Inspiring Learning in the Correctional Student.
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INSPIRING LEARNING IN THE CORRECTIONAL STUDENT
Hello to all the readers out there! We are a group of correctional educators in a distance learning class at California State University, San Bernardino, who are facing some of the same challenges. As part of an assignment we together formulated a burning question and chose two listservs to attempt to obtain suggestions and feedback from others around the globe. This was our question:
With all the other media interests that dominate our students' attention, are there instructional approaches to literacy that can compete to motivate, inspire, and engage our students to invest themselves in learning?
On Wednesday, February 21, 2007, at 10:36 PM, Geo LeGeros, a member of our group, first posted the question to the Poverty, Race, Women, and Literacy Discussion List.
Bertha Mo replied on Thursday, February 22, 2007 at 2:26 PM:
Use current topics/activities as the medium or theme of the discussion. After reading a novel taking place in Shakespeare's time with a very capable young female protagonist, followed by "Twelth Night", she excited told me that "She's the Man"(correct me if title is wrong) had the same theme.
This year she's doing "Romeo and Juliet" and is much more engaged with that play. Friends have suggested that I look for the feminism in that play and all of a sudden that "trite" tale has evoked new interest in me.
Take a theme, and create poetry/rap. Write a brief play and shoot a video via a cell phone. Write, speak and create something for youtube (sp?). I'm showing my age as the spelling doesn't come to mind.
I'd be interested to hear other suggestions.
Bertie
On Wednesday, February 21, 2007 at 10:44 PM, Geo LeGeros posted our question to cea-sig-integral@lists.ibiblio.org:
I just joined this listserve and I haven't gotten any postings. Just want to introduce myself. My name is Geo LeGeros and I have taught for many years in a state penitentiary for men in the State of Nebraska. I wish to post this burning question to anyone on this listserve…hopefully you will respond with your insight. [He then proceeded to post the question.]
No responses were received from the Cea-sig-integral listserv, so we rephrased our question, and on March 2, 2007, at 11:56 Geo LeGeros posted it to the Focus on Basics Discussion List:
Sorry I'm a bit late to get in on the discussion but there was one point that I wanted to respond to that I hope will elicit more discussion. Katrina Hinson stated, "I think [our] students need to not focus so much on passing “standard” tests but on truly learning the information. The problem often comes from outside though - they're being pushed to "pass the test" by various agencies or life needs." Yes, we would all hope they truly learn the information, because it's the knowledge that provides the foundation for post secondary education. But most of our students don't even have any interest in even reading unless there is some explicit reward - passing the GED test and getting their diploma. Unfortunately, utilizing knowledge in life isn't about passing pencil and paper tests.
I teach in a GED program in a prison for incarcerated adults. Many of the students seem to lack that natural curiosity and love for learning but seem doggedly committed to passing the GED test and getting their diploma. They have so little genuine interest in knowledge and spend no time learning outside of class but prefer spending their time watching drama and action-type serials on television.
Can anyone throw a little wisdom born of experience on this: 'What innovative instructional approaches might light that fire which will motivate, inspire, and engage our students to invest themselves in learning and encourage them to discover, for instance, the joy of reading?'
On Saturday, March 03, 2007, at 8:43 AM, Dr. William R. Muth sent a reply to Geo on the Focus on Basics Discussion List:
Hi Geo -- Malcolm Knowles, in his early work on andragogy (study of adult learning), made the claim that adults are "self-directed" learners (a term introduced by Alan Tough in the early 1970's). Since then andragogy has received much criticism, particularly in the area of "readiness to learn." Can we assume that adults are self-directed learners? And even if they have their own purposes for learning, do they have the confidence to move in this direction? Given that our literacy learners probably represent learners with a range from little to great self-direction, and from little to great confidence, Gerald Grow developed a useful framework for thinking about the various roles we can take to match an appropriate teaching style to the readiness-to-learn of our students. You can access Grow's framework at http://www.longleaf.net/ggrow Implied in your question is the desire to 'move' our students towards embracing a self-directed love of learning, and I commend you for that. Hope this is helpful. Bill
The following reply was posted by Tom Woods at 1:30 pm on Saturday, March 3, 2007:
Geo, you hit upon an important distinction between schooling and learning. Passing the test, covering the curriculum, getting the piece of paper, those are the things of schooling. Pursuing a hobby, mastering a task, studying a chosen phenomenon, coming to an understanding of the nature of things, those are the things of learning.
A.S. Neill, the founder of Summerhill School in the UK found it necessary to wait out students' apparent disinterest, and allow students to do absolutely nothing until they were ready to take initiative for themselves. He referred to this as "curing children of the toxic effects of school."
