to Makes Student Record Keeping Easy and Emcient: acquire a formal education. Rudy was a remarkable person. She *Menu Driven *Enrollment *Attendance *Transcripts knew that the GED and further *Multiple Graduation Requirements *Class Lists *Drops/Adds education would give her the *Credit Analysis *Report Cards *Labels *Annual Reports tools to change her situation. +Demographic Reports *Space Utililization *Status Reports Rudy wanted to be a teacher. She *Advertising Results *Honor Rolls *Attendance Letters became a springboard for my career in adult education, a career I love and cherish. I will never forget her. A Successfully Used In Over 215 Michigan Adult Education Programs. -ly J. Russell Kratz > >Look For Us At Booth #85 In Atlantic City! < < D1: UmeUJ. Kratz is tbe bureau cb&f of tbe Bureau of Adult and Continuing Education Program [E:lDtF 640 Romence PorLoge, Roed MI 49002 Suik 213 Development, NY State Education 7 (616) 327 - lSOS Department. 30 A AdultLearning http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Adult Learning SAGE

Trudy: Appalachian Springboard

Kratz, J. Russell
Adult Learning , Volume 1 (1): 1 – Sep 1, 1989
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Publisher
SAGE
Copyright
© 1989 American Association for Adult and Continuing Education
ISSN
1045-1595
eISSN
2162-4070
DOI
10.1177/104515958900100113
Publisher site
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Abstract

PERSONAL REFLECTIONS had a vague familiarity, but I had I said, “I think I got it.” Rudy ~ _______~ wife and I served & VISTA voiun- taught English to secondary then handed me her notebook. teers in Bell County, one of the students. “Why?” I asked. “ltudy I must have looked dumfounded Appalachian counties of Kentucky. has been asking me questions, because Trudy chuckled as I turned How could anyone who had We both grew up in Queens and and I’m having trouble figuring page after page filled with correct were elementary and secondary them out,” she said. “Maybe you never had specific calculations. I could see Trudy school teachers in a New York can help.” was proud of herself. She had instruction identify the City suburb. We were asked to Rudy was preparing to take taught herself these complicated set up an adult education pro- the GED Test and had reached equations and had gotten them value of an gram in the county to address quadratic equations in the math all correct. the high rate of illiteracy. Model- materials. Her home was stark. Rudy had also taught me unknown that is squared? ing our program after a program There were few pieces of furniture something that day seventeen in a neighboring county, we and those were worn and dirty. years ago. She didn’t know it, tutored people in their homes The wind whistled through but I looked dumbfounded not one on one or in small groups. cracks in the clapboard siding only because of the volume of It was my turn to pick up my and books and papers were equations Trudy had completed, wife at Trudy’s home. She lived strewn over an ironing board, but because I didn’t expect her to in one of the grey, weatherbeaten the only place ’Rudy and my I felt a shiver of fear. Everyone be able to do any of them with- shacks left from the coal mining wife had to work. Three of was looking at me in hopeful out some tutoring. I believed that camps of the 1930s. “What do Rudy’s children smiled at me anticipation. unschooled adults needed some you remember about quadratic with big, brown eyes. Trudy kind of instruction if they were “let me see the book,” I asked equations?” she asked me when smiled too, her face round and my wife. She opened it to the to be able to understand and use I arrived, “Quadratic equations,” soft and full of freckles. Only her appropriate section. I read rapidly a complicated mathematical proc- I mumbled to myself. The term eyes hinted at her hard life. while everyone waited. Finally, ess. How could anyone who had never had specific instruction figure out the algebraic calcula- tions required to identify the value of an unknown that is squared? Rudy shattered that belief. *$p STUREC I learned later that l’tudy’s husband had been disabled in the P+O‘ Pupil Accounting Software coal mines. Rudy left school ‘b for Adult Education early to help support her family. The culture in which Rudy grew up did not make it easy to Makes Student Record Keeping Easy and Emcient: acquire a formal education. Rudy was a remarkable person. She *Menu Driven *Enrollment *Attendance *Transcripts knew that the GED and further *Multiple Graduation Requirements *Class Lists *Drops/Adds education would give her the *Credit Analysis *Report Cards *Labels *Annual Reports tools to change her situation. +Demographic Reports *Space Utililization *Status Reports Rudy wanted to be a teacher. She *Advertising Results *Honor Rolls *Attendance Letters became a springboard for my career in adult education, a career I love and cherish. I will never forget her. A Successfully Used In Over 215 Michigan Adult Education Programs. -ly J. Russell Kratz > >Look For Us At Booth #85 In Atlantic City! < < D1: UmeUJ. Kratz is tbe bureau cb&f of tbe Bureau of Adult and Continuing Education Program [E:lDtF 640 Romence PorLoge, Roed MI 49002 Suik 213 Development, NY State Education 7 (616) 327 - lSOS Department. 30 A AdultLearning

Journal

Adult Learning – SAGE

Published: Sep 1, 1989

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