Category: Essential Reading
Recommended books
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A Team Effort: Taking ICM Coursework Virtual in Arizona
The ongoing Coronavirus pandemic exposed an interesting truth about planning and delivering educational events: we sometimes take the process for granted. Judicial educators often focus their creative talents and energies on updating and refining the training itself, while defaulting to established templates and procedures when it comes to registration, setup, and other logistics. Earlier this year, the default plan went away for the Education Services Division at the Arizona Supreme Court, so here is what we did to meet the need for leadership training. Educators and faculty involved in the Arizona ICM program tell the story through their own words.
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On Monday, March 16th, 2020, Education Services Division staff arrived at their Arizona Supreme Court offices in midtown Phoenix to find the following email announcement: “With the CDC’s Sunday evening recommendation to cease all large and close quarters gatherings for eight weeks, we’ve canceled all programs through the end of April.”
Jennifer Curtiss, Court Administrator, Carefree-Cave Creek Consolidated Court: When the lockdowns began, I believed they would be a short-term situation and never imagined that we’d be dealing with them six months later.
Gabe Goltz, Education Programs Manager, Education Services Division, Arizona Supreme Court: I think like many people I was feeling like the proverbial “deer in the headlights.” I think I was simply grappling to understand what was going on and hadn’t yet moved into a more strategic thinking mode. Naturally, at first, it was deflating. We believe in the quality and necessity of our programming.
Jeff Schrade, Division Director, Education Services Division, Arizona Supreme Court: Throughout April and May, we were largely still in the “wait and see” mindset with rolling cancellations and postponements, making decisions about one month in advance of programs.
As it became clear that the CDC’s eight-week recommendations would not nearly be enough to stop the spread of COVID-19, cancellations continued through June.
Jennifer Curtiss: When May arrived, and it was still unsafe, things felt a lot less predictable and we came up with a new plan to utilize available technology.
Jeff Schrade: I feel that my team was patient and flexible as “wait and see” dominated in that period, but at the same time, we made great strides that allowed us to transition into “remote mode” rapidly.
Sarah Kennedy, Education Assistant, Education Services Division, Arizona Supreme Court: Our department was proactive in their approach to how we would transition our programs to a virtual world, which in turn enabled us to help courts figure out and train as efficiently and seamlessly as possible.
There was still a decision to be made about the videoconferencing platform courts would use to chart the brave new virtual world of court business. Zoom was certainly a media darling in the spring, though not all of the attention was flattering. Put another way, “Zoombombing” is on the shortlist for Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Year for 2020.
Sarah Kennedy: I heard of Zoom back in December and at the time there were clear limitations that concerned me. I was skeptical that we would be able to hold a program on Zoom that met our standards.
Gabe Goltz: I think my first impression was that this technology was cold and impersonal – a “necessary evil.”
Jeff Schrade: I thought it was just another one of about a hundred different online meeting platforms.
First impressions aside, the Arizona Supreme Court chose to acquire Zoom licenses, with an eye on deploying them across Arizona’s courts, to meet the growing need to hold training, meetings, conferences, hearings, and even trials. Staff quickly got to work on acquiring proficiency.
Sarah Kennedy: I have been pleasantly surprised by how well Zoom developers have worked to upgrade the platform to meet the incredible demands caused by the pandemic. As the entire world has moved into a virtual workspace, the Zoom infrastructure has had to catch up in a very short period.
Jennifer Curtiss: Zoom has many more tools than I realized. The ability to have break-out “rooms” is so useful for smaller conversations. I also find it very easy to use and intuitive.
Jeff Schrade: It just works. You can rely on it, and its use expands, it provides a standard platform for our diverse statewide audience – and even nationally.
The proactive Arizona team found that their national accreditor, the Institute for Court Management, responded positively to initial inquiries about the possibility of online coursework. Communication on this topic grew steadily throughout April, evolving into collaboration over what ICM coursework by videoconference would look like.
Diane Herst, Education Specialist, Education Services Division, Arizona Supreme Court: I thought, “Ok, how exactly might that happen?” I was intrigued by the idea though – thinking it might be a way to reach those whose learning styles would benefit from that format more than in-person classes.
