Female inmates to be focus of teaching research
Behind prison walls seems like a most unusual place to study teaching and learning. But with an ever-increasing population of inmates, and a research subject with a prison background, it’s the place University of New Mexico Associate Professor of Teacher Education Diane Torres-Velásquez decided to conduct research that delves into the realm and power of literacy workshops with female inmates.
This study, at the Mabel Bassett Correctional Facility for women in Oklahoma, will lead to a larger study that Torres-Velásquez aims to develop on a broad and rich model of teaching.
Torres-Velásquez has taken a unique approach to the study by conducting her research on well-known poet, award-winning author and former inmate Jimmy Santiago Baca. A native New Mexican born of Chicano and Apache descent, Baca was raised by his grandmother, ended up a runaway at age 13 and in a federal prison at 21 on charges of drug possession.
That’s where Baca began to turn his life around behind the concrete walls of prison where he spent five years, including four in solitary confinement. That’s where he learned to read and write, while discovering a passion for poetry, the power of literacy, and seeing firsthand how becoming truly literate can change lives.
“The first time I read something on paper I tasted and smelled and sensed that same power evident in words,” said Baca. “I was like ‘wow, there it is.’ I could trace that power back to what made people really, really good and I could trace that power back to what made people really, really destructive.”
Since then, Baca has devoted his post-prison life to writing and teaching others who are overcoming hardship with themes including American Southwest barrios, addiction, injustice, education, community, love and beyond. He has conducted hundreds of writing workshops in prisons, community centers, libraries and universities throughout the country.
Torres-Velásquez met Baca when she was a teacher at Longfellow Elementary School in Albuquerque and while his son was a student at the school. She encountered Baca one day in the hall and was terrified. She stayed away from him because he looked so angry.
“At that time, my own kids were about to enter middle school and I was really tired of hearing about how Hispanics were always in prisons,” said Torres-Velásquez. “Of course that wasn’t going to happen to my sons. As they grew older it was really hard for me to see what they did experience in this town as teenagers and young adults. So I became much more open to that type of work.”
The more she heard Baca talk and through his teachings, Torres-Velásquez discovered she liked Baca’s approach and the way he interacts with his students.
“As a teacher, I knew I was reaching my kids, but I thought I’m missing something,” she said. “I knew I still didn’t know everything. Reading Jimmy’s work and continuing to know him over the years, opened my eyes. I got to hear about all the work he was doing in prisons and I was really, really interested in his work. He invited me to participate and I invited him to come and talk to my classes.”
The research will look at the factors that make Baca’s teaching powerful. Torres-Velásquez will examine his assumptions about his teaching, his interactions, and his reflections on student learning. Questions will include underlying assumptions Baca makes about his students, interaction with his students, life lessons Baca teaches through his writing, skills and methodology including critical theory, constructivism and direct instruction, as well as the writings the women produce as a result of Baca’s teachings. Understanding what is typical in the prison educational system will be of significance to setting the context.
Baca and Torres-Velásquez will work with approximately 40 female inmates ranging in age from 25 to 60 who are incarcerated for ‘Crimes of Passion.’ Their stories include tales of abuse and tragic history that have shaped their lives and led them to where they are today. She’ll examine his employed methodology that portends to promote changes in perceptions and lives of the inmates, many of whom are women serving life terms, some with no prospect of parole.
The data will be collected in various forms including written and videotaped notes from pre-workshop planning sessions and debriefings with Baca, written notes of investigator observations and workshop interactions, videotape analysis of daily workshop interactions (includes analysis of language interactions and instruction, and patterns in any interactive behaviors), daily written feedback from participants and post workshop interviews with participants asking how the workshops have affected them as writers and as individuals.
“I like Jimmy’s approach to working with adults and kids and I’ve seen what he does. He may or may not have a name for it, but it fits the model I’ve been looking for,” Torres-Velásquez stated. ”I want to look at what he does when he’s teaching and what he communicates to his students whether they are inmates, unwed mothers or kids at risk. I want to see the dynamics between him and his students using this model. “
“I want to analyze what he communicates as he teaches. What does he say verbally and nonverbally? What support does he give them through his body language and how does he scaffold their learning? What does he tell them, what does he do to take them up to the next level of writing? I also want to ask the inmates firsthand what they see that they are getting from Jimmy’s teaching.”
After completion of the research, which is slated to take place through October 2009, Torres-Velásquez plans to present the results at upcoming national conferences of the American Educational Researchers Association (AERA) and the National Council for Teachers of English (NCTE). A major goal of this study is to pilot the methods and data analysis procedures.
“We do anticipate finding significant results. We expect to find that teaching and learning are complex. We expect to identify and more deeply explore some of those complexities. We anticipate that this pilot study will provide the groundwork for a Spencer Foundation research grant as well as a proposal to the U.S. Department of Justice,” said Torres-Velásquez.
Video story: The Pedagogy of a Poet
Media Contact: Steve Carr, (505) 277-1821; e-mail: scarr@unm.edu
Posted by scarr at January 15, 2009 01:59 PM