Empowering

Teaching has always been one of the most important aspects of my Life. The expansion of this wonderful profession has brought new and exciting challenges.

This year, I have had the privilege of teaching Law and Colloquium at Florida Gulf Coast University and also Law at Florida SouthWestern State College. It is amazing to see the quality and enthusiasm of these wonderful students and it gives one hope regarding future Leaders.

While teaching at these two Universities/Colleges, I was approached with the opportunity to offer empowerment skills to a population of young ladies. My previous experience of many years in teaching the empowerment of Fine Arts was about to be expanded and expanded to include a population of students who had been ill-served by both their families and the school systems. This position that was offered to me was for seriously at-risk middle and high school students and the empowerment skill was Literacy/Reading. Despite earning a Doctorate Degree in Law, I needed to undergo over sixty five hours of certification training in order to become a Literacy Specialist. That certification was received in August and my position with The Pace Center for Girls began that same month. Because I had been a part-time Fine Arts Teacher with the Opera Company, assigned to teach classes at Pace Center and a few other locations, I was a bit familiar with the magnificent work that The Pace Center does for students. The longer I worked this part-time position, the more I admired the many facets of this program. Students with no previous hope in their educational background find hope here. So many factors in their past include abandonment, neglect, involvement with the Law, failing grades, socio-economic deprivation.

If one can read, opportunities are boundless. If one cannot read, the cycle of failure settles quickly and the ramifications of it resonate failure in every subject including the lack of any positive self-esteem.

Students in my classes now learn through double blocks of intensive reading and they also participate in the fine (yet disappearing in public schools) art of cursive writing. A podium was purchased so that my students may develop the wonderful skill of public speaking, debates and read alouds. Class sizes are small and ratios student/teacher set the stage for steady improvement. There are no words to describe the breakthrough with a sullen, angry, heretofore failing young individual to someone who will proudly volunteer to read at the podium, facing their fear of reading anything outloud. Students whose vocabulary included a myriad of cuss words are empowered by the required usage of a Thesaurus and Dictionary in my classes, to find a 'stronger' word than that which was in their previous vocabulary. Empowerment resounds with one example when I listen to how the phrase, 'pissed off' is replaced by, 'enraged'.

Last semester reading scores increased at an appreciable rate. Because of these improved scores, a long hoped for change was implemented. The Executive Director had promised that when these scores improved, we would open a new Fine Arts section of classes and now I am both the Art and Music Teacher as well as the Literacy Specialist.

It is such a well-proven, fact that The Arts have such a crucial effect on our brains. Endorphins levels change appreciably when a student is allowed to experience both Art and Music. These subject matters are the first ones to be eliminated by many public and private schools. The Arts are incredibly important empowerment opportunities and reach students who fail in other subject matters.

It is an honor to work with The Pace Center for Girls and with the other fine teachers there who have committed to one of the most difficult populations and who rejoice during 'transition' ceremonies when these young ladies are transitioned back to a public school or transitioned on to the College of their choice, stronger and wiser then when they arrived at Pace.

It is quite possible that I will see some of these students in my Law Classes! I am blessed.

Dr. Lois