Summary, Questions 4 - Motivation
From LiteracyTentWiki
Question 4. I am asking if there is any research or a need for research in the area of motivation for low level ABE learners in correctional settings. We have so many inmate/students who come to class but make little or no progress over and extended time. They appear to be coming to get off the tiers or to receive "good time". In truth, they do not receive much "good time" for education. Our education program is a classified program. If a student does not have GED or HS diploma they must attend school. We have a long waiting list for the low level ABE students, but we also have students sitting in classes who appear to me totally unmotivated to improve their academic skills. Do you or the other list serve members have suggestions for motivating ABE low level learners in CE settings? -- Gina Lobaccaro, Delaware Prison Education --
Ann Burruss aburruss2@cox.net
Gina - I, too, work with unmotivated ABE students. I believe that the key is showing how any amount of education is going to improve their lot in life; i.e., better job, family stability, etc. Too often we cannot demonstrate that what we are asking is going to make a difference in life outside the institution. Until we can integrate those skills with the hope and suitability of employment, think we are spinning our wheels. Have you tried the Work keys Assessments? At least that steers you and the inmate in the direction of learning what's appropriate and needed for a job.
Marie Reeves familyed@logantele.com My name is Marie Reeves and I am a Family Literacy coordinator. I work for Kentucky Adult Education in Logan County, Ky. We are currently setting up to use Work Keys in our local detention center. The web address is http://www.act.org/workkeys/
John Linton -- A couple of quick reactions on motivation:
- Is there something that a successful student can graduate to? In some systems, high value prison jobs (prison industry) and high demand vocational training programs are linked to completion of programs. The availability of a college program can really motivate GED students. Indiana State prisons award time off sentence credits to students -- not for participation -- but for completion of educational goals.
- Is the teacher motivating? In community based adult education, students tend to pretty clearly "vote with their feet." The unmotivating adult ed teacher in the community might end up alone in a classroom. (Although this seems to happen to a certain extent even in prisons where students are "forced" to attend. Attendance records do tell a story.) Sometimes the motivation issue does come back to the capability and motivation of the teacher, at least in part. Are indicators such as attendance, disciplinary issues, progress and drop out rates tracked by teacher and are teachers recognized for positive outcomes? Are high quality professional development opportunities available to teachers?
- Why would potentially motivated students be allowed to languish unserved in cells while unmotivated students occupy classroom seats? An exceptional correctional principal I was privileged to work with routinely called "well behaved" but passive students into his office and told them that they were being rotated out of the program for "lack of progress." This supported a cultural norm in that school where it was "ok" for tough guys to act like motivated students. They had an excuse: "I have to participate or I might get kicked out." And some of the unmotivated students did return after a semester off with an altered approach. I note the reference to a mandatory education policy. Some similar policies require a minimum time period (three months) of participation for inmates below a certain grade level or without a diploma. They don't require the inmate student to stay in school until they get the degree or attain the pre-determined grade level. If the existing policy is resulting in the school becoming clogged with "dead wood," perhaps it needs to be revisited.
I'll bet those unmotivated students impact school climate, don't they?
Bill Muth Gina Lobaccaro raised the issue of motivation. As I look back to Taylor’s statements - and John Gordon's stance: “we develop curriculum around the needs and issues brought to the class by the students” the question that comes to mind is, to what extent can we implement student centered programs in prison? This question gets to the heart of prison culture, and the negative by-products of even the most well-meaning top-down systems that attempt to “fix” people from without. And what should a student-centered prison-based literacy program look like?
I fully agree that the pressing needs of learners should be invited into the classroom, and that they have the potential to become potent themes for learning and potent reasons to learn. So many learners in traditional literacy programs are placed into skill-based texts and rushed to the GED. Teachers feel this pressure, of course! But recent studies challenge the usefulness of programs that are focused primarily on passing the GED and ignore the need for foundational learning. And for both ethical and pedagogical reasons, why would an incarcerated woman (for example) who is struggling at a low-literacy level, and who is trying to keep her family together through letter writing be asked to leave these literacy-life needs at the classroom door? I have tremendous admiration for what you are doing, John (Gordon), but do differ a bit from your stance. I do believe we can and should teach foundational literacy skills to our learners --many of whom have histories of learning disabilities and severe health problems that sometimes require explicit (yes, top-down) instruction. For me the key is to take a bi-cultural approach. I agree with Vivian Gadsden that these two world views are not contradictory and the challenge for correctional teachers (I believe) is to embrace both.
John Gordon
Bill et al, Thanks for the thoughtful response. I cannot speak knowledgeably to the question of "to what extent can we implement student centered programs in prison?" since I have never taught on the inside. (Kathy Boudin speaks to this issue much more profoundly than I could ever do in her seminal piece in the Harvard Ed Review "Participatory Literacy Education Behind Bars: AIDS Opens the Door.," Harvard Educational Review, Vol. 63, number 2, Summer 1993. http://www.kathyboudin.com/harvard.htm).
