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     In this weeks post I want to address an issue that is becoming more prevalent in schools, which are in school initiations. This phenomenon allows gangs the opportunity to expand their territories by recruiting new members who are not from a gangs neighborhood. Because gangs have the need to expand their territories they go to great lengths to recruit new members. 

     Because of the way many school districts are set up, students from various areas of town can go to the same school. This gives gang recruiters the opportunity to go after new members, thus adding to their already staggering and growing numbers. Couple this with the way in school initiations are handled, and the amount of time involved in a jump-in at school, only adds to the simplicity of recruitment at school. 

     You may wonder why the need to conduct an in school initiation. Well it boils down to two simple goals. One is increasing membership by conducting short swift jump-ins and secondly, to expand their territories by bringing in out of the hood members.

     At school such a jump-in is often referred to as twenty-one. Simply, this means that the new recruit will be hit for twenty-one straight seconds without interruption. Often the face will be off limits in this type of jump-in, but all other parts of the body is fair game. By avoiding the face area it will draw less attention to the gang doing the initiation. Although the new member will be left with many bruises on the body there will be no indication that a jump-in took place

     When a potential recruit hears that a jump-in only takes twenty-one seconds to complete they may be more inclined to join the gang because of the swiftness of the jump-in. Of course a new recruit doesn’t have a full understanding of what will be required of them after the jump-in is completed, but sadly will find out soon enough.

     As far a signs that a jump-in took place. I can only say it is very difficult to tell when one has occurred because as I stated earlier the face is off limits, which makes detection difficult. But I will tell you that many jump-ins take place in school restrooms during breaks and mostly during the lunch break right before class starts. It has been my experience that teachers are less vigilant of these areas because other distractions may be conducted by the other members not involved in the jump-in, thus freeing up these areas for this activity.

     I hope this information has been helpful in understanding a little about in school jump-ins. Although this is only the tip of the proverbial ice-berg as far a jump-ins go, you can get a more detailed understanding of this and other disturbing gang rituals by going to my book site at: www.gangsinourschools.com and following the link to the book order instructions.

Thanks and come again for next weeks post on gang issues in education.

Gilbert

     Sorry for not doing a post the last couple of weeks. I was asked, by several of my readers, why I haven’t done one lately and I only have two responses, spring break and March madness.

     Anyway, judging from the inquiries I’m getting, many of you are looking for signs of gang membership. In this post I will try to give you a heads-up on what to look for as far as what these signs look like. But take into account that not all gang members adhere to these criteria, so these are  just general signs to be on the lookout for.

     One of the main signs of gang membership will often be style of dress. Many gangs will adopt some type of uniform dress code among its members. This can be, but is not limited to, khaki type clothing, to sports type apparel. Many times a professional sports teams acronyms will match a gangs particular acronym, so the gang will use this as the basis of their uniform. This includes the jersey top or bottoms as well as the baseball cap with the acronyms on them. But the color of these apparel will also play a major role in a gang adopting a teams uniform. As far as the khaki style of dress, the uniform will always be neatly pressed with both the shirt and pants often matching in color. These can be combined into an array of different color combinations depending on what color the gang has adopted. Most often the khaki style of dress will be either navy blue, beige, or black.

     As far as signs on their persons, be on the look out for tattooed dots on the web of the hand, either one, two, or three dots in a triangle. Also, look for the letters of their gang on the knuckles or other parts of the fingers. In addition, do not discount the tattoo on any part of their arms or hands. Often a member will have a tattoo on their torsos but you will probably not see these type of markings because these are often displayed out of school. Also be on the look out for jewelry worn, as all the members will often have the same type of jewelry worn on their persons.

     In addition to the above look at how a student has their head shaved. Some gangs like to have the head completely shaved with only a little patch of hair growing on the back of the head, which often looks like a reverse goatee. Also look out for shaved nicks in the eyebrows as this is often a sign of status in a gang with the more nicks in the brow the higher the status in the gang.

     I could go on and on as to what signs to look out for but it would fill up pages and pages of writing, so instead, for a more detailed view of what to look for go to my book website and follow the order instructions for a more detailed version of this post.

Thanks and come again for next weeks post on gang issues in education.

