From the Gym to the Classroom

How a Retired PE Teacher-Turned-Tutor Coaches Adult Learners to Jump Hurdles and Break Barriers

 

Craig[1] crossed the parking lot towards the driver’s license office. He jammed his hands in his pockets as negative thoughts rose from whispers to shouts. Did he really think he was going to pass this test and get a license? Luck was not his forte. That’s why he’d fallen in with the wrong crowd, been arrested, and sentenced to probation in the halfway house. Sure, he’d recently succeeded in getting his GED, which qualified him for a great job in another state…but still…maybe all that was a fluke. He shouldn’t expect—

Beepity-beep!

A text message jangled the phone in his pocket. Craig extracted the device and tapped the screen.

YOU’RE GOING TO PASS!

The message came from Mary Handrick, his tutor at the Durango Adult Education Center. A grin flipped Craig’s tense scowl before he could stop it. This was so like her. Always a cheerleader.

 

Rah-Rah Relationships

Mary does not reject the cheerleader label, probably because it’s in her nature as a retired PE teacher to rah-rah students through struggles and challenges. “I was a teacher for 35 years—middle school. I taught health education and physical education,” she says.

She taught for short stints in Illinois and California before settling in Minnesota, educating young people for the next 25 years. Across the expanse of her career, she learned that all the best teachers used one secret tool: they formed strong connections with their students.

Mary explains, “The personal relationship is really important.” Students need to trust their tutor and feel like they can ask anything, or confess when they aren’t grasping a concept. Feeling like you don’t know something but should can seem so shameful. Tutors have to help students break past that feeling.

After Mary and her husband retired in Durango, they both sought different volunteer opportunities as a way to make friends and integrate into the community.

“I’ve always volunteered all my life in lots of different political or community activities—saving park or fighting city hall.” The Red Cross, Humane Society, Indivisible, Great Old Broads for the Wilderness—Mary has served or is serving at these and other organizations. Roughly twelve years ago, she saw an ad in the paper calling for GED tutors at the AEC. She replied to the ad and was soon matched with a student. After that first tutoring session, Mary felt right at home.

 

The Playbook for Learning

Mary typically tutors her students about once a week. They’ll meet more often ahead of an actual GED subject test. The AEC provides tutoring for free to all of its students. There is no cap on sessions. Some students arrive to the High School Equivalency (HSE) program without any knowledge of history or civics, so Mary creates timelines to help them organize information into useful bundles or recognize trends over time. If English is their second language, she focuses on the vocabulary they’ll encounter on the test.

In addition to strengthening a student’s knowledge of the subject matter, Mary helps students learn smart test-taking strategies. She explains, “Throw out the two answers that you know are wrong and then focus on the remaining two options. Or timing! Budgeting your time on tests is huge.”

In Craig’s case, a tutor was not needed for his GED preparation; however, the AEC always adopts a holistic approach to its student support, providing wraparound services designed to eliminate any barriers to success. Once Craig’s teachers discovered his reluctance to take the driver’s license test, they called on Mary for help. Mary set off for the library to gather the free test materials. The test booklet was slightly slimmer than a brick. She knew it would intimidate Craig, so she poured through it, identifying the topics most likely to appear on the test. Then she tutored Craig until it was clear he had mastered the concepts.

“Helping him was truly rewarding,” Mary notes.

Before long, another HSE student needed help securing a driver’s license. Mary explains, “He had passed his GED but had no self-confidence. He’s super bright, but he doesn’t have any confidence that he can do anything. So, I was a cheerleader for him.” She quizzed him on the test questions and with each correct answer, Mary reassured him, “See? You knew it! You can do this! You’re gonna pass this test!”

 

No Finish Lines

While some encounters with students are brief, others stretch out over years. Mary fondly recalls working with an older woman from Argentina who needed a GED in order to obtain the certificates and licensures needed to work in childcare. “It took us a long time to get her through,” she says. “Not that she wasn’t brilliant. It was testing on the computer and the second language that were huge hurdles.” Mary developed a close friendship with the student and hosted a celebratory graduation dinner for her.

Mary also worked for several years with Grace Johnson, a mom who was going back to get her education now that all her children were grown up, done with school, and leading fruitful lives. Grace had dropped out of school to start a family and worked as an explosives technician in the oil and gas industry, but her secret yearning had always drawn her to nursing. Grace was able to work as a nurse’s aide in Colorado, but without a high school diploma, she was not qualified for nursing back on her homeland of the Navajo Reservation in Arizona.

Mary worked with Grace until she had successfully passed all four GED subject tests—while still working full-time! Then, Mary urged Grace to apply for the nursing program at Fort Lewis College. She even agreed to go with her to campus to gather information on registration and financial aid. Together, they mapped out a pathway of classes that would begin at Pueblo Community College and end at FLC, with Grace on an accelerated path to becoming a Registered Nurse (RN).

“I’m still her cheerleader and check in on her,” Mary confesses. “She passed all her [PCC] tests just before Christmas! Grace is still working full-time and going to school full-time.”

 

High Fives

Inspirational—that is how Mary describes all the students at the AEC. She observes how many of them are tackling so much in life on top of their commitment to get an education. While Mary derives joy and connection through her volunteering, she points out that student and the community come away with so much more.

As she puts it, the services available at the AEC matter, “Because we can lift people up and they can be better members of the community. We can help a Native American become a nurse so she can go back and help her people. She couldn’t have done that without the Adult Education Center. Or second language learners—if we want them to be citizens, we have to help them become citizens. There are people that need [AEC services] and we can get them educated so they can get a better job and be involved in the community.”

[1] Note: Craig is an alias. The actual student did not give consent to have their name included in the article.