“Like Feeding a Dog His Own Tail” is an installation composed of a 6’x8’ model classroom containing a classic 1950’s student desk, a chalkboard, a composition notebook, and No. 2 pencils. The piece is informed by my work as a middle school special education teacher in NYC and observing the criminalization of our youth within the school environment. To enclose this classroom built for one, I have constructed a black fence that mimics both the bars of a prison cell and the fences that often surround schools and playgrounds. Depending on which side of the fence you stand, fences can serve to protect or exclude. Like Feeding a Dog His Own Tail invites the viewer to think about and question the links between America’s urban public education system and America’s mass incarceration system.