Engaging the Incarcerated Mind: An Auto-Ethnography of an Educator in a Juvenile Justice Facility

• In Event: 77.058 - MTCC Roundtable Session 36
  In Roundtable Session: 77.058-10 - Creating Identity Through Teacher Research: Three Perspectives of What It Means to Identify as Teacher

Abstract

Increasing the quality of education systems within residential juvenile justice facilities has been shown to be a critical piece of rehabilitation for juvenile delinquents. This autoethnography looks at how one teacher-researcher has worked to increase student engagement in order to increase both student motivation and achievement within one residential juvenile justice facility over four years. This study looks at how student educational engagement can be fostered so as to increase the quality of education for juvenile delinquents in order to reduce recidivism rates, thus lowering the prison population over time.

Author

• Helen Holland Avis, Methodist Home for Children