Welcome

Welcome to jdlavelle.com and thank you for visiting.  Herein, you will find my writing, my podcast…and hopefully something more.

Like what?  Well, you know that I am a teacher, so I hope to teach you some of the things that I now know.

I was responsible for maintaining order and teaching English and GED exam preparation to juvenile criminal offenders for six class periods five days a week.  Our facility was the end of the line for many young men. I learned many things from them.

I learned that some students didn’t necessarily care about learning or standards.  Because why would you when you’ve spent all night on tile restriction?  Note: tile restriction is when you are made to stand on a floor tile in your room…all night long.  If you move from the tile, then your roommates beat you.  They take turns sleeping, so that someone is always on watch.  It made staying awake in my classroom difficult.

I learned that some students won’t read unless you give them something worth reading.  So I started writing stories for my students.  And one young man who never did a lick of work, never cracked a book, and never stood a chance of earning a diploma, or even a GED, looked at me after reading a story that I’d written and said, “More.”

So I wrote more, including Something to Teach.

Teaching “on the inside” has given me a unique perspective on teaching, learning, and life.  I share this perspective through my writing and my podcast Inside Outs.

More than anything else, I hope to teach you about the importance of freedom.

Enjoy.