1st Official Day at Theo Lacy Facility

It was my first day as a Literacy Instructor at the Theo Lacy Facility yesterday. I was a little nervous at first (there were so many deputies around); I was afraid I was going to get lost and forget my way to the Programs Building. I was escorted there in the beginning, but after the tutoring session, I had to find my way back alone to the front (which I was able to do thank goodness).

 

In the end, it wasn't so bad. The inmate I was assigned to tutor was very easy to talk to and seemed to have his head on straight. In the back of my mind though, I still know to be cautious of inmate manipulation. We'll see how things will go from there.

 

 

During our session, we concentrated on what the reading/writing goals would be:

 

READING GOALS:

- Reading comprehension

- Vocabulary

 

WRITING GOALS:

- Complete sentences (first)

- Paragraphs (second)

- Essays (third)

 

OTHER:

- We'll also be concentrating on writing letters.

- Will concentrate on math (addition/subtraction/multiplication/division) if needed.

- The inmate will be offered homework to complete.

 

From then on, I'll be instructing him one-on-one in an enclosed classroom (with no deputy inside - they're available outside) every Tuesday evening from 5:30-7pm as a volunteer Literacy Instructor.

 

Some deputies at the facility still can't believe I'm doing it as a volunteer. I believe it'll be a good experience for me--not many people get the chance to walk into a prison and help an inmate out one-on-one.

UCI Department of Education Alumni Event

Attended the annual UCI Department of Education Alumni Event.

 

Workshop #1: Learning in Practice - Presented by Dr. Jody Guarino

Learning to learn from teaching supports ongoing professional development as teachers gain critical information to improve their practice now and over time. Treating lessons as experiments, one can analyze instruction in productive ways. Presenter will discuss strategies for planning, enacting, and reflecting on teaching in ways that generate knowledge for future improvement.

• Listen to students and be flexible with your lesson plan. If the students end up not learning, then we end up not teaching.
• Smarter-Balanced Assessments: http://www.smarterbalanced.org/smarter-balanced-assessments/
• Workshop Activity: Create an learning goal/objective for the following task...
  "My son's birthday is coming up and I want to bake him a cake. The recipe calls for one and a half cups of flour. I lost my one cup and my half cup. I have a fourth cup, a third cup, a sixth cup, a fifth cup, twelfths, an eighth of a cup and tenths. What are some different ways you can come up with one and a half cups?"
• Lesson Analysis Framework: Lesson Learning Goal --> Analysis of Student Learning --> Hypothesizing --> Proposing Alternatives

Workshop #2: Should K-12 teachers be teaching morality? If so, HOW?! - Presented by Jeff Johnston

In a recent survey of parents, the number one concern they had regarding their child's education was "are schools helping us develop good people"? Yet, many teachers are afraid to discuss such sensitive topics. What if it upsets some parents? What if it should be left for families, or religions, or other private spheres? The great majority of students, who have had teachers that are willing to "go there" while teaching academics, have expressed that such moral discussions have been the most meaningful and engaging. We will discuss why and why not we should do it, and explore methods of how a teacher can responsibly address moral issues for the entire classroom of students.

• Morality: Right v. Wrong (if it affects someone's welfare/personal decisions).
• Moral issues are fascinating to students (have purpose/value).
• Be aware that you have moral biases.
• Jeff Johnston's Top 5: 1.) Create the right atmosphere 2.) Create the proper conversations 3.) Relationship building 4.) Throw caution to the wind: Raise those moral questions and facilitate and 5.) As Aristotle put it, just "Do."
• Cycle of Virtue (Character Education): Born --> (INCULCATE good habits - intentional, proactive approach to instill virtue into the students) --> Sponge --> (DISPOSITION - Trial/error, critical thinking) --> Character --> Be a PHRONEMOS (wise, virtuous person who inspires a younger person) --> (INFLUENCE another person who is born).

WIN Program: ID Badge & Facility Tour

Finally in the midst of becoming a literacy instructor (at the facility, the term is "instructor" and not "tutor") at the Theo Lacy Prison in Orange, CA -- a maximum security prison.

On Thursday, May 17th, I got my ID badge taken at the Central County Jail in Santa Ana, and then headed over to Theo Lacy afterward to tour the facility.

The staff members at the facility kept asking whether I was sure I wanted to be an instructor there. Apparently, I was their first tutor in about six years. They've had potential instructors (some teachers, some college professors, etc) come in for the tour with interest in becoming literacy instructors for inmates, but they always end up backing out after having the tour.

I met my learner and will be ready for my first day of tutoring on Tuesday, May 22nd.

Wish me luck!

NO HOSTAGE POLICY:
The Orange County Sheriff's Department has a strict "No Hostage" policy, which means that no inmate will be allowed to leave the jail facility because of taking a hostage. Force may be necessary to rescue hostages. This policy will be applied in all cases without regard to sex, age, or status of any hostage.

Theo Lacy Facility website

ReadOC: ProLiteracy Certification

I attended the ReadOC workshop on March 3rd, 2012, the last of the 2-series workshops, and finally got my ProLiteracy certification!!!

