BEG and BARGAIN for the BASICS??? Smh

Sitting at our General Membership meeting of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers yesterday, our president, Mr. Jerry Jordan outlined the School District of Philadelphia's contract proposal and the PFT's proposal.

I sat there and really had to 'smh' at what it was that we really have to sit and negoiate about.

Manageable class sizes
A nurse in every school every day
The professional freedom for teachers to use prep time as they professionally see fit
A certified art, music, and physical education teacher in every school

These items arwe among many other items on the list!
It is a crying shame that we have to beg and bargain for the basics!

Let the Expulsions Begin...

I know of a school where a new student started today. They went to a prestigious charter downtown near 440.

The teacher contacted me and informed me of the following...

A math teacher put work in front of this child. The child replied, "oh no, we only did 12th grade work at my charter school." The teacher replied, "Oh, well this 6th grade work should be no problem then." The child then began to cry and say "I don't know what this is."

Note: We take the PSSAs in a few weeks.

The 105 Experience

Hello, my name is Flem and it's been quite sometime since my last post.

Today, I was able to uphold a classroom tradition and even expand it a bit. At the end of February and particularly at the end of my and my students' analysis of Mildred Taylor's, "The Gold Cadillac" we have a soul food party. In years past, some were grand while others were nominal.

This year, I mandated the reading of Taylor's "Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry." This year, we dubbed it a "Soul Food Fest." This year all three of my classes participated at one time at "The Blue Wall" aka the area in our lunchroom where the random blue wall stands. This year we've had the most food and help than we've ever had!!

This year I advertised it on my facebook fan page. Finally, this year, we were not finished our analysis of the historical fiction novel.

It was fun to be able to, as I say, "read about it, then eat about it!"

Life is not all about testing, but that is a post for another day and time!!

Shout out to the students and families of the 6th grade experience, the 105 experience of John B. Kelly Elementary School!!

Keep 6th Grade at John B. Kelly!!