Exemplars from Community Works Institute

The YES Project
Alicia Tosi is a ninth and tenth grade English teacher at Spaulding High School in Barre, Vermont. Community Works Institute (CWI) interviewed her about a project that a community group called YES and her students were involved in, helping to make a connection with women at the Dale Correctional Facility.

Community Works Institute (CWI) : How did the project get started?

Alicia Tosi: Bev Scofield, the service-learning coordinator at Barre Town, approached me because she had been approached by Carolyn Shapiro and Jean Lathrop of YES (Youth Engaging Society, a nonprofit group trying to make a connection between youth and women in prison). I went to Dale Correctional Facility with Bev and Cindy Donlon, the Principal of Spaulding High School, and we met with Carolyn and Jean and the prison warden. We talked about what connection we could make between my students and the prisoners. YES had done this before with another school. My only concern was that we cover reading and writing, but it was easy to do that. I met some prisoners and toured the prison. I was much more apprehensive than my students. They knew a lot of people who have been in prison, and they were understanding, humane and caring.

CWI: What connections were you trying to make with these women?

AT: Our two topics were decision-making and change. I thought the kids would realize not to make same decisions the women had. But that’s not what the kids took away. They understood that you have to accept all people, that people make mistakes, and not to judge, but to learn from your mistakes... I see the goodness in these kids, they’re smart and they know a lot, but they can’t always express how they feel. I was trying to show them how to express themselves through reading and writing, to give them a different outlet for their emotions. I tried to get them to process and talk about their feelings instead of blowing up and taking everything personally. At the very end, they were able to talk about their feelings more.

CWI: Why was that?

AT: I think it was because I wasn’t in charge of it anymore, I gave up some of my leadership role, which was very hard to do. I let the women from Dale and YES take a role. The prisoners were running games and activities, to help the students talk and relax. Carolyn and Jean from YES worked with the inmates on these activities.

CWI: What happened on these visits? Where did you meet?

AT: We would start the morning in a church basement here in Barre. About 10 to 15 women from Dale would be bussed there, accompanied by two guards. A typical activity might be to write to a journal question such as, “This morning I....” Then we would discuss what kind of morning the kids — and the women — had had. The women wanted to know what kind of mood the kids were in. Both the women and students would do this. They would then go around the circle and share what they had written (on a voluntary basis) and discuss it.

“After this, they’d do some kind of game. One they really liked was “The Big Wind Blows.” In this game, you have two circles, one inside the other, facing each other. A subject of conversation is introduced, and you rotate around the circle, talking to different partners each time. This way they all got to know everyone. Some students were hesitant, and I’d help them. I participated a couple of times as well. We always had breakfast snacks and music. A couple of the musicians were from Dale; one played the guitar and one the piano. One of my students also played guitar, and we’d sing. A lot of times it was lyrics the kids made up, such as rap songs about the project (YES), and we sang some folk songs.

After lunch the students and I would walk to Studio Place Arts (SPA), an art gallery and working studio where we could create art together. The women from Dale were bussed there. Each time we did a different art activity, such as pop-up books with the person who runs SPA — she gave us the materials and showed us how to do it. On another visit we painted. They gave us a large piece of cardboard and they wanted us to create a big “wall” together. Others did their own paintings. They liked it best when they were given a choice. Their art was displayed at the studio, and at Dale.... They cared about what they had made. Unfortunately, our last time was canceled due to circumstances beyond our control. The kids were disappointed; they wanted to say goodbye.

CWI: How engaged were your students in this project?

AT: I got a lot of complaints from my students, even though they liked it. Change was hard — my role was both to be the disciplinarian but also give up control. I was responsible for them, and I had concerned parents. Sometimes my chaperones would fall through. I had to figure out what to do with students who chose not to participate because they’re parents were concerned or for other reasons. Out of the 30 kids in two sections of English, about 20 participated. There was a core that remained excited about it. They liked having bagels for breakfast and pizza for lunch, eating as a group.

CWI: What do you feel the students learned from this experience?

AT: I feel as if I learned more than they did. [Reading from a student reflection:] “I learned a lot about the others and more about me. I learned that a HS student such as me can be helpful to adults. I bet if the women could change what they did, they would...” Reading and writing is not their main passion because they don’t feel they’re good at it. As a result of this experience there was more feeling, more emotion in their writing. It was a requirement of the course to write a reflection after the experience but not during it. They hate writing, they don’t feel good at it. When you hand back a rough draft with marks on it, they take it personally. So I had to sit down with them and talk about it, which is time-consuming. I wanted them to feel confident that they could express themselves. I would write with them; every essay I gave them I wrote as well. Sometimes I asked them to edit me. They spend a lot of time working in groups, peer editing.

CWI: Were there elements you found challenging about the experience?

AT: The collaboration was very challenging. It was time-consuming, and it was difficult to be responsible for the students. One time I was supposed to have a parent, another time, someone who was going to accompany me got sick and couldn’t make it. We needed more planning and more backup, more communication. It was the first time we’d tried this. Jean and Carolyn had done it before, and they knew what they were doing. But it’s important to have chaperones who know the students and the school rules. Some of my students rebel against the rules, although for the most part, they followed them.

CWI: Would you do this again?

AT: If I did this again, I’d do it with another teacher, and combine two classes. Field trips are cut because of the budget, it’s too hard to go out because we don’t have busing. So that limits what we can do. If we can’t walk, we can’t do it.

CWI: What was your most important learning from this project?

AT: My biggest learning was about compassion, and about what my students are capable of. I learned that it’s okay to ask for help, instead of thinking I have to do everything myself. And I got to see my kids outside of school, smiling — that’s what I remember, those smiles.

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