Also, to prepare myself for the WIN Program, I completed the assigned book, Tutor, created through the organization, ProLiteracy. The book is mainly geared towards literacy tutoring/teaching adult learners who are not fluent in the English language and would like to improve their reading and writing.

ReadOC website: http://egov.ocgov.com/ocgov/Read%20OC
ProLiteracy website: http://www.proliteracy.org/

A Conversation with Los Angeles about Education w/ Michelle Rhee

This blog is long overdue.

On February 15th, 2012, I went to an educational meeting in LA organized by StudentsFirst, an organization with the purpose of making radical changes to the educational system in CA because everyone knows it's failing America's future generation right now. It's led by a woman named Michelle Rhee who totally revolutionized the system in Washington, D.C. during the late 1990s and early 2000s. She came to talk about the current situation in CA and answer questions people had--about tenure, charter schools, etc.

Regarding Michelle Rhee, yes, I believe both her and her supervisor were let go. Not too sure about the specifics though. For her to reform the educational system in CA, the state would have to become a member of StudentsFirst for her to get permission to do anything. So far, the state hasn't invited her or her organization. Only 15 states in the country so far have claimed membership. During the talk though, she did inform us that there are currently 150,000 StudentsFirst members in CA and that 40,000 of them reside in LA alone. Still, the state believes her tactics to reform the system are a bit too liberal and aggressive so they don't want anything to do with her.

Some other issues discussed were:
- Tenure system: As of today, Ms. Rhee is against the tenure system. The original purpose of the tenure system was to protect teachers, who back then were mainly women, from their male superiors abusing their powers and sexually discriminating the female teachers. Nowadays, she believes the tenure system no longer serves its purpose and is one of the main reasons why the CA schools are ineffective. She also made a good point: studies show that there is no correlation between a teacher being tenured and student achievement. Also, to note, CA is the only state that still practices "last one in, first one out," which isn't very encouraging for first year teachers, the ones who are likely to be the most motivated and passionate.
- Charter schools: Some people are for or against Charter Schools, but she mentioned that it doesn't matter how to school is labeled or not. What matters in the end is if the school is effective or not. It's as simple as that. She believes that concentrating on the label of the school takes us away from figuring out what's best for the students. 

Book: The BIG Picture

So I just finished the book, The BIG Picture: Education is Everyone's Business by Dennis Littky, and this independent school under the label of the public school system has an amazing education motto.

• I loved the concept of the Advisor. The Advisor is in charge of getting to know each student as individuals and develop a curriculum that fits them best.  
• The integration of internships into the curriculum and having the students practice real life skills in the real world.
• The practice of having exhibitions, portfolios, and narratives over exams that enforce memorization and regurgitation.

My sister currently works at a BIG Picture school in San Diego. I've requested to observe some Advisors in the school sometime this month. I'm really hoping to get a teaching position there for the upcoming 2012-2013 school year. I have a lot of projects and curriculum I'm passionate about creating and initiating.

Orange County Register Story: US Holocaust Memorial Museum CA Teacher Forum

While I was participating in the Southern California Education Forum on Holocaust Education, Cameron Andrews, a writer for the Education section of the OC Register wanted to ask me questions for his upcoming article.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum California Teacher Forum / Orange County Register Story Questions

What grade(s) do you teach?
I currently hold a single-subject credential in the Social Sciences as well as a supplemental in English-Language Arts. Being a substitute teacher at the moment, I prefer to substitute at the middle or high school level.

What school do you teach at in the Irvine Unified School District (optional)?

N/A

Why are you attending the California Teacher Forum?

I am attending the California Teacher Forum on how to teach the Holocaust because I am hoping to be provided with a variety of great resources and presentations on how to approach teaching the Holocaust to students in this present day and age. Not only that, but the Forum provides lectures and information sessions from professionals whose expertise is in this delicate subject matter. Other than presentations from experts, attending the Forum will also allow me to collaborate with other teachers as well as any organizations that concentrate on Holocaust education (i.e. USC Shoah Institute for Visual History and Education, Jewish Partisan Educational Foundation, to name a few). As you can see, the California Teacher Forum offers educators, such as myself, a vital outlet of sources to share and learn from, which will benefit everyone in the long run, especially the students for whom we teach.

What are your expectations?
Since it is my first attendance in a California Teacher Forum, my expectations are mainly geared towards the question of how will I be able to teach the Holocaust to students, especially considering the many challenges educators face nowadays (which will be explained in one of the later questions). If I walk out of this event at the end of this 3-day forum knowing more about Holocaust education than when I first stepped in, then the California Teacher Forum has met my expectations. Once the Forum began on the first day, within the first few seconds of hearing Peter Fredlake, the representative for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, speak his welcoming remarks, I immediately knew that this educational forum would meet my expectations and much more.

Have you attended the California Teacher Forum before? If so, what did you like best about the experience?

