"Succeeding on the Outside"

Journal of Correctional Education, Jun 2005 by Finch, Dorla

Topic Release Preparation/Reentry Class

Objectives of Lesson

Students will: 1) Observe how ex-offenders used entry level jobs as stepping stones, 2) Understand the importance of being prepared for running into old friends, 3) Identify positive and negative behaviors that affect success, and 4) Realize that setting goals and planning for success can lead to success.

Lesson Description/Procedures/Activities

The Ohio Department of Youth Services has mandated that all inmates within a few weeks of release, must complete 12 hours of classes on Goal Setting, Work and Self Management Skills, Resume Preparation and Job Search, Interviewing and Job Retention. This lesson was added to the Job Retention Class session and the total lesson then became Success on the Job and Success on the Outside.

ACTIVITIES

1) Read "Parable of the Eagle." Ask for interpretations.

2) Introduce the idea that "Everyone can change. Do you really want to?" A lot of people coming out of prison, see how close they can live their old lifestyles without being caught.

3) Read and place mini-posters around the room. Each mini poster lists the 5 keys to successful living. Read together.

4) Point out that these 5 keys will be discussed in the video to be viewed.

5) Handout the thought questions. These will be completed and discussed after the video, but the questions give students ideas about what they will be seeing.

6) View video "Success Stories - Change is Possible". The 32 minutes video shows 4 ex-offenders of various ethnicities, who struggled with substance abuse, destructive behavior and prison time. Each found a path to a better life, but none of the changes was easy.

7) After viewing the video, answer and discuss the handout questions. Relate to mini-posters.

8) Summarize and review mini posters.

9) Read "Autobiography in 5 Short Chapters"

10) Real life opportunities await them at their discharge dates. Applying class learnings will affect success

Materials Needed

* "Parable of the Eagle" Source unknown

* Video - "Success Stories - Change is Possible" - FMS Productions, 5320/D Carpineria Ave., Carpinteria, CA 93014

* VCR-TV on cart

* 4-5 mini-posters with tape to hang them

* Handouts of Thought Questions

* Poem of Autobiography in 5 Short Chapters by Portia Nelson

* Pencils

Comments

Students found it helpful to discover what they would be looking for in the videos. Watching the behaviors of ex-offenders, and listening to their reports of how those behaviors influenced their success was quite meaningful to my class of inmates who are within weeks of being released from prison. Though our discussion time was short, several students said that the questions on the handout to think about, were really serious, especially those pertaining to friends and levels of responsibility, (#7 a #8).

Vocabulary Humbling

Responsibility

Work Ethic

Career

Entrepreneur

Extension Activities Real life opportunities & experiences - making plans and setting goals

Related Information from previous lessons on Goal Setting, Work, and Jobs.

THE PARABLE OF THE EAGLE

Once upon a time, while walking through the forest, a certain main found a young eagle. He took it home and put it in his barnyard where it soon learned to eat chicken feed and to behave as chickens behave.

One day a naturalist who was passing by inquired of the owner why it was that an eagle, the king of all birds, should be confined to live in the barnyard with the chickens.

"Since I have given it chicken feed and trained it to be a chicken, it has never learned to fly" replied the owner. "It behaves as chickens behave, so it is no longer an eagle." "Still," insisted the naturalist, "it has the heart of an eagle and can surely be taught to fly."

After talking it over, the two men agreed to find out whether this was possible. Gently the naturalist took the eagle in his arms and said, "You belong to the sky and not to the earth. Stretch forth your wings and fly." The eagle, however, was confused. He did not know who he was, and seeing the chickens eating their food, he jumped down to be with them again.

Undismayed, the naturalist took the eagle on the following day, up on the roof of the house, and urged him again, saying, "You are an eagle. Stretch forth your wings and fly." But the eagle was afraid of his unknown self and the world and jumped down once more for chicken food.

On the third day the naturalist rose early and took the eagle out the barnyard to a high mountain. There he held the king of birds high above him, saying, "You are an eagle. You belong to the sky as well as the earth. Stretch forth your wings now, and fly".

The eagle looked around, back toward the barnyard and up to the sky. Still he did not fly. Then the naturalist lifted him straight towards the sun and it happened that the eagle began to tremble. Slowly he stretch forth his wings. At last, with a triumphant cry, he soared away into the heavens.

It may be that the eagle still remembers the chickens with nostalgia; it may even be that he occasionally revisits the barnyard. But as far as anyone knows, he has never returned to lead the life of a chicken.