I interviewed TONI GARLOCK the afternoon I arrived in Medicine Hat. She is an ABE instructor with a reputation of being able to "get through to students" when nobody else could.

Toni was a Grade 2 teacher who eventually left the public school system, discouraged and disillusioned with teaching and school politics. And yet she openly admitted she is content with her position as an ABE instructor. I asked Toni about her experience as an elementary teacher. "Some of the teachers probably recall the little girls who sit at the front with their hands up all the time," Toni started slowly. "I can remember some of those. But the ones who really come to mind, I don't know why, are those grubby little boys with dirt on their faces. They were the ones who were struggling so hard and were often a real pain. They were in conflicts constantly; just getting through each day was a struggle for them."

Toni spent most of her time trying to reach those "grubby little boys" at the back of the class. She described herself as being "naive" when she started teaching. She wanted to reach everyone, to somehow make a difference. She felt she had to work especially hard with the "difficult" kids, always trying to find new and creative ways to teach them. But it wasn't easy. They were always doing something they shouldn't or were shy and withdrawn. It was frustrating and heartbreaking for Toni to encourage and promote the children in the classroom then watch them be put down by peers and supervisors on the playground.

Toni's own experience as a student in elementary school had been a difficult one. "I had an awful time," Toni said softly. "I was shy and quiet and very meticulous about everything. It would rake me longer than the other kids to do things and I fell behind the others."

Even though Toni could read before she entered Grade 1, she was considered by her Grade 1 teacher to be a "non-achiever" and the following year was put into the low Grade 2 level. The Grade 2 teacher recognized that Toni was quite capable but not wanting to buck the system (or upset the Grade 1 teacher) decided to give Toni extra work to keep her busy until it was time to enter the regular Grade 3 class.

The memories of feeling misunderstood and mistreated in the school system were painful for Toni. She reached across the table for a Kleenex. "I think teaching ABE is really important to me because it's the same kids from Grade 2 (kids like me who were struggling, so hard to find their way) who are now walking through the door of my ABE classroom as adults. Some of the kids got their lives straightened out but for some, the problems they had as children just followed along with them as they grew up."

I turned the tape recorder off. Toni and I sat and talked a little while longer until it was time for her to pick up her little boy from his babysitter. I was alone in the trailer. I sat quietly for a long time, lost in thought. I jumped when I heard a bang at the far end of the building. MARENA TSCHRITTER came around the corner, rosy- cheeked from the cold.

Marena is Toni's academic assistant in the ABE program. She had joined Toni and me for 15 minutes at the beginning of our interview before going to meet a student at the main campus. I could see that she and Toni enjoy working together as they described the students in their program and some of the antics that go on in the classroom.