Sarah Kennedy: I had questions like, “How we adapt the curriculum to fit into a virtual platform?” and “What tools are there currently that we can use to make this a seamless transition for our participants?”
Plans were made to unveil the virtual format in May, but another issue scuttled those plans: work demands on certified faculty. Judges, administrators, and managers, who typically dominate the faculty roster for court training, all found their availability vanish as the changing course of the pandemic altered business practice in unpredictable ways. With no faculty available, staff continued to familiarize themselves with the virtual workspace, and its unique attributes.
Diane Herst: I was never one to be away from my desk that much anyway, even in the office. I think through Zoom and Skype I may be communicating even more with my colleagues. I haven’t felt isolated at all!
Gabe Goltz: I have found that lengthy Zoom-based meetings or classes seem to leave me more exhausted than in-person. I’ve found this strange since, when I teach, I tend to be very animated and move a lot.
Sarah Kennedy: It is interesting to note though that we also tend to see a more casual side come out as well, such as if participants are learning from home, we hear their dogs barking in the background or children will pop up on the screen for a quick second. It brings some levity and to a degree lowers the amount of stress and strangely brings us all closer together.
Jennifer Curtiss: I was constantly worried that other people were watching me, even though they probably weren’t doing so. It feels like you’re being watched much more than during an in-person class.
Jeff Schrade: The Brady Bunch view is so 1970s!
Veteran faculty with specific availability were soon lined up for Purposes and Responsibilities of Courts in early July: Gabe Goltz and Kent Batty, former Court Administrator for the Arizona Superior Court in Pima County. Preparations began in May, and heated up in June, matching the record-breaking heat Phoenix would experience all summer.
Diane Herst: I think the issue of knowing the “Zoom equivalent” to our in-class procedures was the most challenging. For instance, how would the flip-chart / group exercises take place?
Sarah Kennedy: While we have great faculty that are extremely knowledgeable in their respective areas of training, it is a completely different world to teach virtually rather than face-to-face.
Gabe Goltz: We wanted to ensure that a good classroom community, or collegial meeting environment, could still be built and maintained in an otherwise sterile and tech-mediated environment.
The night before the class began, tensions were high.
Diane Herst: I didn’t sleep that much different than the night before any class!
Sarah Kennedy: I slept just fine. There is always a little bit of nervousness that comes with each program that is taught, but it was minimal for this class because this wasn’t my first class. Our team devoted weeks of prep for this class as well so we all felt confident coming into this.
Gabe Goltz: While I am always anxious right before a class starts, I don’t think at that point I was especially more anxious for it being on Zoom.
Jennifer Curtiss: I didn’t have any trouble sleeping.
[Ed. Note: The author has been advised to avoid caffeine after noon. ;)]
Over four days, Arizona faculty, staff, and participants completed their first virtual session over Zoom. Most everyone in the “room” remarked that the course took a similar trajectory to most ICM coursework: transitions between lecture and discussion started very formally, and as the faculty and participants become comfortable with their new learning cohort, the lesson plan flows seamlessly from topic to topic, with critical thinking and problem solving arising organically.
Diane Herst: I think at the beginning, the participants were a little apprehensive, but by Day 2, they all had it down well! As far as participation within the class, it didn’t seem that much different than if we were in the same room.
Sarah Kennedy: There was a noticeable amount of growth throughout the four days of instruction. We held participant preparation sessions before class to make sure that there were minimal distractions and that their computer setup would accommodate what was required of them. Our team has taken the position of being proactive whenever it is possible so that we don’t have to be reactive during a session. It has paid off and has created an environment for participants that is much more conducive for learning and effective for faculty.
Gabe Goltz: I did see participants get increasingly comfortable and quick with Zoom tools.
Jennifer Curtiss: As we all became more comfortable with Zoom, and the online format of the class, I think we were more relaxed and better able to have conversations because we knew what to expect. Knowing what to expect also helped us with activities and breakout “rooms” because we were familiar with the process. The real-life challenges that come with working from home and taking classes via Zoom helped generate rapport between faculty and participants.