The Cherokee have a saying; one learns what one is ready to learn. Maybe if your students are not learning the intrinsic value of learning for its own sake it is because they are not ready to learn that, and they are busy learning something else. Maybe you need to wait them out, like Neill. Tom Woods Community High School of Vermont
On Sunday, March 04, 2007 at 7:55 AM, Donna Chambers replied:
Hi All,
Sorry for being so late jumping in here, but I have been following the dialogue with great interest. I work with the National External Diploma Program that offers a traditional high school diploma based on the adult’s ability to demonstrate 65 high school level competencies in an applied performance assessment. The NEDP candidate knows from the beginning that they are required to take responsibility for their own learning, but can self pace through the program and, while given guidance as to what they must learn, must find resources outside of the program to learn the needed skills. Unlike a standardized, multiple choice tests, the candidate is asked to apply what is learned in the presence of a trained assessor and cannot check off the competency as demonstrated until the skill is validated by the NEDP assessor. The NEDP process encourages the candidates to be resourceful and independent in their learning and thinking through problems. From the time that the adult enters the NEDP, they are told they must demonstrate their high school level skills by applying what they learn through projects completed outside the assessment appointment. The need for persistence is explained from the very beginning. The pathway is there, but it will be up to the student, with our guidance, to develop the tools needed to move along the pathway and be successful in post secondary education and life in general. In other words, developing the ability and appreciation for learning/thinking becomes part of the NEDP process.
In RI, where I work, we have a strong Transitions to College Program and when a person comes in to inquire about "getting their GED" we council everyone that there are two options for completing high school, the GED and the NEDP. At the first appointment, we also explain the Transitions to College Program and tell everyone that, although they want to get a high school credential, if post secondary is their goal (and it is for many people today) then they may plan to enter our high school completion programs, but that this is just a step along the pathway to college, and so staying with us through Transitions is encouraged.
We are finding great success by linking NEDP to Transitions to College. While NEDP begins the process of learning to learn, builds the high school level skills, and offers the diploma, the Transitions to College Program refines these learning skills and takes the adult closer to being successful in post secondary. The critical element to this success is to council the entering student from the very beginning that they are responsible for their own success and that the programs can only support the effort that they put in, both inside and outside the time spent with the staff. Early discussion of the need for persistence and the reality of what it will take to move forward is also key. Stopping out can be considered a part of the program for some, but staying in touch is mandatory.
The pathway from ABE to College can be a long and arduous process for the adults in our program as well as the staff, but we are beginning to see very positive and encouraging results. Many students who never dreamed that college was possible for them are there and staying there. By not just focusing on the high school credential, but rather looking at a bigger picture, the staff and the students are encouraged that success is possible and we are beginning to prove it.
Ten years ago, even five, we could say that our student population needed a high school credential as an end in itself. Today, we all know that the vision must go beyond this credential. It is up to us in adult education to create a safe, comfortable environment fot the adult student to develop the learning and thinking tools needed for success.
Donna Chambers RI National External Diploma Program Coordinator
A reply was received from Sandy Cheek at 8:30 AM on Monday, March 05, 2007:
This is a good question that I’m sure many adult educators have struggled with. There seems to be two schools of thought on this, at the very least. One is that hopefully by helping the student with his personally established goals (getting the GED) we form a conduit, an opening, for them to realize they are capable of learning much, much more. I've seen this happen--students come in with very limited horizons and as they discover the power of their own learning capabilities, their horizons grow wider. It's a confidence thing. One interesting thing I've noticed is as they discover how much they can learn, they always want to attribute it to you--their teacher. You've somehow opened the door, taught them in a way they've never experienced, etc etc. As a young teacher I was quite gratified by this deluge of praise, and didn't question it much. However, as i noticed it more and more, I began realizing that this was another way my students sabatoged themselves----by attributing any success THEY had to someone else's effort. I began talking to them about the fact that THEY were responsible for their learning, and for whatever reason, at that time, THEY had decided they could learn.And that it was not dependent on teachers, or classes, or books--but on them.
The other view is that we (adult educators) do our students a great disservice by teaching them a very, very different curriculum than those who are in the power class, for lack of a better word. That we make the choice for our students that they would not be interested in, nor have time for, really great writers, thinkers, and intellectuals. And in no small measure we are pressured by agencies and funding to do exactly that--teach "workplace skills", "life skills", --when was the last time you were asked to document how you helped students THINK? I've thought about this, and as a result, I've decided I'm doing my students a disservice if we don't have philosophical discussions, if we don't talk about good writing, big problems, and world views. And not surprisingly, for the most part, as long as you can tie it to that which they know, they engage in deep and thoughtful discussions that, I think, lead them to developing that intellectual curiousity we all hope to awaken. However I will admit that it doesn't show up as a documented level gain on a standardized test--but frankly, some things are more important.
Our last reply came from Virginia Tardaewether on Monday March 05, 2007 at 11:41 AM:
I guess I’d ask the students why they are there because, unless someone has tied them up and dragged them into your classroom, they are there by choice. What made them make that choice? What do they hope to accomplish? Va.
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION: Obviously there are no easy answers to the question we have posed. Getting students to reach beyond the GED "diploma" and to look at learning as a lifetime process instead of a one-time goal has been a dilemma of educators for years. The input shared by various people in education on these listservs has been stimulating and thought provoking. We have been provided with ideas for encouraging the learning process in our students. We will never know the total outcome of our efforts, but hopefully these students and the children they parent will benefit from our efforts.
