My First Class

I put a sign up sheet on the door to my office, made an announcement to all of the PSI residents about my class, and crossed my fingers that people would sign up. As I was sitting in the office planning the final details of my first class, I could hear a group of them congregating outside my door.

"What's this sign up sheet for again?"

"It's the class that white girl was talkin' about!"

"Oh yeah! We get a certificate at the end!"

I couldn't help but laugh to myself. The residents I'll be teaching already remind me a lot of my students in Houston. For one, being known as "that white person." And secondly, how excited the residents got about receiving a certificate for my class. No matter your age, external rewards seem to be a good motivator. Hopefully in time they will start to value what they're learning in my class to become internally motivated. As it turns out, there may be a legitimate reason the residents (most of whom are middle-aged) remind me of my teenage high school students. Another member of the education staff of PSI told me that when addicts stop using drugs, they remain "stuck" at the same developmental level they were at when they started using. For many of the residents of PSI, this was when they were in high school.

I ended up getting over 20 people to sign up for my class this past Thursday, which I viewed as a huge success. The first item on the agenda was introductions. I reminded them of my name (I haven't been referred to as 'that white girl' since, I believe) and defined 'Health Literacy' as the ability to read and understand health information. Then I gave them their pre-test for the medication unit. I thought there was a possibility some would walk out when I announced I was giving a quiz, but they all went along with it! Afterwards, I had them sign a contract saying that they would attend class and work their hardest. I also had them write their first journal assignment, in which they described what they wanted to learn from my class, their goals, and anything else I should know about them. All of the residents gave very thoughtful responses and to my delight, want to learn about some of the topics I was already planning on covering.

To wrap up class, I told the residents they could ask me anything they wanted. One woman asked me if there were any differences between women's and men's health, besides the obvious anatomical differences. I told her that in fact, many diseases have different symptoms, prevalence, and course in women and men. Next, a transwoman raised her hand and asked, "How does this affect me, since I have male chromosomes, but women's hormones?" I was so impressed by this intelligent and insightful question, and told her the truth - that I didn't know, because there was not much research done on trans health. This led to a great discussion of the biases that transpeople and people living with AIDS face, and how society did not respond to the AIDS epidemic until upper-class and straight people were diagnosed. The residents got so fired up by the discussion, and I really want to include some reading assignments on social justice later on in the curriculum.

Overall, great first class!