Title of Experience/Artifact: Americorps Teaching Date Experienced/Completed: Summer of 2012

Description of My Experience: During the summer of 2012, I applied, through Clarke University to teach juvenile delinquents at the Dubuque County Jail. Upon interviewing, I received and accepted the job offer for the summer. My duties were to create and deliver constructive, hands-on, educational curriculum for the juveniles stationed there at the facility. I needed to be extremely flexible as well, because juveniles would both come and go mid-week, based on their court dates and apprehensions. Wisconsin Teaching Standard Alignment: This experience, I am aligning this experience with Standard 3 Diversity: Teachers understand that children learn differently. The teacher understands how pupils differ in their approaches to learning and the barriers that impede learning and can adapt instruction to meet the diverse needs of pupils, including those with disabilities and exceptionalities. This was an absolutely eye-opening episode of my life. Being responsible for getting troubled youth excited about learning. I can honestly say that this was one of the most character-shaping experiences I have ever had in my entire life. As far as factors that impede learning go; poverty, divorce, crime, drop-outs, physical abuse, sexual abuse, alcohol abuse, and drug abuse all played major roles in my instruction that summer. I needed to adapt my instruction so that each and every one of these kids could participate, understand, learn from, be challenged by, and have fun with the material. I never knew when we were going to be getting new inmates either. So I needed to be prepared for any type of student to walk through that door. From the burly, 17 year old facing armed robbery charges, to the scrawny, 13 year sex-offender. I needed to be ready to differentiate my instruction at all times. Knowledge, Skill, and Disposition Alignment: KSD2.a. CREATES AN ENVIRONMENT OF RESPECT AND RAPPORT The candidate demonstrates genuine care and respect for students while the students exhibit respect for the teacher. The students also display genuine care and respect for one another as individuals and as students, and are aware of cultural, social, intellectual and physical variations among their peers. As you can imagine, respect was a constant struggle while working with troubled youth. They didnt exactly find themselves awaiting trial by being the most respectful individuals. Establishing solid, no nonsense ground rules was absolutely key. If they decided they

wanted to bypass those rules, there was a button for me to push in order to alert the guards. If things became confrontational, I could push that button, and the guards would rush in within a matter of seconds. After realizing that I was for real, and that they were either going to show respect, or be shown back to their cell, respect was a definite theme of our classroom. Nearly every time a new inmate came to class, however, they would almost without fail push the boundaries, and get their rude awakening as to what is and what is not tolerated.

Secondary Alignments: KSD3.e. DEMONSTRATES FLEXIBILITY AND RESPONSIVENESS Personal Reflection: What I learned about teaching/learning from this experience: No matter what the background of the student may be, it is possible to get them excited about learning. By building my units off of students interests, I was able to keep the students interested and engaged. I also utilized a lot of competition based learning. For example: one of our units for a week was bridges. So we had a bridge building contest using KNEXTM. Each inmate constructed either a truss, suspension, or arch bridge in order to span the same sized gap. Then we piled as many books on each bridge as we could onto each one until it collapsed from the stress. This was the inmates favorite unit for the summer by far. Whenever competition was incorporated, it really helped them to excel. This is a prime example of good differentiation. This technique might not be as effective at a private school, but for us, it really got the students motivated. So thats one of the tools we used. What I learned about myself as a prospective educator as a result of this experience: P-A-T-I-E-N-C-E. My authority was tested almost without fail, every single day. I really had to learn to be patient, yet firm. I had to have a tough skin, I couldnt let them get to me. I had to be the undoubted authority figure at all times. These kids definitely challenged for that role quite often. That being said, it was important for me to maintain a positive attitude and a smile at all times. I had to set the attitude for the classroom towards learning. It was absolutely vital that I be patient with the inmates, and continue to keep learning our main focus.