Once the faculty teach-back was completed on Friday afternoon, and Jennifer Curtiss was confirmed as the newest member of Arizona’s ICM faculty, there was a genuine sense of accomplishment in the team, confirmed later by the evaluation scores.
Sarah Kennedy: I was pleasantly surprised by the feedback. I knew that we had not failed in any of the areas of evaluation and that our team and faculty worked hard to make sure that everything ran smoothly. There was a huge amount of praise and recognition from participants regarding how seamless the class seemed and that they felt engaged the whole time.
Jeff Schrade: Participants unsurprisingly enjoyed the schedule flexibility and those that live in distant corners of the state appreciated not having to travel and spend time away from home.
Gabe Goltz: I think it’s indispensable to have a good team of staff who are in the Zoom class to help participants with whatever they need and to otherwise manage the technology. I just don’t think it’s possible to do this work effectively while also being a great instructor, focused on the instruction.
Diane Herst: We have conducted one more class since and will be conducting our third in a couple of weeks. It has gotten easier as we have been able to find what works and what doesn’t, and then make modifications for the next time.
Echoing Diane’s words, though the journey has been full of fits and starts, we are getting better every day. In the words of Mark Twain, “continuous improvement is better than delayed perfection.” Arizona has since completed two more ICM courses: Workforce Management, and Operations Management. Both received strong evaluation scores and feedback. We look forward to offering virtual ICM coursework until in-person coursework is possible, and perhaps indefinitely as an alternative for Arizona participants who live and work several hours from Phoenix.
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About the Author: Matt Estes is a Senior Education Specialist with the Education Services Division of the Arizona Supreme Court. In that role, he leads the work of the Court Leadership Institute of Arizona. He is also a NASJE member and is happy to discuss the logistics and preparation behind virtual coursework. Contact Matt at mestes@courts.az.gov.
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BOOK REVIEW: The Color of Law by Richard Rothstein
“An unjust law is no law at all.” —St. Augustine
This quote from St. Augustine says it all for me after reading Richard Rothstein’s well-researched book The Color of Law (AMAZON). As an educator who spent the last 10 plus years working for the courts, where the rule of law reigns supreme, this book challenged what I thought I knew about segregation, racism, public housing and the law. As such, this enlightening book is valuable to judges and court employees for understanding who comes to court and how they get there.
Richard Rothstein’s thesis is that local, state, and federal laws, rules and policies deliberately caused segregation in public housing, beginning primarily around World War II when severe housing shortages for war workers caused the government to build public housing in large numbers where war industries existed. While the common supposition is that housing segregation is de facto (people live in segregated neighborhoods out of personal choice), Mr. Rothstein argues that segregation in housing is in fact de jure (a result of laws and policies of the government). His arguments are compelling and are a lesson for everyone in the court system, in fact for all citizens, about why housing segregation really happened, and what might be done about it.While currently most public housing is targeted towards the poor, in its early days, public housing was built for working- and middle-class families. Since few houses were constructed during the Depression, a huge shortage of housing developed in the 1930’s. When the economy ramped up with as WWII began, millions of workers, both white and African-American, migrated to cities where those factories offered work. The government invested in public housing to provide war workers with homes. But rather than make this housing available to all workers in all areas, the laws passed by Congress and the policies of the Public Works Administration, and later the Federal Housing Authority, required subdivisions to be segregated. The 1949 Federal Housing Act, which Mr. Rothstein calls the “poison pill” of housing legislation, affirmed segregation practices in law. In addition, many more white subdivisions were built than African-American subdivisions, forcing black people into crowded conditions or dwellings far from their work sites as they tried to find adequate housing. In addition, black subdivisions tended to be built in less desirable locations, for example, near heavy industry and dumps, where polluted conditions compromised the health of those forced to live there. No other choices were available to them.
In addition, African-American workers were hired only for the most menial and lowest-paying positions, until the dire need for workers forced war industries to hire them for any position for which they had the aptitude. But the greater pay these workers earned did not allow them access into white subdivisions even when they could afford to live there.