However, I do believe that one can bring a certain "stance" to teaching no matter where it is done. I don't really describe our approach as "student-centered" because I think that term has come to mean many things and sometimes implies a mushy, unrigorous methodology - similar to the way "empowerment" has lost any real meaning. I do believe that as teachers we must start from the assumption that we and the students we work with walk into the class as equals, each with things to teach and learn from each other. I believe as well that students may learn as much from each other as from me. Given those assumptions, the process will play out differently in different contexts. But that stance would inform what I do, no matter where I teach. I don't think centering your curriculum around the needs and concerns of the students means that we don't teach "foundational skills", but, again, I would say that it will inform how we go about teaching those skills. Obviously, this is a much longer conversation, and from your comments I think you might agree, but I welcome the opportunity to talk about these things.
Students come to Fortune [the Fortune Society, a transitional program in New York City] from a variety of places and for different reasons. Some are coming back from doing serious time upstate.... they tend to be pretty centered, with definite ideas about what they want. They're generally a little older, a little further from the high school experience. Others are on probation, one step from the street, and not really clear about where they are going and why they are here, other than to satisfy a probation officer. Still others are mandated into an alternative to incarceration program and risk prison time if they don't attend regularly. This last group is the youngest; they're often angry at having to be in school and a lot of their feelings play out in the classroom. It's not an easy mix; for all the problems, classes inside prison may simplify things. But the task is the same: to find some common ground, build trust and community within the classroom, and find a way to begin exchanging ideas about things that are important to the participants.
A comment for David who does such a wonderful job instigating and facilitating these conversations. It would be great to do this in person some time, some where. If you have ideas about that, I would welcome them.
Janet Isserlis John and all, Thanks for this very helpful articulation of what is/isn¹t useful in contemplating student-centered learning. This statement: But the task is the same: to find some common ground, build trust and community within the classroom, and find a way to begin exchanging ideas about things that are important to the participants is especially helpful in framing the issue of bringing foundational skills and rigor to a context that is jointly constructed by learners and teachers. I've tutored in prison since 2000, and while only working with a couple of women (as opposed to a class with external mandates, or students coming and going), have found that regardless of the setting, we each (practitioners and learners) bring our previous learning and understandings to the tasks at hand. I do understand that in larger classes and in different settings the challenges may be lesser/ greater / different but I appreciate your pointing out that motivation, learning and the other pieces under consideration are those shared across the board by adult educators everywhere.
I also agree that an opportunity to meet face to face would be wonderful. Thanks to all for this conversation.
June Crawford, National Institute for Literacy Many people who work in correctional education report a high incidence of learning disabilities, a previous experience in special education classrooms, and a lack of appropriate instruction for those who require teaching techniques that are appropriate for the learner. My own research in corrections indicated a high, high percentage of the inmates in the correctional education programs either had been diagnosed in earlier schools or exhibited many characteristics of those with learning disabilities...and not just dyslexia. May I ask what screening or diagnosis is being done in the correctional system in which Gina works? What accommodations are provided for those with a history of LD? Is there a process to follow in the system for those who exhibit the characteristics of learning disabilities? Are the teachers in the system trained in teaching techniques that benefit students with LD? Sometimes it is not a matter of motivation, but a matter of being in an appropriate system, and the assessment of student needs for learning must go beyond a TABE or CASAS score and include the diagnosis of other things that may be interfering. I'd be interested in hearing about procedures that are followed in these situations.
Robin Lovrien Schwarz robinschwarz1@aol.com Laura Weisel, Alan Toops and I wrote an article for FOB a year ago (August, 2005) addressing the wide range of causes of learning difficulties in the corrections population. It isn't just LD, but vision, hearing, attention, and especially visual stress syndrome that have caused a lot of learning problems and hence a lifetime of poor results in school. Helping adult learners know about these challenges and ways to help themselves manage their challenges has helped many inmates be successful. Check out the article.
Barb Garner, Editor, Focus on Basics The link to Understanding the Complexities of Offenders' Special Learning Needs, the article Robin mentions, is http://www.ncsall.net/?id=829 That article was in an issue of "Focus on Basics" on Corrections Education. Other articles include an excellent look at assessing learner's needs by Bill Muth, a history of the role of education in Corrections by Dominique Chlup, and many other articles. The PDF can be found at http://www.ncsall.net/fileadmin/resources/fob/2005/fob_7d.pdf
Lobaccaro Gina (DOC) Gina.Lobaccaro@state.de.us June, We provide the full range of special education services for all students under 21, but not so for the older inmates. We will be doing more precise student learning plans in the future that look alot like an IEP, specific learning goals with follow-through on a 60 hour basis. No, the teachers are not trained well to work with LD students, but it would be a great suggest for local professional development. I am the media & technology specialist/teacher and I do not actually "teach" but I am a special educator and worked here as the special education teacher for the first 9 years I was here. I have had lots of professional development background, so perhaps it is something I can offer. Thanks for your reply.
