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“The goal of the MAC program is to provide assistance and support to these children and their caregivers by improving families’ access to much needed resources and encouraging their children’s school success. Our goal is accomplished through strategies that address both the needs of the children and their caregivers. A core strategy includes support groups in the school that help children better understand and cope with the parent’s incarceration. Groups are organized by age and meet regularly for eight weeks and then decelerate to biweekly meetings for the remainder of the school year.

Assisting Families of Inmates is a terrific Virginia-based organization which supports families of inmates. Their website is https://afoi.org/ and it is highly recommended that you head over there and see all that they have to offer. This is especially true if you live in Virginia and have a friend or loved on in prison.

AFOI’s Milk and Cookies (MAC) Children’s Program is one of the best support programs for children of the incarcerated that I have ever heard of. According to AFOI’s website, this program includes the following services:

•Children’s support groups.

•Information and groups for parents/caregivers on the special needs of their children.

I use my statistical data to develop my own goals. When we can look back and see what we did, then we can predict. I always know my numbers, so I can predict growth for the next year and figure out how I want to improve.

In my self-contained classroom, I did a compilation of 180 students I taught over a three-and one-half-year period. Of those 180 students who came through my classroom, 66 passed the GED exam. When I subtracted out those who were removed because of discipline issues, went home before they could get their GED, or quit, 75% of my students passed the GED test.

Let’s talk a little bit about collecting information and data. We all have been made to do it more often in recent years. I enjoy it and have always done it.  Data offers a way for me to see changes that need to be made, and where I can improve. When we stop looking for ways to improve, that’s when we get stale, when students start losing interest, and learning is not happening like it should. So try to stay very fresh.

I don’t keep statistics in order to be a boring person who’s a numbers freak. Rather, I actively analyze those numbers.  Obviously, I have to collect them for the administration, but I also like to use them for my own improvement.

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.