PTP Project: Thrive, Rise, and Empower

Learning domains: Social Justice & Advocacy & Education

Description: In EDAD 523, I worked on a practice to theory to practice project with my group members. Our topic centered on better understanding students who were previously incarcerated to develop relevant programming that would help this population gain the self-efficacy and skills to become reintegrated into society. Through our program, Thrive Rise and Empower (TRE) students would be able to successfully transition to campus life through gaining life long skills, integrating socially for the development of meaningful relationships, having access to well support services and developing healthy coping strategies, and developing personal and professional competence. I helped develop the literature review and created the lesson plan that highlighted how students could integrate socially through the use of Baxter Magolda’s self-authorship theory and Schlossberg's transition theory during my workshop, Cultivating My Voice.

Term: Summer 2018

Learning Outcomes:

1. SWiBAT synthesize relevant student development theories to design a workshop for students who were previously incarcerated.

2. SWiBAT develop a lesson plan that incorporates Kolb’s learning cycle.

Assessment Rubric: Please click image to view PDF.

Reflection

Although I had some elements of competent, overall I would rate myself as as basic for SLO#1 because the student development theories that I incorporated were from the integrative-maturity cluster of student development theory and I minimally critiqued the theories when intentionally designing the workshop, Cultivating My Voice. I selected Schlossberg's Transition Theory and Baxter Magolda’s Self-Authorship theory because I thought it was important to showcase how these theories encompassed various aspects of one’s identity. For example, transition theory discusses the process of how individuals “more in, move through, and move out” of transitions which is valuable to better understand how this population becomes reintegrated post-incarceration. When students are able to articulate their transition and identify the support and resource that they have, students will be able to provide greater insight to their peers, student affairs professionals, and administrators. Similarly, self-authorship was helpful in providing a framework for students to understand the stages as well as how they have different capacities in interpersonal, cognitive, and intrapersonal. Through this theory, students are able take stock and reflect on aspects where that they stronger in and how they can further develop other areas.

However, it could have been valuable to critique the theories in our basegroup, so that potential recommendations could be used. For example, because Schlossberg's transition theory is so broad, it may have been helpful to create additional steps that fall into the four S’s that vary depending on the situation. For instance, this theory still feels static that in capturing one situation, self, resources, and support when in reality one’s self changes depending on the situation. It could have been valuable for students to compare and contrast the areas before and after they were incarcerated to provide perspective on how much growth they have experienced.

I would rate myself as competent for SLO #2 because I created a lesson plan that incorporated Kolb’s learning cycle. For example, I included an icebreaker for concrete experience, group discussion/lecture for abstract conceptualization, a Creating Your Own Path activity for active experimentation, and a debrief/group discussion for reflective observation. Additionally, during the “getting to know you” icebreaker, students would be able to talk in both small groups and share out to the larger group if they are comfortable (auditory). During the group discussion/lecture, there would be a PowerPoint (visual) on community resources and transition theory and self-authorship theory in a basic way. During the active experimentation, students will participate in a kinesthetic activity where they create a roadmap of the resources and support that they have in their lives. I would also challenge students to brainstorm how the interpersonal, intrapersonal, and cognitive areas of life and how this has varied throughout different parts of their lives. Lastly, the debrief/group discussion includes an important piece where students are able to share their experiences with their peers. This is valuable so that students can hold themselves accountable for where they want to be validated in their journey. I included a few assessment questions that related to the student learning outcomes I developed; however, they could have been more in-depth.

Evidence: I have attached my lesson plan and theoretical foundation for the literature review.

References

Patton, L.D., Evans, N., Forney, D., & Guido, F., Quaye, S. (2016). ​Student

development in college: Theory, research, and practice (3rd ed.)​. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.