According to Mr. Rothstein, and supported in public record, the results of forcing segregation where it had previously not existed or was minimal, like in California, were many, and continue to exist and harm African-Americans today. In addition to negative health conditions mentioned above, another result of forced segregation was overcrowded neighborhoods which turned into slums. With housing for African-Americans in short supply, families subdivided their homes and took in renters, multiple families shared homes, and the resulting overcrowding caused neighborhoods to go downhill. In addition, housing segregation reinforced school segregation, and black schools were underfunded and inferior to white schools. Since black families could not buy houses that they could afford in better neighborhoods, they were not able to accumulate wealth and education the way white families could, a disparity that continues today. Mr. Rothstein explains clearly how government-sanctioned housing segregation negatively impacted, and continues to negatively impact, black families in areas of health, achievement gaps, wealth disparities, and mass incarceration.
As an example of how housing segregation continues to hurt African-American families, Mr. Rothstein shows how in the time prior to the great recession of 2008-2009, lenders targeted low-income people and African-Americans (both working- and middle-class) for toxic mortgages in far greater numbers than middle class white Americans. When the recession occurred, these families lost most of the wealth they had earned over decades. African-Americans who lost their wealth with their homes far exceeded white Americans in the same situation.
Mr. Rothstein finishes his book with possible remedies to the continued discrimination against African-American families. His solutions are sometimes radical, a fact he admits. As one example, he cites the gentrification of older neighborhoods around city centers. Mr. Rothstein states that while gentrification is not necessarily a bad thing, unless something is done to help the poorer neighbors living in these neighborhoods so that they can either upgrade their homes and stay or purchase reasonable housing elsewhere, gentrified neighborhoods end up richer, whiter enclaves and poorer residents end up in slums since those areas are often all they can afford when rents become unaffordable where they used to live.
The Color of Law is rich with well-documented history and details of how public housing became segregated, how it hurt African-Americans, and how it continues to harm them. The fact that this segregation was de jure and not de facto provides a rich area to begin a discussion with judges and other court employees. This book is recommended for all court employees and is an excellent choice for any law and literature class or book club discussion.
Formerly the Pima County (Arizona) Field Trainer and a Superior Court Training Coordinator, Nancy Smith has over 10 years of experience working in court training and education, first at the Washington State AOC and at Pima County Superior Court (Tucson, AZ). She currently is a partner at Sustainable Change Coaching and Consulting. She came to the courts with 16 years of experience in education, both as a community college instructor and a high school teacher in Tucson, and as a curriculum coordinator at the Evergreen State College in Olympia, WA. Nancy taught many kinds of court related classes, including topics such as implicit bias and faculty development, and court related topics like due process and procedural fairness. She has a special interest in adult learning theory and application. Nancy has branched out into a new business, where she and her partner plan to teach court leaders coaching skills to improve employee performance and retention. She speaks periodically at conferences on topics related to judicial education and publishes articles for the National Association of State Judicial Educators (NASJE). Currently, she serves on the NASJE Board as the Western Region Director as well as on the Communication and Conference Committees. She earned her bachelor’s degree in French and History at the College of William and Mary in Virginia, and her Master’s in French from the Free University of Brussels, Belgium. Nancy grew up in a Navy family, married into an Army family and served four years as an Army Intelligence officer. She has traveled widely around the United States and Europe as well as to Peru, Mexico and China. She likes the outdoors, and swims, hikes, bikes and does yoga for fun and fitness. She can be reached at nancy@sustainablechangecoaching.com. -
Midwest Region Webinar Available to NASJE Membership
Please join members of the Midwest Region at a timely Webinar to be held on July 27 from noon to 1:30 Central Time.
Taking the Lead: Responding to Harassment in the Workplace
As you know, the #MeToo movement has generated a lot of attention on sexual harassment in the workplace. In addition, some high-profile disclosures regarding judges sexually harassing subordinates have increased attention to sexual harassment within organizations that support the educational needs of judges. Many of us have reviewed, revised, or revamped sexual harassment training efforts for judges and court staff. The conference in Austin features a session about what works and what does not work in terms of sexual harassment training. At the end of the day, none of us want to make the problem worse; we are trying to do what we can to make it better.
