Hello, everyone!
If you haven't gotten a chance to read the first ever national newsletter from the Inside-Out Program, check it out here!
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Oregon Book Club a success!
This summer's Alumni Book Club pilot project was a true success. Four Inside-Out Alumni worked with approximately ten youth, reading The Ultimate Spider-Man. The group discussed topics as varied as responsibility, teen relationships, trust, gang violence, capitalism, and the makings of a hero. The reports from all participants were very positive: for the youth it was a chance to add an activity to their days, to read an interesting book, and to talk with new people. For the alumni, it was a chance to create a new program, engage in dialogue, and learn from the youth about teaching and facilitating.
We learned that working independently of a professor and starting a new program is both difficult and extremely rewarding. We have developed a very positive working relationship with the staff and leadership of the institution there, and have abundant and growing support for this program at the University, which purchased the books for the class. We learned a lot about the differences of working with youth as opposed to the adults in Inside-Out classes, and will continue to learn how to best design the program to meet everyone's needs.
Most important, for me, was a chance to get back into the classroom in an Inside-Out format. I love digging deep meaning out of a simple storyline, and inviting others to respond in kind. It is obvious that some of the youth have never had any kind of creative space in their own learning, and to be asked their opinion and encouraged to disagree is a novel thing.
We will begin the book club again in October, to run for eight weeks. We hope to have a larger number of alumni participants, and to generally improve the program.
Please comment with any questions or suggestions!
We learned that working independently of a professor and starting a new program is both difficult and extremely rewarding. We have developed a very positive working relationship with the staff and leadership of the institution there, and have abundant and growing support for this program at the University, which purchased the books for the class. We learned a lot about the differences of working with youth as opposed to the adults in Inside-Out classes, and will continue to learn how to best design the program to meet everyone's needs.
Most important, for me, was a chance to get back into the classroom in an Inside-Out format. I love digging deep meaning out of a simple storyline, and inviting others to respond in kind. It is obvious that some of the youth have never had any kind of creative space in their own learning, and to be asked their opinion and encouraged to disagree is a novel thing.
We will begin the book club again in October, to run for eight weeks. We hope to have a larger number of alumni participants, and to generally improve the program.
Please comment with any questions or suggestions!
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Alumni Training held at the UO
In preparation for the Serbu book club project, five Inside-Out alumni at the University of Oregon participated in a mini facilitation training hosted by Melissa Crabbe, Inside-Out Assistant National Director.
Over the course of two meetings, we learned basics of group fascilitation and discussed many of the techniques, questions, and potential problems that arise when conducting Inside-Out-style programs. We brainstormed issues that might arise through working with youth instead of adults on the inside, and worked together to troubleshoot our classroom practices. Melissa led us in a discussion about diversity and the difficult conversations that could arise.
In addition to the practical and much-needed information we gained from our six-hour training, we also had a chance to bond as a group of leaders. Inside-Out has an incredible model of self-leadership for trainings, so that we spend most of the training session imagining potential questions or issues, and then brainstorming solutions. Melissa was the facilitator of our collective learning process, which also provided a model for our own class meetings.
As our group grows over the coming year, we hope to hold future trainings for the outside alumni to be trained in leadershp techniques and program ideology and practices. We also hope that someday in the future these trainings might be led by alumni themselves, and that the students in the trainings might eventually include the incarcerated youth who participate in our book club.
All future plans and dreams aside, we entered our first class as leaders with some practical and exciting new skills and group unity. We are so lucky that Melissa is willing and available to help us! I look forward to sharing stories of future training programs in the future.
Over the course of two meetings, we learned basics of group fascilitation and discussed many of the techniques, questions, and potential problems that arise when conducting Inside-Out-style programs. We brainstormed issues that might arise through working with youth instead of adults on the inside, and worked together to troubleshoot our classroom practices. Melissa led us in a discussion about diversity and the difficult conversations that could arise.
In addition to the practical and much-needed information we gained from our six-hour training, we also had a chance to bond as a group of leaders. Inside-Out has an incredible model of self-leadership for trainings, so that we spend most of the training session imagining potential questions or issues, and then brainstorming solutions. Melissa was the facilitator of our collective learning process, which also provided a model for our own class meetings.
