Ear-Hustlin' Data

Some time ago I wrote two little posts about using students' whispers via ear-hustlin to gather qualitative data that can inform our pedagogy as teachers. This TikTok video demonstrates how it could also contribute anecdotally to our advocacy and policy-making.

A Story to Tell, Part 2

Catch up on Part 1 if you'd like.

Blog post? Yes.

Also, the first episode of my 21-22 Comm101 podcast season. I'm hoping to be your temporary host.

For those who are new to this blog and my twitter, welcome! I wrote about our class podcast here.

Sit at a student's desk

Sit at a student's desk. See what they see. Take in the scene from their vantage point. If something needs to change and it's within your means and power, change it. It's the "little" things.

A Story to Tell, Part 1

My class and I pulled up very quickly to a second intersection this fall. At this 2nd yellow light, I feel the need to insert something fresh into the course. We received a little boost when we relocated to our current space. As a teacher who likes to keep his fingers on the pulse of my GenZers and monitor whether learning experiences are true to their respective names, learning and experiences, my challenge remains to keep up with Generation TikTok. "Trite" happens far more quickly than I remember it happening as a teacher even a few years ago.

Friday afternoon, I sat in my office contemplating a next move for Comm101 while also working on a little writing thingy to present. The heat in my office was on Hawaii, as one school police officer put it, so I relocated. I took my laptop and went to room 305, our classroom. While I needed to be somewhere less equator, I also needed to think.

I needed to be in the classroom.

In the "House" where our room is located, all was quiet, calm, and dare I say, relaxing, a slight contrast to how I was feeling earlier in the day. In the room, I kept the artificial lights off and let only the natural light in. I pulled up something relaxing on the SmartBoard. My colleague had a class of 11th graders next door. My other colleagues were engaged with their classes throughout the U-shaped House of classrooms. Lunches had long been over. This wing was on some learn and chill type stuff this afternoon.

As I sat and worked, one of my auntie-like colleagues passed by. As she passed, I yelled out because I hadn't seen her all day--possible, but atypical. We talked for a bit. She spoke of her experiences coming along in public school. I spoke of how my generation may have been the last to experience some of what she experienced in schools, particularly what teachers were allowed to do.

As we talked and compared notes, the elder with the younger, she mentioned the Black male teachers she had. I asked her what school she went to. She mentioned Barratt Junior High. We kept talking. Later, "By the way, were you there around the time Martin Luther King spoke there?" She lit up! Of course she was there and remembers it all very fondly! She began recalling how she and her classmates felt, where exactly she sat, and how some of the boys had to borrow ties from some closet or something. She remembers it all very vividly.

It was my turn to light up! I work with and am in the company of someone who was an 8th grade student at Barratt Junior High School when one of the most prolific of Black people came to speak with students in a Philly public school. Say less. "Would you mind coming to speak with my class?" Yes! <inserts something fresh for a couple of class sessions>

Short story.
Was chatting w older colleague.
Me, "Oh wht school did you go to?" "Barrett"
*chat some more*
"Were you there around the time MLK spoke?"
*beams*
"I was in 8th grade, X-row, 3rd seat."
✔Booked to come to Comm101 to chat with the class"
The end.

— Stephen R. Flemming, Ed.D. (@kellygrade6) November 5, 2021

I'm glad it was hot in my office

that my classroom was cooler

that she walked by

that I yelled out

that she came in

that we talked

that I asked

that she answered

that I asked another

that she answered another

that I asked yet another, again

that she consented to chatting with them

To be continued...

A Fresh Start in Room 305

I love it when something or some things just click in the classroom, wherever that classroom may be.

I began this school year teaching my dual-enrollment communications class in a computer lab. With help from a colleague, we took desks from an unused classroom and moved them to the lab for what I thought would be a perfect set-up for a mix of whole-class, independent learning, and voluntary cooperative learning group experiences. This particular lab is spacious, well-lit, and with some exceptions, generally unused. 

One angle of our previous space

From the rip, the students all but communicated that this wasn't it. It was cold. It was big (later translated non-intimate). Some of them lost focus early. I didn't connect it with the physical space until we moved to a different classroom.

Short story. Another colleague had to relocate suddenly for a week. I told him to take my space. Comm101, my class, relocated to a more traditional classroom space that week. We've been there ever since.

