Planting seeds in a Juvenile Detention Center
Brad Norwood
Corporate and Personal Dream Enabler | Bucket List Evangelist | “Purpose Beats Passion” Torchbearer
When civilians think of jail, they usually think of sedentary life. People that are locked up don’t do anything. Nothing goes on in there, well nothing good anyway.
You would be surprised to know that while the time might stand still for those incarcerated, the activity in a jail never stops.
Laundry is always being done. Meals are being prepared. New inmates are coming in, while other inmates are set for release. Court dates happen daily, as do attorney visits, doctors visits, counseling visits and more.
On the inside of the facility the action never stops.
As a teacher at the juvenile detention center, the day with my students revolved around their schedules. It also revolved around which pod they were housed in and what other inmates they could or couldn’t attend school with.
Education was as much of a juggling act as the other daily operations were. It took 100% team effort between the education department, the court system and the security staff to make the day a success. We each learned to give more than we took so that the other department could fully function.
The crazy part? The kids knew as much about the operations as we did.
There wasn’t a clock on the wall, but they knew when it was time for court, meals, recreation time, visitations, etc. They knew the system.
“Street life” could adapt to incarcerated life well because of the routine. But when it came to school, I wasn’t dealing with Einstein.
These kids didn’t like books. They didn’t like them before, they dang sure didn’t now. Half of their trouble revolved around school and the reminders of that while doing time was a sore subject.
So I had to adapt again. To give to them education in a way that related to them. Turn English into graffiti and allow them to do the math they know, street math. Before you knew it, their “lights” were coming on and school wasn’t so bad.
I was the one that learned the most. Giving was the best option.
As educators, we were planting seeds.
Strategy driven marketing content written for busy business leaders|Messaging Strategist|Business Copywriter|Content Writer|Social Media|Blogs|Case Studies|Web Content|Writing Consultancy Owner|Published in Thrive Global
3 年That’s what the best educators do Brad Norwood and that’s to adapt to match their audiences interests and to make learning engaging at their level. ??
Manager, Field Support Analytics | Data Analysis | Modeling | Forecasting | Business Insights
3 年I enjoyed the story. I like how you used what they knew to teach and probably expand on the concepts. It’s so important. Thanks for sharing Brad Norwood. Keep up the great work!
Senior AI Marketing Strategist for SUSE: AI architecture for marketing & sales, personalizing dynamic web experiences | Automation aficionado
3 年What a great story, Brad. I couldn't help but focus on the part about the kids "knowing the system". There is so much value in understanding a process in life and business. That in itself planted a seed that we intuitively understand process. In times of hardship we fallback to process in our daily lives.
Linkedin Top Voice, CHRO, Published Author, Favikon Top 3 Linkedin Creators-Singapore.
3 年Love this, a noble experience of giving, Brad Norwood