SET
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Students Expressing Truth (SET) & Global Poker Strategic Thinking Society (GPSTS)
Proposal to DCS for SET Strategic Games
Students expressing truth - SET
“S.E.T STRATEGIC GAMES”
“From Darkness to Light
From Evil to Good
From Ignorance to Enlightment”
Introduction
S.E.T Foundation views strategic games such as tic tac toe, dots and boxes, rock scissor paper, checkers and chess as games of skill and computer programming as conceptual training that can be used as a powerful teaching tools within the penal institutions. The aforementioned games will be used to impart the skills of strategic thinking, risk assessment and money management to inmates. Computer skills provide motivation and organizational framework. The skills learned from computing and strategic games are applicable in everyday situations. The aim is to create an open curriculum centered on the creation and enhancement of winning life skills that will depart from the conventional teaching methods while imparting necessary skills to successfully integrate a rehabilitated inmate into society.
The games will be taught purely to demonstrate the valuable skills that can be derived from fully developing one’s strategic thinking ability.
Description
SET fully believes that there are many ways in which prison can be likened to strategic games of skill. Inmates who are better able to observe and evaluate before making a decisions on how to progress and think strategically, are most often the ones who can effectively and successfully navigate his/her way through life.
Consequently, all the following skills, when employed in strategic games, not only ensure that the strongest player wins but that he is also successful at all that he approaches:
• Risk Assessment: All the decisions we take on a daily basis involve some measure of risk. Our ability to think and analyze each situation will determine if the risks we take are meaningful or careless. Strategic games and especially the game of chess, allows you to fully hone and develop the skill of risk assessment. Knowing that it is important to bring your pieces out into the game at the beginning, to keep your king safe at all times, not to make big weaknesses in your position and not to blunder your pieces away for free are all key tools in helping you to emerge as the winner. An inmate can transfer this skill to his everyday interaction with other inmates.
• Mathematical Calculations: All the games will assist an inmate in developing basic mathematical skills. Most strategic games it involves an infinite number of calculations, anything from counting the number of attackers and defenders in the event of a simple exchange to calculating lengthy continuations.
• Managing Resources: As absurd as this may seem, even inmates need to learn to manage the limited resources which they have while in prison. But even more importantly, is the value of this skill once they have been reintegrated into society. The inmate who leaves the institution learning to maintain and manage his resources will be a far more responsible citizen better able to cope with any monetary challenges he may experience upon release.
• Thinking Analytically: strategic games will teach inmates to develop a scientific way of thinking. While playing, numerous variations are generated in your mind. Inmates will inevitable learn how to explore new ideas, predict outcomes and interpret surprising revelations. It’s like a scientific process that will allow each player to decide on a hypothesis, and then his/her make your move and test it.
• Expanding Technical skills: not only will inmates learn the games practically but also by interacting on and using the computer as a powerful learning tool.
• Developing Patience: strategic games are tests of patience, nerves, will power and concentration. They especially enhance one’s ability to interact with other people while building inmates your sportsmanship in a competitive yet peaceful environment.
• Literacy and numercacy. Numerous studies have proven that playing strategic games, such as chess often results in higher reading level, math level and a greater learning ability.
• Creativity: Strategic games promote imagination and creativity. It encourages you to be inventive.
• Independence: As a player, each inmate will be forced to make important decisions influenced only by his/her own judgment.
• Foresight: Chess especially, allows the player to develop the capability to predict and foresee consequences of actions. It teaches one to look both ways before crossing the street.
In essence, the strategic thinking that is applied to all the games especially that of chess will allow an inmate to carefully and analytically evaluate his actions before deciding how to proceed. Individuals will be equipped with the skills to make smart or meaningful decisions and apply these to their everyday circumstances. It is a fact that after being incarcerated, an inmate even though rehabilitated will experience difficulties in obtaining meaningful employment with a criminal record. An important part of the S.E.T training is to equip inmates with the skills necessary to become entrepreneurs upon leaving the institutions.