The space is smaller and more intimate. There's a window for natural light and fresh air.  I could go on and on about windows in the classroom, but I won't. That day felt like a fresh start and a chance for us to control-alt-delete. We had been in that room once or twice before, but this time felt different. I legit gave my little rah-rah mini-speech about expectations for academics and behavior as if it were the first day of school. My subconscious may have known this would be our space going forward. Towards the end of the week I put it to a vote. The consensus was to stay.

Today, a different student again asked me about this year's episodes for the podcast. In order to elicit a response that would likely reflect his thinking I replied, "But the energy wasn't there the last time. So..." His reply, "We're in a different room. The vibe is different." Say less. We finna run that jawn back!

More than the room, I think our relationship, the one between a teacher and his students, that ever-so-important teacher-student rapport and connection is also at play here. I don't want to make this a longer post, but...yeah. Relationships matter.

"Slap a Teacher" and a Gallimaufry of other Teacher Thoughts and Musings

10 thoughts.

In no particular order other than that's how they came to me.

1. Some of you know that last school year, during 100% remote teaching and learning, my class and I started a podcast.  Last year, a core group of students maintained a stable enthusiasm for our poddizy. This year, I think I am more excited about it than are my current students, so I thought to dial it back a bit and return to it in a few weeks or months. Then this...

Short story.
"Ard yall, gonna back off the podcast for now. Energy doesn't seem to be there for it rn"
*handS up*
"Wait, wait...but I like that jawn"
Teacher confused--very teenager-y.
The end. https://t.co/9yHgtKy2wY

— Stephen R. Flemming, Ed.D. (@kellygrade6) October 6, 2021

2. All standardized tests can hit the bricks as far as I'm concerned. I hated them before and now that I've been designated the testing coordinator, I really hate those exams. Going to do my job because I take my work seriously and it's a reflection of yours truly, but that don't mean that Keystone and *they whole generations can't hit the road, no bap!

There's something to be said of the times we're in when the FIRST FULL WEEK OF SCHOOL, upon returning from an educational experience NONE of us had ever undergone before, was dedicated to Keystone Testing. I mean, really! "We could have done them last spring, but chose the fall because of the pandemic." Be bold. Cancel. them. all. Forever and ever, Amen!!

3. One of the brothas with whom I've bonded since 9th grade (he's in 12th now) saw me carting crates of Keystone exams (thinking it was something else) to the IMC for make-ups. His words,

"***** he boutta teach the ***** out of this school!"

Don't ask me why that felt so good (minus the expletives) to hear.

4. Last night (Tuesday night) I thought I was sleeping into the weekend and was not going to wake up for work. What jolted me to reality was some thought I was having in my sleep about me not actually having worked a full week yet. I shared that with colleagues during Common Planning Time (CPT). That might cherry-on-top me looking everywhere for my phone (right next to me) and for a stack of papers I just had (right in front me) and me chatting with one of my APs with a pen in my regrowing curly top that I forgot about. What month is this?

5. Slap a teacher huh? Sure. You misunderstood the assignment!

When the slap a teacher challenge goes wrong #slapateacher pic.twitter.com/bDszg33OW1

— comedianwasalu 🇵🇸 (@comedianwasalu) October 1, 2021

6. I got excited a few times recently when a couple of the seniors stopped me to chat about what they were currently reading (Mildred Taylor's All the Days Past, All the Days to Come) or what they wanted to read (The Son of Neptune Rick Riordan, The Girl Who Could Fly Victoria Forester).

7. "Weirdo!" My new assigned name by a young lady who wanted to stay in "Corridor Class"😏as I stood there refusing to move from their huddle, listening in on their conversation, annoying the beelzebub out of that little crew. I must make one correction, however, it's *Dr. Weirdo, please and thank you. As you were...

8. I love teaching.

9. wya rn lmk hmu - bno? ard omw idc 

10. Young queen again brought up how she's had both me and another colleague 3 of her 4 years at MLK. As much as she *says she doesn't like that, don't believe a word out of her mouth. She's feeling our classes...or *puffs chest out*...both teachers.

Saying goodbye to "Bahal's," a Black-owned corner store

I'm not sure we fully appreciate all that corner stores mean to those of us who live or have lived in the hood. Even as teachers, if we're paying attention, we may notice their importance to our students as empirically evidenced by those little black bags. Every morning.

They're convenient. They're open. They offer variety. They're family. They're there, sometimes serving as the substitute for larger supermarkets. Some open super early (49th & Woodland), stay open later than others (Hook Road in Darby Township) and even 24-hours (Island Rd. & Woodland Ave). I've frequented and have lived in areas of Philly where there are none within reasonable walking distance--like--on the corner.😕 In other areas of the city you can quite literally find several corner stores within a block or two in one direction or another. Some are even directly across the street from another one.

