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Basically, I have little or no preparation time. In my official schedule, I have 15 minutes a day of preparation time for 40 to 50 students. And they each have their own individual education plan that I previously outlined for you. So, my organization plan is absolutely crucial, even if all it does is save me valuable time.

Again, consistency is imperative. It takes hard work, constant engagement, observation, analyzing, tweaking, and an awareness of the surroundings.

By Robert Elton

2] Curiosity must be fostered. This means, employ the Socratic method of rhetoric-increase the amount of leading questions asked of your students. This is a great way to allow them to express themselves, to begin to open them up toward socialization with others, to learn to respond to the world, or the concepts and ideas of others.

By Robert Elton

“Lau Tzu sat quietly under a tree when a leaf fell to the

earth in his presence. It was in that moment— that of

watching the leaf tumble from a tree— that he became

enlightened.”

-Osho¹

Similar experiences have been reported in contemporary venues, that of simply being in the moment, where the mind and body drift into a daydream.

Now, here’s the motivational secret I spoke about earlier. In a prison setting, concrete rewards are really not allowed. But I have learned rewards and punishment can lessen the chance of self-motivation, and appreciation of learning is its own reward!

 Setting goals and having control over them is an alternative to using rewards! It increases the student’s self-motivation. If a classroom offers choices in learning that demonstrate mutual respect, it is a supportive learning environment for the students, and they are more likely to self-motivate. In the long range scheme of things, isn’t that what we ultimately want for our students? Ironically, in an environment where I can offer little or no rewards, my students can learn to motivate themselves which is inherently a much more desired trait than reacting to any outside rewards or punishments. 

James R. Smith

But what happens when individuals are deprived of gaining an education? He or she loses the ability to contribute to a discussion; to contribute to society; his or her ability to provide for themselves with an opportunity to be productive in their respective community once released from their confinement. The community loses out too because they will now have the burden of providing that individual with the necessities of survival. Reentering society must start within the confines of a prison by providing prisoners with the necessary education and training that will allow and enable them to re-enter society.

By James R. Smith

The failing system of education hinders everyone’s equal opportunity of gaining an education. Through education, and with the assistance of the human family, we must seek to change the attitudes and internal feelings of how people view prisoners; through legislation, we must advocate a change that will fix the failing educational system. Anyone who starts out with the conviction that the road to equality is only one lane wide will inevitably create a traffic jam and make changing the system longer. We must stand as One Person, One Voice to effectuate a change. To deprive a person, especially those who are incarcerated, of an education is wrong.

When a student enters my class, he is taught the logistics of my teaching plan. This is a crucial step in the process as he is going through his orientation. Many students need assistance with their folders. They have difficulty organizing, setting goals and recording their progress, so I start teaching these skills as soon as they walk in the door.

They need to know they are responsible for their own learning.  So, I teach each student to take a pretest for each subject and how to determine which assignment he needs to complete, based on the pretest results. Then the tutors or I take those charts I have made, and show him how to color in which assignments he determines he needs to do.

A special note is needed with this post:

The FPI Scholarship Fund is a part of a work program known as UNICOR. UNICOR is available in federal prisons in the United States.

It should be noted that I have known many inmates to apply for this scholarship and many to inquire about it, but most to no avail. Even when I was writing Education Behind Bars I couldn’t find much about it because neither inmates nor staff knew much about it.