gangsinourschools.com/blog

     The need to communicate is a basic fundamental inherent to all insects and animals. With verbal communication being the main use for man, we tend to neglect the hidden signals people often send. In this post, I will address the issue of non-verbal communication in relation to gangs. I hope you will be somewhat enlightened to the subtle intricacies of sign language used by gang members.

     You see all gangs have some type of sign language they use to communicate with each other in any given situation. Depending on the gang, the use of such signs often depict the gangs specific hand sign, as well as a way of getting a message from one area to another without saying a word. As an educator you will often not even notice signing unless you are specifically expecting it to happen, and even then if you do not know what to look for it can escape your detection.

     What I have found is that members are willing to display their hand signs on photographs, or videos, as well as towards each other or other gangs. But are reluctant to display these hand gestures in front of school personnel. Members need to communicate, but are often separated in a class because of behaviors or no classes together, but this will not deter their communication. With hand signs they can say what is on their mind  with a few simple hand gestures. And catching them in the act can be marginal at best because the gestures happen so quickly.

     Having the expertise to know what to look for is critical to stopping this practice from happening in school because signs can start fights very quickly. When you do catch someone in the act, the member is obviously going to deny they were doing anything, and proving it can be somewhat difficult. So what does one look for too know if a hand gesture is being communicated, especially if one does not know what the gesture means specifically?

     Because the way hand gestures are varied from gang to gang I am going to try to answer this question while being as general as possible with this information. But you will notice there are only so many ways to use gestures, which will make it easier to detect when being done. Of course you will always have members who do not care if they get caught signing, and are often quite brazen when doing it, but the majority will be more discreet.

     So look at how their hands are placed towards the body when a sign is being thrown. Often members will hold their hands very close to the body, with the fingers usually in some odd shaped fashion. But the key here is that it is usually done close to the body mostly around the torso, or leg areas if sitting down.  And it is usually done very quickly, most often when passing each other in the hallway or classroom.

     I know it is very difficult to have an eye everywhere in the classroom because our classes are often overloaded with students, so detecting a sign is extremely difficult to catch. All I can add is to be vigilant of the gang members in your school and place extra emphasis on them when they are moving about in the hallways and classroom. And don’t be surprised if a fight begins to erupt in your classroom when all was quiet, especially if you have members from different gangs present in your classroom. I can tell you a sign was thrown and misinterpreted by a rival gang or was thrown to a rival gang on purpose, thus the need to stop signing before it gets out of hand.

     Obviously I can go on and on as to what to look for in gang signs, so for a more detailed view of this issue you can go to my book-site link on the right and follow the order instructions for my book: Gangs in our Schools An Educators Guide.

     Thank you and come again for next weeks mini-lesson on gang issues in education. If you need to contact me you may do so by going to this link: gangsino@gangsinourschools.com.

Gilbert

     Sometimes when students play with fire they can and often do get burned. In this weeks post I want to discuss why some students find the need to play with fire and in particular with gang tagging. Although I previously did a post on gang tagging, what I want to address in this post are tags done by non-gang members.

     I know that many students like to write on their hands, arms, clothes, or notebooks. Often these tagging do not depict anything in general but can be mistaken for gang tagging, and not just by school staff but also gang members. It has been my experience that many non-member students do not understand what consequences can be brought on them by doing this.  All it takes is the wrong member having a bad day to view the tag as a dis (disrespect) on their gang.

     This is where trouble can begin for the unknowing student, because he may have stirred up a hornets nest of problems. Because all tagging has special meaning to the gang doing the tagging, anything that remotely portrays a dis to their gang can cause  retaliation. This can include a beat down to the offending person, to a more drastic measure of finding out where that person lives to do a drive-by. Quite often the person on the receiving end may not even know the specifics of what they did to deserve this retaliation, but rest assured they will find out eventually.

     Because members are mandated to protect the gang and all its symbols they will go to great lengths to uphold this mandate. This is why it is critical for school personnel to make sure students understand that any type of tagging can get them into trouble with any gang. Because one never knows who is looking to retaliate for something done inadvertently.

     I believe the way to combat this problem is through awareness, which I feel is the key to stop random tagging by non-members. And this is especially true for students not involved in gang activities, so they understand what the consequences of tagging can impose on them.

     If you would like a more detailed view of this issue you can refer to my book website link on the right hand side of this post and follow the order instructions. 

     If you need to contact me you may do so by going to this link: gangsino@gangsinourschools.com

Thanks and come again for next weeks mini-lesson on gang issues in education.

Gilbert 

     In this weeks post I want to discuss how every gang member views people in authoritative positions. And this view in particular affects how you are going to teach to members with any type of success.

     All gang members believe that authority figures, and in particular teachers, are the enemy. And because they view teachers as the enemy it makes it difficult, if not impossible, to teach them the needed course work. One mandate all gangs have in common is the need to dis (disrespect) authority. And doing so helps members, especially wanna-bes, build their reputations.

     One of the hardest obstacles you will have to overcome in teaching to this population is building some type of trust between them and yourself. It may take the whole school year in working to build some type of trust with them and even then you may not succeed. I can tell you that many members will not devote much effort to learning and less so if they do not trust who is teaching to them. And you must understand that members, the hardcore ones especially, are only at school to socialize and catch up with gang issues as well as to deal drugs. And doing school work and being called a school boy will not serve to add to their reputations, thus the need to (dis) everything about school, especially teachers.

     So if this presents a dilemma in the teaching profession, are there any clear cut strategies which can be utilized to teach to members more effectively? I can say from experience that the only way to really reach a member is to build some type of bond with them and earn their trust. I realize that when you have a full classroom of students mixed in with gang members, the members are either trying to gain control of the classroom as their turf or are trying to prove their coolness to the rest of the student population. And I also realize it is difficult to devote a lot of time to any one particular student.

     But I stumbled upon a strategy that has the members coming to me asking for classroom work. The main thing I try to do is to get in tune with the member the first few encounters I have with them, and then I completely ignore them. It sounds drastic, but it has proven to be effective for me. Basically what I do is introduce them the curriculum I’m teaching on a one on one basis after I have gotten the rest of the class started on the lesson.

     Chances are the members will not be doing anything after everyone else starts working. This is my opportunity to approach them individually and tell them my story so they know where I’m coming from. And what I mean by story is to tell them a little about my own life experiences just to let them know that I’ve been around the block a few times. I feel if you can accomplish this one goal they will be a little more inclined to listen to you. This strategy may not work with all individuals, but if you are able to reach just a few of them you will make life that much easier for yourself.

     So back to the part on ignoring them to entice work from them. After I introduce the lesson to the class I manipulate the same lesson and give them a slightly watered down version of it so they taste some initial success. But after those first few encounters I pay little or no attention to them. I know they want to ask some questions but also don’t want to carry the label mentioned above, so they don’t ask.

     After a few days I just pass by and ask them if they understood the lesson, and leave it at that. This starts to pick their interest in wanting to learn because I am not making a big deal of them not working, simply asking if they understood the lesson. Keep doing this for a few days and then abruptly stop asking. Continue this cycle for however long it takes for them to come around. Eventually they will come to you for something to do. This is especially true if you start the year with an activity that has a lot of hands on lessons to it.

     Obviously there is more than just these strategies that I use but it would take more time than I can devote here. So instead, for a more detailed view of this and other issues in dealing with gang members in the classroom, you can link on the order information page on the right hand side of this post. If you wish to contact me you can do so at gangsino@gangsinourschools.com.

Thanks and come again for next weeks mini-lesson on gang issues in education.

Gilbert.