New students!

I spent part of my Saturday with a couple new girls at the JJC that will be starting the Teacher's Pet program on July 7th. I will call them M. and B. (I don't know maybe I should use fake names, what do you think, would it be easier to figure out who I'm talking about if I use fake names instead of initials?)
On my way up to the units I was told by a security guard that H (a current student) wasn't happy that I was coming. :( She doesn't want to sit through any classroom work today, especially since she had already done this part. So, now I know that negative things about class are being said to the new girls regarding the work we would be doing today. This could make things difficult for me. When I first walked in to their living quarters, one of the new girls, M, said to me right away that she did not like dogs and does not want to be a part of the program. (In other facilities, the kids do essays on why they want to be in the class and are chosen that way or they choose to take a survey to be in the class, so usually all the kids WANT to be there. At the JJC they don't have a choice, if they are chosen, they have to participate.) I asked her if she'd at least give me a chance today and then make a decision about whether or not she'd like the program. That was quite a gamble since the first few hours is all classroom work and can be very boring depending on the kid!
We pulled a table over near a receptacle so I could plug in my computer to begin the presentation. As I started talking and setting up the presentation I noticed that for some reason the screen on my computer wasn't working! The computer itself was working but the screen was very faint. That was all I brought with me to work with today! I had to have this computer to show the presentation! What now! One of the new girls, B, said that she's really good with computer's and she'd take a look at it and see if she could get it working, so, I allowed her to and just kept talking about why I was there today and what Teacher's Pet is all about. As I was talking H raised her hand, I called on her and she said, "Miss Lisa, I have my copy of the presentation that you're going to show if that would help any!" Yay! Here H didn't even want to be here today and now she was able to help me out! H went and grabbed her presentation and set if on the table so all of us could see it. She was very pleased with herself as I thanked her.
B was unable to get the computer screen to work so we just shut it down and continued using H's hard copy of the presentation. The girls both seemed very interested and H, being the only one from my regular class that was there today, was very eager to help out and point things out that she felt I missed and were important for the girls to know. Once we were done with the presentation H felt that she needed to let the girls know what "Miss Lisa's rules" are because I had forgotten to say. So H told them, "be respectful to Miss Lisa, to each other and to the dogs. Raise your hand when you want to answer a question or ask a question. No using bad words, never call anyone names or make fun of anyone, and clean up after your dog! Oh, and Miss Lisa especially doesn't like the words stupid and idiot, so don't ever use them!"

God I LOVE these kids!

We also got a chance to talk a little bit about the new dogs coming in on July 7th and about graduation for the dogs we have now, which will be July 2nd. The new girls will be able to attend graduation and see what it's all about.
Before leaving I asked the new girls how they felt about the class so far. B said she's very excited and can't wait to start. M, the one who made it clear in the beginning that she didn't want to be there, said "I think I'm going to like this, but do you think I can work with a small dog?" I told her I have a couple small dogs this time and I'll make sure she gets one of them if that what she feels most comfortable with.
Before leaving I pulled H aside to talk to her about Lilly. Lilly will be staying in our program. H has done a wonderful job with her, especially in the past couple weeks. H has really stepped up to the plate with training and has really focused on what is best for Lilly but I still feel Lilly needs some more socialization. Since H has been doing so well, after much thought, I've decided to let H make the decision as to what would happen to Lilly in class. Either H keeps working with her or one of the other kids works with Lilly and H works with a new dog. When I told her that, tears welled up in her eyes. I asked her what was wrong and she said "I'd love to keep working with Lilly, I just don't know if that's what's best for her and I want to do what's best for Lilly, not what I want". Now tears welled up in my eyes. That's exactly what I was hoping she'd say. H came into the class very self centered and could have cared less about much, but herself. H asked if she could think about it. I asked her what she would be thinking about and why, she said "I know Lilly really good, better then anyone, and I know how she works, but she needs socialization, she probably needs to work with others too."
So, I told H she could take some time and let me know next week what she's decided, and if she decided it was to hard of a decision to make, let me know and we'll talk it over and make the decision together. H will make the right decision. To me there isn't a wrong decision here. If H continues to work with Lilly, she knows what needs to be done and will get the job done. If she decides to pass her on to someone else, then H can help them out a little here and there, and I have full trust in all the other kids that they will get the job done. It's a win win situation for Lilly. I just thought it's important for H to have, and be trusted with, this important decision.

So, it turned out H was all talk before I got there, she didn't mind at all participating in class. She was really quite helpful. She also volunteered to use my Dog Breed Book to show the new girls how different breeds have different characteristics, etc.
I just love these kids!!!

Thanks for reading!!!