There is one corner store that I've frequented for 24 years, Bahal's Food Market at 6th and Walnut in Darby, PA. I've tweeted about them in the past.

I've mentioned it before, but there's a Black-owned corner store in Darby, Delco. 6th & Walnut, 19023. "Bahal's" but everybody calls him "Baha". Been getting the Turkey/cheese on keiser for 25(?) years, easy.

— Stephen R. Flemming, Ed.D. (@kellygrade6) June 19, 2020

For 20 years, our church was at 5th & Walnut just down the street. That's how we all became acquainted. We all went to "Baha's."  During a visit this past week, Bah or Baha, as many of us affectionately called him, told me and another brother in the store that the store was being sold, that they were turning over the keys at 10am on Thursday.

Gut. Punch.

I posted about their departure on my personal family & friends socials where most of us know Bah. Our reactions tell you everything you need to know about what he, his wife, their family and corner store meant to us.

Today, I slid through one last time. It is unlikely that I'll make the short drive across the county line to support the new owners. I supported Bah, his wife and family because they're Black. This was a Black-owned corner store in Darby just outside of Southwest Philly.

I got my turkey on kaiser then left them my phone number. I told Mrs. Bah that I posted about their leaving on social media and that my fam and friends were not at all happy. She replied, "We're not at all happy either." Wow, plot twist. I had more questions. So they're not retiring--willingly? What happened? Is this a harbinger of things to come for Darby? I was surrounded by the students of Walnut Street Elementary School, as it was the after school rush, so I couldn't ask my questions. I have to wonder, how many of those students know that when they come for their after-school snacks on Thursday, Bah and his wife won't be there? 

Building Comm101: co-constructing our syllabus

For the past few years I've been on this kick of co-creating the course syllabus with my classes. With some general parameters, I solicit their ideas for texts, projects, relevant videos, and more.

Tuesday, 8/31 was the first day of school here in Philly. I made a general presentation* that included what they might expect based on the experience I had with my dual enrollment communications class (Comm101) last year. On Thursday, I asked the students to complete what I called a "Building Comm101" form using Google Forms. You'll read 2 of the 5 questions (in bold) I included in the survey. You will also read the responses of the students who chose to answer these two questions.

2. What ideas do you have for how this class should go?

smoothly
 
i like how the class is now
 
This class is on a college program, which means that us students will be treated like college students which gives us responsibilities and it's also an opportunity to get college grades for when we apply for or start college.
 
not alot of work to do
 
Not to much work.
 
I don't really have any idea because it's my first time having a class like this but if I must say I'd say for this class to have a good vibe no bad vibe because that throws me off and I will most likely to drop out which I don't want cause I like this class because of technology.
 
none comment
 
After seeing your presentation on Tuesday i would like if we have debate classes
easy and smooth, not a lot of work
 
i don't have specific ideas
 
I think this class will be very interactive and we’ll be doing a lot of debating
 
nothing really this class chilling
 
I don't know
 
I don’t have any for right now cause this is my first time being in this class

it should be short and fun

No homework

all about jobs

 

5. What, if anything, do you want me to know about you as a person/student?

nothing
 
Not sure what to say here yet but I'll let you know when there's something.
 
im shy
 
You know me😂🙃
 
I'm a very chill person but when I'm upset don't bother me I'm more likely to lash

out and I don't want that because I am trying to keep myself calm these days.

 
im nice somewhat
 
i like being involved, i like to be challenged a little

you already know me.
 
i tend to prefer working alone and staying to myself .
 
I know I am very intelligent, just some things need to be broken down a little bit more
 
I'm a chill person
 
I'm quiet
 
Nothing😭
 
i don't like to get pick on to answer a question unless i want to answer the question
 
I have anxiety and I prefer and work better alone
 
I dont like to speak.
 
nope
 
I'm mostly quiet and i only talk to people i really know

*Vulnerability Moment: With this presentation and other activities, I thought I planned enough for the 90-minute block. I hadn't. I made up for it on Thursday. There's also the challenge of taking what was a 100% remote teaching/learning course and redesigning it for an in-person experience. All will be well.

Additionally, you should know this is the only class that I teach. I asked for it. The rest of my day and week include the responsibilities of a School-Based Teacher Leader (SBTL) for English😁and Testing Coordinator😐I need to teach a class to re-center me.

