Tutor/Mentor Program - Q&R by james giles https://padlet.com/jamzgilz/tutor An interactive discussion for interested teachers and administrators led by James Giles, High Desert State Prison, Susanville, CA. Look through the questions then post your own or respond to someone else's question. en-us 2019-04-22 11:16:26 UTC 2024-07-21 09:19:43 UTC hello@padlet.com What curriculum are you using? jamzgilz https://padlet.com/jamzgilz/tutor/wish/353019552 Ted Burdett from Pelican Bay Prison developed a program for his tutors focusing on teaching theory.  My team at High Desert State Prison added instructional strategies.   

Ten hours of reading, discussion and writing are devoted to each item on the road map.

Each item on the road map has a corresponding article that is used as a platform for exploring the teaching concepts and instructional strategies.

Daily writing assignments requiring a summary, analysis and application allow students more time to process the content and put into their own words how they can use the training to help their students.  

]]> 2019-04-22 11:16:26 UTC https://padlet.com/jamzgilz/tutor/wish/353019552 What does it currently look like? jamzgilz https://padlet.com/jamzgilz/tutor/wish/353019553 Two hours a day, four days a week for four months (200 hours of instruction) with ten students.  ]]> 2019-04-22 11:16:26 UTC https://padlet.com/jamzgilz/tutor/wish/353019553 What is the vision? jamzgilz https://padlet.com/jamzgilz/tutor/wish/353019555 The vision is that High Desert State Prison would double its GED and High school completions through increased organization and utilization of inmate tutors and consequently have an increased demand for more college, more CTE courses, and more personal transformations. ]]> 2019-04-22 11:16:26 UTC https://padlet.com/jamzgilz/tutor/wish/353019555 What is the Tutor/Mentor Training Program? jamzgilz https://padlet.com/jamzgilz/tutor/wish/353019556 Currently it is a training program to support the inmates who are trying to help other students with high school completion or college classes. ]]> 2019-04-22 11:16:26 UTC https://padlet.com/jamzgilz/tutor/wish/353019556 Why Mentoring? jamzgilz https://padlet.com/jamzgilz/tutor/wish/353028166 Why not just stick to academics?

The core value of this program is the mentoring.

Academics are mostly the means/bridge to talking about change and creating goals for change.

TCC (Transformative Correctional Communication) training started me down the path two years ago of seeing the potential in academics as a bridge for personal growth.  

Studying Mezirow and Motivational Interviewing inspired me to start using my GED class to elicit change talk through Socratic discussions. 

Through asking strategic relevancy questions the discussions often and quickly switched from science or social studies to how to father from prison or how to break addictions. 

I started hiring clerks for the class who I could train to teach math and found they were providing more help to the students than I was.  My clerks also started telling me about opportunities to talk with students about issues related to motivation.

The core value of this program is to identify the men in prison who are so full of motivation and hope that that they are not only able to rise above all the negativity but even start helping others achieve their goals.  

Once those men have been accurately identified this program is then designed to support those men and connect them with the other men who are doing the same. ]]> 2019-04-22 12:26:28 UTC https://padlet.com/jamzgilz/tutor/wish/353028166 What are some hurdles? jamzgilz https://padlet.com/jamzgilz/tutor/wish/353033275 Creating structure and consistency so that building officers will more consistently release the tutors to meet with their students.  

Creating accountability for building tutors by moving away from drop in hours and moving towards tutoring schedules which detail names of students and regular meeting times.  

This hurdle has become a stepping stone - developing tutoring schedules didn't work before because we didn't have much of a voluntary program. Now we are developing a voluntary program around the tutor/mentor program and the demand for tutoring is growing. ]]> 2019-04-22 12:53:17 UTC https://padlet.com/jamzgilz/tutor/wish/353033275 Results So Far jamzgilz https://padlet.com/jamzgilz/tutor/wish/353751070 Qualitative:  Many stories of  inmates being supported by other inmates to make decisions for positive change - Mr. Ramirez

Quantitative:  Ted Burdett from Pelican Bay provided these numbers from his program.

For more data, click here]]> 2019-04-24 14:29:54 UTC https://padlet.com/jamzgilz/tutor/wish/353751070 What are some samples of student work from the trainings? jamzgilz https://padlet.com/jamzgilz/tutor/wish/354190279 Every day of training finishes with writing two paragraphs summarizing, analyzing and applying that day's article.

Click here for samples of student's writing.

Below is a partial list of articles we have used so far in the trainings:

This is not the complete list of articles I am using for this program.  This is one aspect of this pilot program that is still being developed.  A completed list will be added to this website within the next week.  


]]> 2019-04-25 16:50:56 UTC https://padlet.com/jamzgilz/tutor/wish/354190279 Who else is doing a program like this? jamzgilz https://padlet.com/jamzgilz/tutor/wish/354348407 Good question - you can find an article in this link on page 69 from someone in Washington State running a tutor program in prison.

Ted Burdett at Pelican Bay State Prison is also running a tutor/mentor pilot program.  ]]> 2019-04-26 04:57:08 UTC https://padlet.com/jamzgilz/tutor/wish/354348407 https://padlet.com/jamzgilz/tutor/wish/354529912 Literacy Focus: Is the program geared towards developing literacy/emerging readers or all literacy levels i.e. preparing for the GED. ]]> 2019-04-26 16:58:32 UTC https://padlet.com/jamzgilz/tutor/wish/354529912 https://padlet.com/jamzgilz/tutor/wish/354530447 What are the incentives for tutors? How do you recruit them?]]> 2019-04-26 16:59:57 UTC https://padlet.com/jamzgilz/tutor/wish/354530447 tsrheaven https://padlet.com/jamzgilz/tutor/wish/354545377 Socratic Circles: book by Matt Copeland;   Socratic Circles: Fostering Critical and Creative Thinking in Middle and High School https://www.amazon.com/dp/1571103945/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_0f0WCbHWWZ5VZ

AVID materials]]> 2019-04-26 17:37:38 UTC https://padlet.com/jamzgilz/tutor/wish/354545377 CDCR Student Success Initiative tsrheaven https://padlet.com/jamzgilz/tutor/wish/354546533 Saturday 8:00 Marina 5]]> 2019-04-26 17:40:17 UTC https://padlet.com/jamzgilz/tutor/wish/354546533