From Draglonfly: Education

If you walked through the education department in this prison (and probably other prisons), it would not be like most educational facilities. We have 8 "teachers." That is their title. 5 have classrooms and teach when they want. The classrooms are staffed by tutors, who are the primary teachers. The teachers approve the curriculum, the tutors write the lessons and carry out the work. The teachers decide who is ready to test (tabe, pre-test, official GED test), based on the information provided by the tutors. The teachers are out of the department with other duties at least 25% of the time. It is really self-study environment, except that the tutors are there the whole time and also teach some lessons. All the classrooms are different sizes and hold different amounts of students. Students are placed in specific classrooms for specific reasons (don't ask me the reasons - I know one classroom is specifically for people who struggled the most - although, most the students struggle significantly). Some classrooms have three tutors assigned, some just one. Why? Not sure.

The department is constantly making changes, new furniture, new computers, big TVs... but then everything is changed a month later. Not sure why. We have a new education resource center that was put together in September. They are moving it to a new room before the end of the year. We have a computer classroom that has not been used for computer classes the entire time I've been here. Why? Not sure. But, these students need typing and basic computing classes. The GED testing will be 100% computerized come January. Those tests will be in the newly built testing room - which looks nice.

Every so often, like at least 1 time per month, students are told not to come to classes from anywhere of 1 day to 3 days. Last week, students had 1 1/2 days off, this week, 3 days off. The tutors still come to work, which is fine with me. I would go crazy with nothing to do. They don't tell us why we have no students, sometimes we never know what's happening. I do know that, at least sometimes, it is when we are having important visitors to the department (judges, accreditation, etc.). Sometimes, they set up one mock class to be occurring while they do their education walk-through... I guess we need to make it "look good."

In reality, I think our education department does good work. In addition to the GED courses, we have apprenticeships that self-study for their boards 2 afternoons/week. We have inmates apprenticing in many of the traditional blue collar roles. They walk out of here ready for a career. Pretty great. We also have the cosmo department - practicing by doing inmates hair for free. My next appointment, I am getting highlights. Finally, we have our ACE (adult continuing education courses). I'm a huge fan of those. People take 6 weeks in a subject they sign up for. If they complete it, they get a certificate and century points. Century points can actually decrease a person's security level over time. The certificate is good to bring home and show our probation supervisors. Shows we did something productive in prison.

I am currently teaching an ACE course and taking an ACE course. My PSR said that I have to take a personal finance class. So, I am taking it now. It may be information I already know, but I must be able to show that certificate at the end to my probation officer. I am teaching U.S. Government. Tonight is the third class. It is on state and local governments. I try to make my class as interactive as possible. In two weeks, students will sign up for the next 6 week ACE sessions. I will be teaching Essay Writing in that go-round. Many of the ACE classes are not as "academic" in nature. Many are actually video series based. One class right now is watching a variety of National Geographic videos about the rain forest. Another class is learning about "Big Cats." There will be a Jacques Cousteau class in the next session of course. These ACE classes tend to fill and fast... although, the academic courses are not as full as the rain forest type courses.

A lot of women have to take parenting courses as part of their incarceration. We offer those in English and Spanish every 6 week session. They are always filled up completely. The inmates need to show that certification to their probation officer.

I'm glad I am part of the education department. I am treated with respect, most of the time, and I am able to give back to my community. I have great co-tutors and we all work very hard, for little pay - just like teachers on the outside. Students have even brought an apple and placed it on my desk... corny, but shows their appreciation. I can ask nothing more!