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.

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

Update on WIN Program.

Dear Life,
Can you PLEASE give me a break here?? Seriously? Why are you making it so hard for me?!?!!? *sigh*

"Diana,
I will have to double check on your WIN application. It may be on hold since you have not completed our training yet. I don’t think that your workshop proposal would be feasible at this time. There have been a lot of changes in the jails recently, which resulted in the entire WIN program being put on hold for most of last year. We are getting back on track now, but this is not the time to rock the boat.
Thanks!"

Other than that, I recently got a voice message about the Global Tel*Link, a Jail Management/Inmate Telephone service, telling me I have an inmate at a correctional facility trying to contact me via collect call but cannot get through because I'm required to open a direct billing account? I didn't want to take any action yet until I confirm first with ReadOC if this is something that involves the WIN Program or not.

www.gtl.net

My personal project: WIN Program

So I signed up to become a volunteer literacy tutor for an organization called ReadOC and they are directly related to the Orange County Public Library.

http://egov.ocgov.com/ocgov/Read%20OC/About%20READ%20OC

http://egov.ocgov.com/ocgov/Read%20OC/Volunteer%20Information

http://egov.ocgov.com/ocgov/Read%20OC/

They have a variety of different programs available for volunteers, but the one program I chose was the WIN Program.

The Working for Inmate Literacy Now (WIN) Program is a "One-to-one tutoring to help inmates in the Orange County jail system gain a second chance by demonstrating their ability to learn and letting them know that there are programs and people available to help them improve their reading and writing skills."

But my overall goal is not one-on-one tutoring; my goal is to go above and beyond all that and create a workshop that would benefit a wide range of inmates. A writing workshop that will gradually help them with academic writing (concentrating on overall literacy--writing, reading, and speaking).

Therefore, I sent the following email to the appropriate person:

"Hi Rebecca!
... Regarding becoming a literacy tutor, I believe I signed up mainly for the WIN program (and have already submitted the clearance form awhile back for a background check).

I was actually going to ask you as well as the others in charge of the ReadOC program if we could work on a long-term project together that would benefit the WIN Program?

I've been in the process of developing a few writing workshop curriculum (three different ones to be exact) and would like to introduce all the curricula to you all at a set date in January? I'm hoping to be able to provide workshops for the inmates in the Orange County jail system (that way, instead of just tutoring one inmate at a time, I would be able to concentrate on a group instead?).

Of course, when going over the curricula, I would have project proposal ready and can even model an actual lesson plan with everyone. The workshops would include about five-ten lesson plans each. As for measuring whether the workshops would be successes or not, I would do a pre-writing test and a post-writing test to look for any improvement.

I know it's a lot of work, but I do have a teaching credential in Social Science and a supplemental in Language Arts. I have been very passionate in teaching academic writing. Of course, all this would be done as a volunteer.

I believe this project has a lot of potential, but in its beginning stages, it's more of a work-in-progress.

Please tell me what you think. If it's not practical, I will totally understand. If ReadOC would enjoy trying out this new project proposal, which day in January would be best for me to present it?

Sincerely,
Diana Nguyen"

I'm extremely confident in getting this program/project to work. I've always been complaining about how great my resume is and how it befuddles me how I am not able to find a full-time teaching position. I then came to the conclusion that instead of moping around and whining about it, I should do something more that would allow me to stand out from the other applicants.

This is my chance...
And who knows, if it turns out successful, maybe it'll turn out to be my calling instead.