You can go to my book web page by going to this link: www.gangsinourschools.com

Gilbert

     As we rapidly approach the end of the school year it seems as if many students have given up on learning and are in full summer mode. And with this yearly ritual comes the job of controlling the students while finding the right combination of instruction to keep them on task and learning. And if this wasn’t bad enough, add to the mix, the many gang members you may have in your room and school, to also test your patience.

     This is when it is important to keep control of your classroom and nip any problems that may crop up to a minimum. To help achieve this goal with gang members you have to keep your emotions in check, as you will be tested by them every chance they get. For some reason during this time of the year gang members seem to increase their presence in the school. And with this presence comes defiance of authority. This phenomenon is often displayed by all the gangs present in the school regardless of affiliation.

     One thing you can be sure of is that you will probably have to deal with more fights and a get in your face attitude by many members, at least until the school year is up. I also know that recruitment seems to be more prevalent during this time of year, which only adds to the problem exponentially.

     You must realize that members are mandated to earn hardcore status in their gangs and causing trouble for teachers and the school only adds to their reputations out in the streets. In addition, you will have semi-hardcore members who have now earned hardcore status in their gangs and have now moved on to the next phase, which is to actively recruit new members into the gang. And now, to add to all of the above, you will also have an inordinate amount of in school initiations occurring.

     Also, it is highly likely that if you have members in your school, chances are you will have some kind of run in with one of these newly inducted members and this is where your patience will be tested. Because many of the new recruits are trying to earn their first stripe they will become defiant and often combative to authority. My advice to you is to stay calm and don’t give them the chance to pull a power play on you by arguing with them because this is exactly what they are seeking, an authority figure to fight with. 

    This among all other actions will earn them instant respect in their gangs. So the most important tip I can offer is to be in control of your emotions at all times even when members try to push your buttons in the hope of you losing your cool. If you are able to do this it will send a clear message to all the other members who may wish to test you. With that message being; you cannot ruffle my feathers so you might as well not even try.

     For a more detailed view of what to expect and how to deal with gang members in school, you can purchase a copy of my book by going to my book website and following the links to the order information. Thanks and come again for next weeks post on gang issues in education. 

If you need to contact me you may do so at: gangsino@gangsinourschools.com 

Gilbert

     In this weeks post I want to address an issue that many teachers are often faced with, building a students confidence. And in particular how to teach to a gang member who has given up on the educational process. As I stated in my last post, many members have fallen behind academically because of continual suspensions and other factors. Couple this with the fact that many members see no use for education in their futures can make teaching to this population almost impossible.

     But I believe that many of these students can be challenged academically at whatever level they happen to be at when you get them into your classroom. But doing so will come at a price for you, the teacher. You see it will take extra planning on your part to come up with lessons that challenge the other students in the classroom while at the same time allowing you the flexibility to water down the same lesson for the student who is not quite up to par academically with their peers. These lessons will have to be done in conjunction with your current lessons until you feel the student will be able to compete at the same level as their peers, without the watered down curriculum.

     Unfortunately, this may or may not happen in the year you have them in your classroom, so it will require extra effort on your part if you want the child to show some progress academically. And also keep in mind that many times these members have gone out of their way to make your life a living hell. So showing patience in wanting to help them learn takes much fortitude on your part.

     And as I stated earlier, many of these students will be suspended many times throughout the semester and will fall further behind the other students in the classroom. And this is what makes it so difficult for us to catch them up on what needs to be learned in the school year. I know it would be easy to just give up on the child and let them just fail, but if you let that happen you will only reinforce what they already feel, hopelessness. Again, the goal is to build their self esteems in their school work while increasing the difficulty of the assignments given to them without making them feel educationally inadequate.

     My advice is to start their learning in rudimentary increments while spending as much time as you can with them on a one on one basis. As you can tell this is not getting any easier, but as I said earlier this requires a lot of effort and patience on your part to try to get them caught up with the other students in the class. And I realize you often have any where from twenty five or more students in any one of your classes, which only adds to the difficulty. And sadly, you will often have to approach their lessons the same way as you would teach a small child, by teaching them how to crawl before they learn how to walk, yet alone run.

      For more tips on how to deal with gang members in your classroom you can go to my book site at: gangsinourschools.com and following the link to the Buy this book and following the order instructions.

If you need to contact me you can do so at: gangsino@gangsinourschools.com

Thanks and come again for next weeks post on gang issues in education.

Gilbert