This webinar continues along the path of how to do sexual harassment training in a way that helps solve the problem. In this session, we will look at the intersection of race and sex, considering how training efforts may be missing some of the critical elements to make them effective.
Join our faculty, Dr. Anthony Simones, Director of Citizenship Education, Missouri Bar (moderator), Kimberly Carson, Judicial Education Specialist for the Iowa AOC, and Jennifer Juhler, Director of Education and Training for the Iowa AOC. Dr. Simones has graciously agreed to moderate a discussion of these issues with Kim and Jennifer who have considerable experience training on fairness issues and who spend a significant amount of time talking with each other about fairness issues in general, race and sex specifically.
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NASJE Midwest Region Webinar: Using Technology to Train Rural Courts
We are pleased to announce our NASJE Midwest Region Webinar: Using Technology to Train Rural Courts.
The webinar will be conducted on April 7, 2017 from 11:45 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Central Time.
Open to all NASJE members. Every state has felt the pain of smaller budgets and fewer resources. Judicial education departments across the country have been tasked with providing more training despite shrinking budgets. In states like Missouri, the rural courts rely completely on the Office of State Court Administrator for their training and education. For almost 20 years, Missouri has used a blended learning approach, utilizing traditional classroom training, instructor led webinars, and e-learning to meet this challenge and ensure that the rural courts get the same quality training as the larger metropolitan courts.
Join us to learn about how Missouri has stepped up to the demands or providing quality education to all staff despite geography.
Faculty: Chris Adams has been with the Missouri Office of State Courts Administrator and worked in Judicial Education since 1999. He has been part of the Educational Technology team since its inception in 2001 and has been the Ed Tech Coordinator since 2010. Mr. Adams has a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and a master’s degree in business administration. He is also a certified instructional designer and has more than 20 years of experience as a law enforcement officer working for city, county, and state agencies.
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BOOK REVIEW: Crossing the Yard: Thirty Years as a Prison Volunteer
Review written by Nancy Fahey Smith, NASJE Western Region Director and Field Trainer for Arizona Superior Court in Tucson, Arizona.
A couple of times a year, the training division at the Arizona Superior Court in Tucson, AZ, sponsors a book club for continuing education credit, led by NASJE member Nancy Smith. In May of 2016, Club Read members met to discuss the book Crossing the Yard, by Professor Richard Shelton (2007, University of Arizona Press). If ever there was a book perfect for law and literature, for both court staff and for judicial officers, this profoundly compelling memoir about prisons is it.
It is difficult to discuss prison conditions with just about anyone. Some are convinced that crime deserves prison, the more time the better. Others are appalled by statistics that reveal the huge number of prisoners in America. Politicians talk about being tough on crime, parents talk about spending more on education instead of on prisons. Private prisons seem to be having a heyday. Recently, much has been made of the number of minorities in American prisons, and the long sentences they serve compared to Whites. We are scared by recidivism rates, yet unwilling, it seems, to spend scarce resources on programs to prevent it. As court personnel, exposed daily to crimes against society, it is easy to become jaded about prison and prisoners.
Few of us, however, have actually spent any real time in prisons. Perhaps we have had a tour, or maybe even visited a relative or friend there. In reality, we don’t understand what it is like to be in prison.
Unlike most of us, author Richard Shelton has spent many hours and days trying to help prisoners. In fact, he has spent more than 30 years leading creative writing workshops in Arizona’s prisons. Week in and week out he travels to remote and horrifying locations, working tirelessly to develop real writers out of inmates willing to learn. Along the way, he learned that prisoners are people, and many of them are enormously talented people who made bad mistakes in their lives and landed in prison.
Professor (emeritus) of Creative Writing at the University of Arizona in Tucson, Shelton wrote Crossing the Yard, a memoir of his experiences in Arizona prisons and full of stories that will inspire and disgust readers, with the goal of enlightening people to what really goes on inside prisons. He began trekking to the state prison in Florence, AZ after receiving a letter from a particularly infamous prisoner who asked Shelton to critique his writing. While many of Shelton’s adventures are downright scary, others are full of humor and hopefulness. The prisoners in Shelton’s workshops taught him many lessons, especially to be patient, forgiving and kind.