S.E.T will seek to establish Harvard’s University online-f2f school, lectured by Professor Charles Nesson in computer labs at the Rio Cobre Juvenile facility, Tower Street, South Camp and Fort Augusta correctional institutions with classes of inmates under the guidance of Kevin Wallen, mediating to each class a curriculum from Harvard University and the Jamaica Chess Federation through the digital internet medium of second life.
The S.E.T programme guarantees that inmates who will be introduced to strategic games in combination with the skills learned from the S.E.T programme will undoubtedly develop good business sense. Learning the odds of making a business decision, knowing how to assess the risks involved and managing his resources are but a few of the essential tools that will help an ex-convict to make successful strategic business decisions. These inmates will be successfully rehabilitated and upon their reintegration will prove to be of invaluable contribution to Jamaica.
Objectives
The following are the major objectives of the “Strategic Games” project which intends to have the overall objective of successfully rehabilitating each inmate who becomes involved in the S.E.T programme:
• To work in conjunction with the S.E.T training programme to equip inmates with entrepreneurial skills
• To help inmates develop and employ the skills of resource management, risk assessment, mathematical calculations, information technology and strategic thinking to their everyday situations
• To introduce an unconventional and more appealing approach to the teaching methods utilized in the rehabilitations programmes within Jamaica’s correctional facilities
• To equip inmates with the tools necessary to make meaningful and smart decisions
Requirements
In order to teach strategic games, especially chess as a game of skill and a helpful tool in character building as a part of the rehabilitation process, S.E.T will need the following:
• Internet access within the SET computer lab at Tower Street
• Access to discussion space within the SET lab at Tower Street
• Lead programme facilitators
• Teaching assistants
• 6 excellent computers (specs to follow)
• LCD projector
• internet connection
• LPFM transmitter
• Game equipment
• 12 boards
• 12 checkers sets
• 12 chess sets laying cards and chips
• Evaluation: placement tests will be administered to set baselines for participants on a variety of attitudinal measures that will facilitate programme evaluation, e.g., attitudes toward risk and authority, risk averseness, self confidence and numeracy.
• All games will offer a progression of learning steps with possibility of competition and proficiency testing at each level - chess for example will teach inmates how to play rook against rook to learn how the rook moves, bishop against bishop, etc.
• Media Facilitators: In order to fully develop the programme Free FM, Tower Street’s, prison radio station will be used a medium to encourage inmate participation. Kevin, acting as a facilitator will lead this project’s development on the radio. Outside of the institutions, Kevin and Rosamond will also be expected to act as spokespersons for the project on island wide radio and television stations
Integration
Who will be involved?
Both officers and inmates will have equal access to the programme. The officers will enjoy equal time in this learning environment if they so desire. S.E.T strongly believes that the aforementioned skills imparted in the games of tic tac toe, rock scissor paper, checkers and chess are just as beneficial to the officers as they are to the inmates.
In fact, if possible an ‘Officers Tournament’ would be eagerly organized to showcase the educational and entertainment value of chess to the media and Jamaica in general.
Media Strategy
The teaching of strategic games within Correctional facilities will used as a new angle for press release and public relation activities in order to garner a significant media attention.
Inmates who have been introduced to the S.E.T programme in combination with the skills learned from all the strategic games will undoubtedly develop good business sense. Learning the odds of making a business decision, knowing how to assess the risks involved and managing his resources are but a few of the essential tools that will help an ex-convict to make successful strategic business decisions.
Benefits
There are no doubts that there is great potential for success of the “SET Strategic Games” project within the penal institutions. It is clear that there is no better opportunity for Jamaica to respond to a change in its teaching methods and the way it approaches the task of rehabilitation. Many inmates who do not respond to the traditional methods of teaching are left behind in the system and are even less knowledgeable after passing through the correctional facilities. S.E.T presents the opportunity to reach these inmates in a meaningful way through a game that involves exceptional skill while teaching some of life’s most valuable lessons.
Our interaction with inmates will not only improve their numeracy skills but will equip them with the ability to carefully observe, analyze, think and make smart decisions for themselves. They will also develop entrepreneurial skills which will undoubtedly prove invaluable to their successful integration into society. This unconventional method of imparting crucial life changing skills is not only entertaining but highly educational and is sure to be ground breaking in Jamaica and the rest of Caribbean.