No, I have never attended the California Teacher Forum before, so this was definitely an exciting experience for me. I have always been fascinated about the Holocaust (when I was a student myself and now even when I am the educator) and I know students share the same fascination. Why? Because the Holocaust is considered one of the most significant examples throughout history where we doubt humanity's love and respect for our fellow human beings and ask questions as to why we let such an atrocity occur. As for what I love best about the experience, it was definitely learning about all the available resources out there, resources I never knew existed, that would assist me when teaching about the Holocaust. These resources are not just loaded with facts and data or primary sources, but they also offer sample lesson plans and curriculum to model off of or to adapt to students. The sample lesson plans/curriculum are designed to help students improve or develop their critical thinking skills. A great example would be the testimonials by partisans, armed resistance fighters, available on the Jewish Partisan Educational Foundation. This resource enforces one of the most vital aspects about teaching history--introducing multiple perspectives. Who knew there existed Jews as well as non-Jews who resisted the German forces?

What’s the biggest challenge in teaching the Holocaust to today’s students?

There are many challenges today when it comes to teaching the Holocaust to students. I believe the biggest challenge would be related to what students take from this learning experience and whether or not they took the knowledge they learned and applied it to the ethical/moral choices they make in life. This proves difficult because educators have to find a way for students to emotionally connect to the Holocaust rather than believe that it is just an event that occurred in the past full of statistical data and information to memorize and regurgitate. Students have to realize that the Holocaust is much more than that, and that is where most educators, such as myself, may come across roadblocks. We may have students from inner-city communities who have their own challenges in life and have no interest with what occurred in the past to people they never meant on the other side of the world, students from affluent communities who have trouble understanding since it is so vitally different from the environment they grew up in, or we may have a mixture of students with different backgrounds who just can not relate. They need that emotional connection to really benefit from learning about the Holocaust. How do we take Holocaust statistics and place a face on it so that the students may develop that emotional connection? Can we maybe relate it to current events around the world? Then again, that produces another challenge--making sure not to trivialize the Holocaust by comparing it to the modern day genocide that continues in the present. And if we do have a successful curriculum in our hands, will we have enough time to cover it all and still meet the national standards as well as the benchmark deadline? Many people may think that teaching the Holocaust may be simple, but teaching it EFFECTIVELY is another matter.

Anything else that you would like to add?

The Holocaust is one of the topics students truly enjoy and remember throughout their lives. As a result, educators should take this opportunity to hopefully build the moral character of our students, the future generation, through Holocaust education. I believe the Social Sciences and Language Arts are taught so students may take these teachable moments and develop into citizens who make the right choices when it comes to moral/ethical decisions they have to make it life, not only on the domestic home front but also throughout the global community.

 All the supplementary materials offered through the workshop. 

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Article submission by Cameron Andrews. 

Orange County Teacher Learns Teachable Holocaust Moments

A three-day educational forum, “11th Annual Southern California Teacher Forum on Holocaust Education: Teaching about the Holocaust” presented by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum recently in Los Angeles helped more than 120 California teachers learn how to teach the Holocaust and how to make it relevant to students who don’t think this history applies to them.

“Part of the job of teaching the Holocaust is making students aware that genocide did not stop in 1945,” said Mark Gudgel, a member of the Regional Education Corps, a group of master teachers drawn from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum Teacher Fellowship Program that implements educational programming on a national level. “Our program also examines the mass killings perpetrated in Rwanda, Bosnia and Sudan in recent years.”

California is one of six states that require Holocaust education in secondary schools.

Some of the world’s most prominent experts in the Holocaust and genocide spoke to teachers to provide insight to teaching methodologies, content, and contemporary issues associated with history.

Diana Nguyen, a teacher in the Irvine Unified School District, believes the biggest challenge in teaching the Holocaust is finding a way for students to connect its lessons to their everyday lives.

“As educators we face students who may have their own challenges in life and have no interest with what occurred in the past to people they never met on the other side of the world,” said Nguyen. “We have to find a way for students to connect to the Holocaust rather than believe that it is just a past event full of statistical data and information to memorize and regurgitate.”

Teachers learned of resources such as lesson plans and curriculum, guidelines of how to present this history in a thought-provoking and responsible way, and the museum’s online free resources at http://www.ushmm.org.

“Our mission is to encourage students and teachers beyond statistics and facts to emotionally connect with individual, relatable stories of Survivors,” said Peter J. Fredlake, Director, National Outreach for Teacher Initiatives, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. “Tools like the online video testimonials of Survivors and identification cards profiling the experiences of people who lived in Europe during the Holocaust help students to personalize the historical events of the time.”

Nguyen sees in her students a fascination with the Holocaust and believes that this is a ripe opportunity where students may take these teachable moments and develop into citizens who make the right choices when it comes to moral and ethical decisions they have to make in life.

“The Holocaust is considered one of the most significant examples throughout history where we doubt humanity's love and respect for our fellow human beings and ask questions as to why we let such an atrocity occur.”

A living memorial to the Holocaust, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum inspires citizens and leaders worldwide to confront hatred, prevent genocide, and promote human dignity. Federal support guarantees the Museum’s permanent place on the National Mall, and its far-reaching educational programs and global impact are made possible by generous donors.