Shelton writes “Oh, these men in orange. I’ve learned more from them than I ever taught them, and it’s been good stuff…They have taught me to be patient; never to whine no matter what; to expect the worst and be happy if I get anything else; to be loyal, to be forgiving, to be kind. They have taught me that we are all law breakers and we are all victims of crime. They have taught me that growing old is no disgrace, but that a youth, wasted in prison, is a disaster.” (p. 227) Several of Shelton’s inmate students became published authors, like Jimmy Santiago Baca and Ken Lamberton, and more than a few became his friends. More often than not, workshop members found a reason for living and for staying out of trouble once released.
What really angers Shelton is the inhumane way prisoners are treated: “I want to put my head down on the table in front of me and weep with a pain that will not be comforted and a rage I cannot express.” (p. 232) He finds prison administrators inept and uncaring; prison policies arbitrary, ineffective, and cruel; the conditions horrible and inhumane; and the bureaucracy impossible. He rages that society simply throws so many people away, when after spending time with them Shelton finds that they are human beings deserving of forgiveness. He is not so naïve to believe that all prisoners are redeemable, but he believes that many are and all should at least be treated with dignity and respect while imprisoned.
Crossing the Yard provoked much soul searching when we discussed it in the Superior Court book club. Members of the group were overall pretty appalled at what they read, and came away with altered perspectives about those they see put away every day in their jobs. The group was surprised at the prevalence of drugs and racism in the prisons, but not really at the number of mentally ill serving time. Shelton’s stories and examples convinced group members that prisoners deserve a second chance to be contributing members of society. Prison does not have to be a place that destroys a person’s humanity, and many prisoners can be redeemed given the chance and the resources. Professor Shelton’s workshops provided just such a resource to its members.
Most of all, Shelton’s book taught group members what prison is really like for most prisoners. The picture is not pretty.
Professor Shelton writes very well and is a wonderful storyteller. The grim stories are interspersed with heartwarming stories of success and plenty of good humor. He also provides a reading list, and those who take the list and read the writing of workshop participants will be amazed at the powerful poetry, prose and art that leap from the pages of their work.
With sentencing reform and prison reform currently on the agenda in many states and at the federal level, a book like Crossing the Yard can serve to illuminate why such reforms are vital. As judicial branch educators, we are always on the lookout for essential learning resources to guide our work. Crossing the Yard by Richard Shelton is one such resource.
NAJSE members can access the discussion questions created for the Book Club discussion in Tucson, as well as a link to a PBS video interview of Professor Shelton on the Members Area of this website.
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Self-theories: Their Role in Motivation, Personality, and Development
Self-theories: Their Role in Motivation, Personality, and Development (Essays in Social Psychology), 1st Edition by Carol Dweck
Get it at AMAZONThis innovative text sheds light on how people work — why they sometimes function well and, at other times, behave in ways that are self-defeating or destructive. The author presents her groundbreaking research on adaptive and maladaptive cognitive-motivational patterns and shows:
- How these patterns originate in people’s self-theories
- Their consequences for the person — for achievement, social relationships, and emotional well-being
- Their consequences for society, from issues of human potential to stereotyping and intergroup relations
- The experiences that create them
This outstanding text is a must-read for researchers in social psychology, child development, and education, and is appropriate for both graduate and senior undergraduate students in these areas.
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The Art of Changing the Brain: Enriching the Practice of Teaching by Exploring the Biology of Learning
The Art of Changing the Brain: Enriching the Practice of Teaching by Exploring the Biology of Learning, 1st Edition by James E. Zull
Get it at AMAZONJames Zull invites teachers in higher education or any other setting to accompany him in his exploration of what scientists can tell us about the brain and to discover how this knowledge can influence the practice of teaching. He describes the brain in clear non-technical language and an engaging conversational tone, highlighting its functions and parts and how they interact, and always relating them to the real world of the classroom and his own evolution as a teacher.
