The following is an impromptu lesson I devised after receiving repeated signs of intense and toxic boredom with the usual lesson plan for teaching the "Cornell Method of Note-Taking." Most of these young thugs could scarcely read--anything: their own names, street signs, instructions for assembling something. Why, then, would it follow that these dummies could learn to take notes? As a result of a class action lawsuit against the Los Angeles County Probation Department, brought by parents claiming their kids were locked up and deprived of equal educational access, some high-minded (or simply high) administrator ordered the "Cornell Method of Note-Taking" be part of a progressive-sounding curriculum called "Accelerate My Future." After working in a locked room in the Special Handling Unit (SHU) with boys whose mental states were so dangerous and risky that they were labelled Level One, Level Two, and so forth, I was given a classroom and told to teach the "Accelerate My Future" curriculum. This program was university-level stuff.
In addition to my becoming infuriated with the boorish behavior of my young charges, I was equally angry with the administration. The education director should have known that when you try to teach kids something for which they have no background, no prior exposure, no skill sets, and no interest to learn, they immediately become the teachers, showing off their bad behaviors and foul mouths in excess, until times get better. They let me know I would never get their attention with the institutional detritus I was serving them. As I began to write the words you see below, the classroom became quieter and quieter. When their whispered arguments became animated murmurs about the meanings of the words, I felt relief and elation. Not only did I have their attention; they were also ready to learn. And these words, part and parcel of their everyday lives, challenged and fascinated them more than any dry university-level material ever could. In spite of their street experience, gang lives, and police encounters, most did not know what ninety-percent of the words meant. I had found an equalizer, and I was determined to use it to my and their advantage.
Juvenile Crime Words to Know
Define the following Words and write two sentences for each word, showing its correct use.
Crime
Allegation
Sentence
Juvenile
Probation
Gang
District Attorney
Gang Enhancement Charge
Counts
Felony
Battery
Status Offense
Curfew
Incorrigible
Public Defender
Violation
Gang Injunction
Thug
Hoodlum
Unfit
Controlled Substance
S.T.E.P. Act
Three Strikes
Assault
Gang Injunction
Stalk
Lying in Wait
Commit
Special Handling Unit (SHU)
District Attorney Reject
McLaughlin Probable Cause Hearing Rights
Re-violate
Status Offense
Contraband
Hearing
Verdict
Conspiracy
Misdemeanor
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