As our group grows over the coming year, we hope to hold future trainings for the outside alumni to be trained in leadershp techniques and program ideology and practices. We also hope that someday in the future these trainings might be led by alumni themselves, and that the students in the trainings might eventually include the incarcerated youth who participate in our book club.
All future plans and dreams aside, we entered our first class as leaders with some practical and exciting new skills and group unity. We are so lucky that Melissa is willing and available to help us! I look forward to sharing stories of future training programs in the future.
Saturday, August 21, 2010
UO book club at Serbu Juvenile Facility
The Inside-Out Alumni group at the University of Oregon has started a new Inside-Out style project: a book club at the local juvenile facility.
This summer, four UO students and ten youth met weekly for a five-week pilot project book club. We read comic books together: the outside students identified some graphic novels appropriate for the setting, and the youth selected The Ultimate Spider-Man for the summer book.
Our discussions included topics as varied as revenge, dealing with loss, gender issues, what we would do if we had super powers, relationships, and personal responsibility. We also used ice breakers and activities to keep everyone engaged and to facilitate the classroom experience.
This pilot project will hopefully evolve into an ongoing and permanent project. The UO-Serbu partnership has already generated a significant amount of enthusiasm on both sides. We hope that, in the future, we will have an equal number of inside and outside participants.
Can't wait to see where this leads!
This summer, four UO students and ten youth met weekly for a five-week pilot project book club. We read comic books together: the outside students identified some graphic novels appropriate for the setting, and the youth selected The Ultimate Spider-Man for the summer book.
Our discussions included topics as varied as revenge, dealing with loss, gender issues, what we would do if we had super powers, relationships, and personal responsibility. We also used ice breakers and activities to keep everyone engaged and to facilitate the classroom experience.
This pilot project will hopefully evolve into an ongoing and permanent project. The UO-Serbu partnership has already generated a significant amount of enthusiasm on both sides. We hope that, in the future, we will have an equal number of inside and outside participants.
Can't wait to see where this leads!
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
The Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program
Inside-Out creates a dynamic partnership between institutions of higher learning and correctional systems in order to deepen the conversation about and transform our approaches to understanding crime, justice, freedom, inequality, and other issues of social concern.
Inside-Out brings college students together with incarcerated men and women to study as peers in a seminar behind prison walls. The core of the Inside-Out Program is a semester-long academic course, meeting once a week, through which 15 to 18 “outside” (i.e.: undergraduate) students and the same number of “inside” (i.e.: incarcerated) students attend class together inside prison. All participants read a variety of texts and write several papers; during class sessions, students discuss issues in small and large groups. In the final month of the class, students work together on a class project.
Inside-Out is an opportunity for college students to go behind the walls to reconsider what they have come to know about crime and justice. At the same time, it is also an opportunity for those inside prison to place their life experiences in a larger framework. Inside-Out creates a paradigm shift for participants, encouraging transformation and change agency in individuals and, in so doing, serves as an engine for social change.
Through college classes and community exchanges, individuals on both sides of prison walls are able to engage in a collaborative, dialogic examination of issues of social significance through the particular lens that is the “prism of prison.”
Check out the national website at http://www.insideoutcenter.org/home.html
Inside-Out brings college students together with incarcerated men and women to study as peers in a seminar behind prison walls. The core of the Inside-Out Program is a semester-long academic course, meeting once a week, through which 15 to 18 “outside” (i.e.: undergraduate) students and the same number of “inside” (i.e.: incarcerated) students attend class together inside prison. All participants read a variety of texts and write several papers; during class sessions, students discuss issues in small and large groups. In the final month of the class, students work together on a class project.
Inside-Out is an opportunity for college students to go behind the walls to reconsider what they have come to know about crime and justice. At the same time, it is also an opportunity for those inside prison to place their life experiences in a larger framework. Inside-Out creates a paradigm shift for participants, encouraging transformation and change agency in individuals and, in so doing, serves as an engine for social change.
Through college classes and community exchanges, individuals on both sides of prison walls are able to engage in a collaborative, dialogic examination of issues of social significance through the particular lens that is the “prism of prison.”
Check out the national website at http://www.insideoutcenter.org/home.html
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