An Autoethnographic Approach to Developing Human Connections: A Prison Educator’s Lived Experiences

Authors

Kyle L. Roberson, Texas Tech UniversityFollow
Karen L. Alexander, Texas Tech UniversityFollow

Abstract

Storytelling and reflective practices have been recent buzzwords in the fields of education and family and consumer sciences. The point is to tell our stories and inform the public about the infinite number of ways educators and family and consumer sciences professionals impact our schools and communities. Through this autoethnographic study, the researcher details how making human connections and the sharing of these stories has the potential to improve correctional institutions, education programs, and student-teacher relationships. Lessons learned and experiences easily translate to public education, higher education, and industry. Journey with the researcher through his memories and reflections as an educational administrator in a federal prison. The researcher’s goal is to foster personal growth, safer prisons, and the building of human connections in all aspects of work, community, and family.

Keywords

human connections, relationships, storytelling, reflection, autoethnography, narrative inquiry, self-study, prisoners

Author Bio(s)

Kyle L. Roberson, Ph.D., is assistant professor in the Family and Consumer Sciences Education Program at Texas Tech University and a retired educational administrator with the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Please direct correspondence to kyle.roberson@ttu.edu.

Karen L. Alexander, Ph.D., CFCS, is associate professor in and program chair of the Family and Consumer Sciences Education Program, and Director of the Curriculum Center for Family and Consumer Sciences at Texas Tech University.

Acknowledgements

I would like to congratulate and acknowledge the many men who were students within my programs and institutions within the federal prison system who dedicated themselves to making positive changes in their lives through education, training, and programming.

Publication Date

11-9-2022

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

DOI

10.46743/2160-3715/2022.5594

Recommended APA Citation

Roberson, K. L., & Alexander, K. L. (2022). An Autoethnographic Approach to Developing Human Connections: A Prison Educator’s Lived Experiences. The Qualitative Report, 27(11), 2501-2508. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2022.5594

ORCID ID

0000-0002-2973-533X