My students talked redlining and crime

Their hearts ache.

My heart aches.

Collectively,

we ache.

Often.

Last fall, my class and I were still trying to define ourselves as a class and as high schoolers who podcast. Very early on we recorded an episode for "Behind the Eyes of Our Youth," our student-led and driven podcast. The episode was on redlining and whether those practices were and are the root causes of crime in our majority Black neighborhoods. They came up with the topic and explored the answers.

Take a listen.

UPDATE on: Motion to preclude evidence of racial discrimination in school funding

Three weeks ago, I offered my non-lawyer, teacher opinion on Pennsylvania House Speaker, Representative Bryan Cutler's motion to preclude evidence of racial discrimination in an upcoming school-funding trial here in PA. Lawyers argued that and another motion in Commonwealth Court three weeks ago to the day.

UPDATE

Both of the motions were largely denied, including the one that would bar the presentation of evidence of racial discrimination in school-funding.

🚨BREAKING NEWS🚨 Significant victory in PA school funding case: Commonwealth Court to allow evidence about racial disparities in funding at trial. Judge largely rejects legislative leaders' attempt to block evidence of racial disparities https://t.co/cxv2koNFim #FundOurSchoolsPA

— Education Law Center (@edlawcenterpa) July 28, 2021

Judge In Commonwealth Court PA School Funding Case Rules To Allow Evidence About Racial Impact Of Underfundinghttps://t.co/2lI61fqgBP

— Public Interest Law Center (@PubIntLawCtr) July 29, 2021

To be clear, I am not now nor will I ever be satisfied with the historic and inadequate funding that public schools in

largely urban,

largely impoverished,

and

largely Black and Brown

communities receive.

By allowing evidence of these disparities at a trial on public school funding, it will be on the record, official, made clear--again--for everyone to see and hopefully rectify. 

School District of Philly "excited" about return to in-person learning in the fall

It's nice that the School District of Philadelphia is "excited" about the full re-opening of schools. I get it. No doubt many of our students and their parents are as well. Teachers, too. Bet.

JUST IN:

In a statement responding to new CDC guidance, the School District of Philadelphia says it's "excited about the full re-opening of schools." #PhlEd pic.twitter.com/ahnwgGRmOn

— Avi Wolfman-Arent (@Avi_WA) July 9, 2021

What I hope isn't lost in all of the district's excitement and giddiness is the fact that we are emerging from a once in a lifetime global and deadly pandemic. Just as with the teaching and learning that occurred since March, 2020, we've never done this before. Be merciful.

What I hope isn't lost in all of their excitement and giddiness is the fact that we're still experiencing a great deal of racial, political, and social unrest in addition to that once in a lifetime global and deadly pandemic. I wrote about that here and broached it in almost every meeting I attended for the SBTL* part of me. Be merciful.

What I hope isn't lost in all of their excitement and giddiness is the fact that many of our young people will be returning to classrooms without some of their classmates and friends. I tweeted about that. Be merciful.

As if the past year and change hasn't been traumatic enough, for many of our kids, going back to school in the fall w/o their friends/classmates who've been killed may be...a lot💔🙏🏾😢

— Stephen R. Flemming, Ed.D. (@kellygrade6) July 6, 2021

What I hope isn't lost in all of their excitement and giddiness is that fact that "social-emotional learning/SEL" (the term is getting a little trite if you ask me) isn't a "thing" to checklist. I heard someone from another school begin a sentence with, "Once we did our SEL, we...[did whatever came next in class]"😐Be merciful.

Preliminarily here's what I'd like to see:

• PD - For professional development, lean on school-level educators and students, the ones who've experienced all of this March, 2020 - present, granularly. Those building-level educators of course include teachers, but also support staff who've taken on teaching roles. Yup. That happened throughout the district. Oh and pay those who want to do it. Heard there's some federal money floating around. For students, give them credit. Feature them.

If you haven't taught students during this challenging era, don't professionally develop me for a time such as this. You can't. 

• Flexibility - Be very flexible, understanding, and empathetic in everything. Don't just say it, be it. Don't know how? Ask us, those for whom you have job-related expectations and we'll tell you how.

• Listen to and talk with educators, students, and parents at our locations, in our spaces, often. Come to us, in-person, since you're excited. No surveys, emails, forms, questionnaires except maybe as a follow-up.

My hope is that we have learned something during this tumultuous time period and that this new learning will translate to new doing. 

Fin.

For now.

Be safe!

