Do you like what you do at work?

I was recently asked this question by a clergyman. "Do you like what you do at work?" I responded emphatically, "I love it! It has its tests and trials, especially this year, but yes, I love it!"

Like anything in life, it won't be peaches and cream 24/7, but I love teaching. I love working with children and youth and have been doing so since I was a younger lad myself.

Do you love what YOU do at work?

By the way, I teach in a real PUBLIC school in Philly!

Comprehension Deception

A child reads fluently. This means they can read right? NOT!!! Ask that child some questions!

Fluency + comprehension = reading (some would throw in intonation/prosidy)

Don't be deceived by fluency! Some children word-call as well as any adult, but without comprehension, word-calling is just that!

#RandomReadingTeacherPost

Becoming a better writing teacher

I am currently reading a book titled, "6 + 1 Traits of Writing: The Complete Guide Grades 3 and Up" by Ruth Culham. This is not for grad school, nor was it given out by my principal as a gift.

I want to become a better writing teacher, so I have taken it upon myself to engage in activities that aid me in reaching that goal.

Here are a few sentences from page 72 that really hit home, especially in this testing era:

"We are all under so much pressure to get those scores up, we often forget that it isn't scores that really matter, but the writing. And even if we don't forget, we tend to make compromises that cater to the tests. It takes courage to decide to stick to your principles, but your students will be so much the better for it."

The Test {que Beethoven's Symphony No 5 in C minor)

A colleague encouraged us to tweet our crazy high stakes testing stories using the hashtag #PSSACraziness.

I blogged earlier about some of us having to cover students' spring collages. Surely a butterfly collage in the hallway would give some clue about what the answer is to a passage question on chemistry. I digress...

When a student asks, "Mr. Flemming, if I erase an answer, are they going to think I cheated?" then we know this whole testing thing has gotten out of hand!

The Giver

I was in the 6th grade the first time I read Lois Lowry's "The Giver." My mother and I read it together. We were both thoroughly confused.

The next time I read it, I was a graduate student at Temple University in their M.S.Ed in Reading Education program and was only a little more sure of the book's themes and concepts.

The third time I read it, I was preparing to discuss the book with a small group of students a couple of years ago. I had a much better understanding, but was unsure of just how I would go about "teaching" the book. So I didn't.

This time, I have a better understanding of themes, concepts, inferences, ideologies, etc. This time I have a better sense of how I'll go about teaching it, experimenting on a small, select group of students.

Here's my pedagogical approach, talking!

I'll simply gather this small group of students during some lunch periods or during "guided reading" and we'll just talk.

So far, so good!

(I don't do guided reading in 6th grade)

Retired Rabble-rouser

I just ran into a retired school police officer.
"Are you a teacher," he asks
"Yes, how do you know?"
"I saw the emblem."
I forgot I was wearing my PFT button.
He says, "It's an injustice what they're doing to our children. They are going back to the pre-1954 days, separate but equal with this charter school here and that charter school there. I'm about to rabble-rouse"

He continued to tell of some of the injustices he saw while working as a delivery driver for the School District of Philadelphia back in the 70s. He told of how while making deliveries in certain neighborhoods, an entire truck delivery would be for one school. When he would do his afternoon run, the same amount of supplies would be spread among six schools in other neighborhoods.

He spoke of a substitute teacher friend of his would be a sub in some buildings that had everything and get to other schools subbing for the same grade and they had nothing worth using.

Mr. Meadows and I ended the short conversation with him encouraging me to "Keep up the fight!" I said, "Yes sir!!"

Art is meant to be....covered?

So, teachers were instructed to cover the spring collages that decked the halls of a particular elementary school in preparation for the "all important" state assessments. When confronting the powers that be, a teacher commented, "It's art though!" The reply was resolute, "the district will try to find anything..."

If we have gone so low in our administration of state assessments that art work must be covered, we've reached a new low!!! By the way, we have no art teacher so the art is the work of homeroom teachers' efforts to bring the students' artistic ability to life, fyi!

I'm just saying...

ABC's World News and the Spelling Bee report

Just a moment ago, ABC's World News reported on a change in the national spelling bee that involves vocabulary and meanings as opposed to just simply spelling the words.

First, let it be known that the students in my inner-city public school in Philadelphia have been doing VOCABULARY Bees for a while now. We never just spell the words, but we define them, give examples, and apply them where necessary!

Secondly, the example that ABC gave was a multiple choice question that asked kids to identify an example of onomatopoeia, with choices A-D, D being "buzz". George Stephanopolous commented that if you didn't "get that, you should hit the books."

Let it be known, that the 6th grade students at John B. Kelly Elementary School would have gotten that question correct. We are an inner city public school in Philadelphia.

I reiterate this because we always seem to get a bad rap as public schools and any chance I get to allow my students to shine in a positive light, I'll take advantage of it!

#JBKelly