The YES (Youth Engaging Society) Program:
A Service Opportunity in English Class

by Alicia Tosi, English Instructor –Spaulding High School

Introduction
The whole point of the YES (Youth Engaging Society) program is to have my 10th grade English students work with women in prison and to have the two groups of people talk about decision making and change. The main goal I had for my students was to see the poor decisions these women had made and hopefully learn from the mistakes of these women. What I forgot is that these women are not just prisoners but humans with feelings. The students quickly realized that these women had a lot of potential, and they could identify with many of the mistakes the women had made because many of the students had family members who were in jail for the same offenses. In other words, the students did not focus on the women’s mistakes but on who the women had become. I would have to say I learned a whole lot about acceptance from these women and from my students.

GETTING STARTED

Timeline and description of student or program participants
The students met with prisoners from The Dale Correctional Facility once a month over a four-month period. The group is 21 English students from Spaulding High School. The program participants would be the students, prisoners, classroom teacher, principal, CSL coordinator, women from YES, and artists from SPA (Studio Place Arts) gallery.

Materials and Resources Needed
We needed to provide some type of breakfast food and lunch for the students. We also needed art supplies (paint, paper, construction paper, markers, and glitter).

We also needed two separate places to meet. We chose a church and an art gallery, so we needed to coordinate with the pastor of the church, and the director of the art gallery.

The most import thing we needed was willing participants for this project (students and prisoners).

Essential Questions
Will students learn anything about decision-making and change from the prisoners?

Will the prisoners be open to working with high school students?

Focusing Questions
What types of activities could the two groups participate in?
When will we meet?
Where will we meet?

Rationale
To create a connection between the prisoners of Dale Correctional Facility and the students.

Culminating Activities
The art projects will be displayed at Dale, and the students will write a reflective essay that will be placed in their writing portfolio.

Sharing with Staff and Administrator
The students’ reflective essays were given to the principal, CSL coordinator, and the three other teachers in the CSL program.

ADDRESSING SERVICE-LEARNING BEST PRACTICES

Curricular-Learning Goals
Students will use reading and writing activities to gather information about crime and punishment.
Students will plan a grammar activity to teach to the prisoners.
Students will create three different art projects.
Students will share their essays with the prisoners.

Learning Standards
 Reading:
1. Read articles about crimes and punishment of these crimes.
2. Have opportunities to share finished work with an audience.

Writing:
1. Students will reflect on each visit with the prisoners in their journals.
2. Students will write a reflective essay at the end of the project.

Assessment of Learning Goals
Assess student journals.
Assess student essays.
Observe interaction between students and prisoners during the project.

Service Goals
a) Community needs to be met
• To establish a connection between academics and student participation in the community.
• To encourage student responsibility and leadership.

b) Service goals
• Students will meet with 15 prisoners from Dale once a month, over four months.
• Students will discuss with prisoners decision making and change, and really think about the difference between good decisions and poor decisions.
• Students will participate in group activities, and they will complete three art projects.
• Students will share their reflective essays with prisoners.

c) Students’ role in meeting the need
• Students will see the prisoners as real people who have made mistakes.
• Students will discuss with the prisoners the importance of decision making and change in one’s life.

Evaluation
Teacher observation of student and prisoner interaction at each meeting.
Students’ individual journals and essays on the project.

Challenges
a) Teacher, YES coordinator and prison coordinator collaboration was necessary prior to the start of the project. Students would have to miss four days of classes, and they would need to have permission slips in order to participate in the project.

b) Taking this challenging group of students out into the community and not having any behavioral problems.

Participation
• Every student will participate in the group projects.
• All students will produce three pieces of artwork.
• Students will plan an activity to share with the prisoners.

Diversity
a) The student and prison population does not represent very wide and diverse population. Both populations are primarily Caucasian (there is one Hispanic girl and one Bosnian boy). For the self-portrait art project, students were told to really think about the color of their skin.
b) The students will meet with a variety of women from Dale who are in prison for various reasons.

Community Connection
a) The art gallery is a place that none of the students had been to before. We established a relationship with some of the artists at the gallery.
b) Other prisoners will be able to see the artwork that was created when the art is displayed at the prison.

Preparation
• Students met with the YES coordinators to learn more about the project.
• The principal, teacher, and CSL coordinator went to visit the prison.
• Teacher met with YES women to pick date for the project.

Reflection
• Students will keep a journal to reflect on each visit with the prisoners.
• Students will write reflective essays at the end of the project.
• Teacher will keep a journal.
• Teacher will write a narrative essay.

Celebration
The last meeting with the prisoners and the students was a farewell party to present each other with the essays. Students and prisoners told each other what parts of the project they enjoyed, and we ended the party with cake!