Gloria Fuentes ropteacher@gmail.com I too, would be interested in all of these things. I teach an ROP class to at risk kids, most of my students need their GED still and are in my classroom for that reason. So many of my students are unmotivated to learn. I used to work with juveniles in a placement and they were far more motivated than my students. I know many of my students have LD but I have found no way of getting them help. I keep working with my students trying to offer them many different ways to learn. Many of them get bored with the computer program that they work at for their GED skills so I break it up and work with them at a table going through each subject. But still at times I feel like I am just banging my head against the wall. They get so easily discouraged or begin to think they can't do it. I haven't and won't give up on any of them but many of them just quit and settle for a dead end job. It can be discouraging at times. I tell myself that maybe they just aren't ready for it right now. But just the same it can be discouraging. I am open for ANY and ALL advice for them.
Bill Muth
Gina Lobaccaro and all, By way of addressing your question about motivating low-literacy level learners, I’d like to return to what I believe is a hugely untapped potential in correctional education: the incarcerated learner’s personal needs and interests. When I recently interviewed literacy learners on their views of prison literacy programs, I was taken back by their need to talk about families and loved ones back home. Most of the prisoners thought about their mothers, fathers, spouses, sisters, sons, daughters, and grandparents almost constantly, when they were not pulled back into the reality of prison by another inmate or staff member.
I wondered how this enormous emotional resource could be (respectfully) invited into the classroom by teachers. Gina asked about motivating low-level literacy students. One possible solution, though not necessarily an easy one, is through Language Experience Approach lessons. An example: A student of mine, 18 yrs old, doing time for murder, ADD big time and, weirdly, likeable -- was a profoundly disabled reader, barely knew the names of the letters. But he was convinced he did not need to study such “childish” things as phonics. Because he was highly fascinated with himself (!) I put a tape recorder in front of him and let him talk. His early stories made me queasy--totally out of touch with reality! More than once I doubted my own judgment, but continued to transcribe the stories. They became his reading materials and he loved to read them. We made flash cards out of the words he most wanted to learn to read and spell, reread his stories to improve his fluency, and dread! even created daily phonics lessons based on his words. In addition to rapid growth in his reading, he began writing letters home, and this sparked a dialogue with his estranged mother. As time went by, his stories became much less fantastic, and much more real--about facing his mother when she came to visit, etc. Language Experience Approach (LEA) can be time consuming, and some prisons don’t even allow tape recorders in the classroom. So I think there are ways to motivate low-literacy adults, but whether or not correctional educators are permitted to use them (or have the resources and time to use them) is another story.
A few related notes: About the testimony of the Senate Judiciary Sub-Committee hearing on Reentry that John Linton mentioned (see Question 10, below): Numerous experts talked about the need for support for families and children of prisoners, and the importance of family ties. But only once did a witness ? Roger Werholtz from Kansas mentioned a reentry program that involved maintaining family ties. Why is it that this need, though recognized by Urban Institute and others as one of the major contributors to reentry success, is overshadowed by jobs, drug treatment, sex offender, and other (worthy) needs? Are these programs too messy? Too threatening? Too personal? Again, at the risk of broken-record syndrome, I argue that family and intergenerational literacy programs could reach some of the least communicative parents in prison, and thus some of the most vulnerable children and families.
Gina Lobaccaro is too modest to mention this, but she is the wiki-master!! Gina maintains the correctional education component of the Adult Literacy Education Wiki hosted by NIFL and supported by David Rosen, Erik Jacobsen and others (see:http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/Corrections_Education ). This is a great resource for our community of practice. Thank you, Gina.
Regarding June Crawford’s question about screening for reading disabilities: One way to screen for reading disabilities in our classrooms is by assessing reading components in addition to reading comprehension. Here is a link to John Strucker’s classic argument for the need for reading components testing: http://www.ncsall.net/?id=456
Lobaccaro Gina I will be honest here ... as I admit a bias that has been my undoing perhaps. I am such a "phonics' person.... I nearly forgot how important it is to include whole language in with instruction. I do not teach here now, but BUT.... I can make suggestions and I can do mini projects with ABE students as I please -- as a rule. I have actually been thinking about getting permission to bring in digital tape recorders and interview incoming students about their education histories and "interest in education" while they are incarcerated. In the pass, all placement in education at SCI has been based on a "first come first serve basis" as the student is placed on the "classified (mandated) to education list"/tested/ put on a waiting list. I am preparing a strategy where the emphasis will be change to a "first come/most motivated" practice keeping the others on the list, but lower down on it. Bills suggestions about audio taping and transcribing life stories is the perfect complement to this process, and I -- will with all my enthusiasm try.. to make it happen here at SCI. I would like to do a small research project on it as well...
Go back to Corrections_Education#Glossary
Go back to Summary,_Questions_1-3:_Issues_of_Recidivism_and_Public_Support_for_CE
Go on to Summary,_Questions_5-7:_Curriculum,_Pell_Grants_&_Focus_of_Instruction