Project Management
For further information on any questions or concerns that you may have, please feel free to contact:
Kevin Wallen
or
Lecia-Gaye Gordon
Projects/Public Relations Coordinator
Destiny Productions
926-4139/960-1715
FM Kingston going live for the first time
April 27, 2007
I woke up this morning feeling like today was going to be a great day, and it was. I went to bed last night excited to bits about what was to happen today and I can’t tell you how much I could not wait for the time when I would make it happen.
For the past three years Charley and I have been talking about the possibility of setting up a radio network within the prisons in Jamaica. We saw it as a way that we could get the message of rehabilitation and restorative justice across to the entire prison system. We saw us being able to facilitate discussions on all levels, we saw it as us creating an environment where everyone in the prison community cold get together and discuss issues which are of importance to them. We were worried that if we don’t have total buy in from all the relevant parties then we would have problems but then we started having talks with the Commissioner of corrections, who with the assistance of his team helped us to strategically put things in place so that both officers and inmates would have a stake in the process. We took his advice and then went to the officers first, explained to them our thoughts on this medium and then sought their opinion. So after going on a sensitization campaign speaking to both officers and inmates we selected a compliment of ten inmates and five officers to train for the purpose of operating this radio station.
We built a radio studio with funding from CIDA we also received funding from UNESCO to provide training as well as equipment for the studio.
For the past months we have been conducting training sessions with both officers and inmates, to which they have responded quite well, however they questioned whether or not this thing was really going to happen. They did not see any antenna’s going up or anything out of the ordinary happening plus they were being asked questions by their fellow inmates about when this thing was going to happen so to put everyone’s minds at ease I decided to do a test today -- Set up the equipment, spread the word around the institution telling folks to tune their radios to 88.9 fm.
So today was the day to make it all happen. I told everyone that I would be at the prison at 10am to set up the equipment and that we would be on the air at 12pm. When I woke up this morning I would not wait to get to the prison so I could do this. As a matter of fact I packed up all the equipment from last night and placed it in my vehicle so this morning I could just go down and make it happen. I checked my clock every few minutes waiting for the time when I would go and pick up Wayne and then head out.
Finally it was time. I jumped in the van picked up Wayne, the entire journey all I could think about was the look on everyone’s faces when they actually heard themselves and their colleagues on the radio. By the time we got there everyone was waiting on us. Within twenty minutes we were set up and ready to go. And with the flip of a switch we were live. SET 88.9 FM was a reality; Tower Street Radio was finally on the air. The excitement was too much. The environment was filled with laughter, officers were coming in to make sure it was for real, not to mention the inmates. At one point I looked around and for that moment there was nothing that separated anyone in that room but, they were joined together by one thing, Radio. The sense of unity was unbelievable, unity, solidarity, togetherness. In a prison, between keeper and kept, wow.
The programs which were presented were done by both officers and inmates. There were no distinctions. Everyone had a role to play and they played it well. Some members from the Department of Correctional Services admin staff was there and you could see the sense of pride on their faces. In the round up discussion after the test I could did not want to critique at that point I really wanted them to know just how proud I was of them. It was most amazing. To be on the radio for the first time and do that well is simply amazing. The name of the programs were
HEALING TIME How can all the parties in a situation where a crime was committed heal? How can they make peace and move on.
CHAT BOUT What do inmates care about what are some of the things that are of interest to them? When its lock down time and the lights are off and the security personnel are not in direct earshot of what is said, what do inmates talk about?
POSITIVE CHANGE So you have been in prison for a while, each day is a different day; things are constantly changing around you, sometimes good, sometimes bad. Do you grow or does everything remain the same? It’s a choice but we chose to make a positive change.
MY EXPRESSIONS I don’t always say the right things and I don’t always do the right things, but every day that is my quest. As a Student Expressing Truth I want to express my self. I don’t want to tell you my thoughts, I want to express them from my being. First I become, then I express my self.
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