*School-Based Teacher Leader

Motion to preclude evidence of racial discrimination? In school funding?

[Originally written as a Guest Opinion for a local community newspaper two weeks ago]

In 2014, the William Penn School District along with five other school districts across the state plus seven parents, the NAACP Pennsylvania State Conference, and the Pennsylvania Association of Rural and Small Schools filed a school funding lawsuit against the Pennsylvania Department of Education and others. According to the Public Interest Law Center, one of the groups representing the plaintiffs, “the state has adopted an irrational and inequitable system of funding public education that does not provide the resources students need to meet state standards and discriminates against students based on where they live and the wealth of their local communities.”

 

After years of hearings, motions, and more, a trial date has finally been set for September of this year. While this is certainly encouraging, one motion brought by Pennsylvania House Speaker Bryan Cutler is not as encouraging. The motion in essence would bar the plaintiffs including the William Penn School District from presenting evidence of racial discrimination in school funding at trial. In the motion, Speaker Cutler posits “this court should preclude evidence of racial discrimination because any evidence or argument regarding the adverse impact that may occur on the basis of race as a result of the system of education funding is unconnected from the cause of action pled…”

 

Except that Speaker Cutler is wrong. The suit notes that the state’s system for funding “discriminates against students based on where they live and the wealth of their local communities.” In America, generally, where we live and our wealth are almost inextricably connected with our race and thus on school funding. The nexus of housing, wealth, and race is historic and intentional.

 

During the 1930s, the Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC), a federal entity at the time, engaged in practices that in essence cut off capital for improvements in areas they deemed “hazardous,” drawing red lines on maps that often reflected where African Americans lived. In an examination of HOLC and banking institutions’ redlining practices, economists from the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, in an August 2020 paper, concluded HOLC’s “redlining maps reduced home-ownership rates, house values, and rents and increased racial segregation in later decades.” We are in those later decades and housing, wealth, and race are most certainly interconnected. We even have terms like “socioeconomic status.” Why the need for such a term if, as can be inferred by the speaker’s motion, the issues of housing, wealth, and race are mutually exclusive? I am not an expert on the law and don’t purport to be one, but it is my opinion that any discussion and supporting evidence of racial discrimination in school funding in Pennsylvania must certainly be broached during this trial.

 

In nearly all of the districts named in the lawsuit, the student body is made up largely of students of color. In 2017, the last year of data on the U.S. Department of Education’s website, Black students made up 89.9% of the student body in the William Penn School District alone. Therefore, to not bring up the topic of race in a lawsuit on discrimination in school funding is on its face immoral if not racist outright.

 

The motion brought by Speaker Cutler appears to be the latest salvo in a cultural war by one political party in particular on issues of race. They seem dead set on undercutting any attempt to understand how decisions of our country’s past impact people of color today and Black Americans in particular. Whether it’s the 1619 Project, Critical Race Theory, or a willingness to make voting in America harder, their weaponization of law and policy targeted toward communities of color is the exact reason why we must make school funding equitable across the state. Subjects like social studies and science need not be subjects we teach when have a few extra minutes as teachers, especially in the elementary and middle grades. Learning the truth of the history of the United States will better help us as a society understand, for example, why Black Americans make up approximately 13.4% of the U.S. population but 38.3% of those in federal prisons. That’s just one example.

 

Our young people must have access to the resources they need to think critically, make informed decisions, and ultimately participate in and fight to strengthen the fragility of our supposed inclusive democracy. That cannot happen without a funding formula that is equitable and fair and takes into account the racial composition of the students in our schools and districts and how policies and laws on housing, wealth, and race have historically worked in our disfavor.

 

Court documents show that arguments on the motion offered by Speaker Cutler are set for July 7th.

I Asked | Bill Cosby's vacated verdict/sentence

I like hearing from the youth. Sometimes their perspectives offer a fresh, divergent, or just different take on issues. Whether it's our own class, student-led podcast, Behind the Eyes of Our Youth or a class poll I'll throw up to them and to our larger class community of current and former students, their parents, and those family and friends who just like to keep up with us.

They've chimed in on topics like abolishing/defunding the police, police-free schools, Chauvin's sentence, and the phone wars.

Let me add this to the discussion on police-free schools....I hear social media and I hear mainstream media. So, I ask my students. I've offered no hint of an opinion, as I'm still formulating mine. #phled pic.twitter.com/kdemHMliOs

— Stephen R. Flemming, Ed.D. (@kellygrade6) July 25, 2020

😭😭😭😂😂 I got some #'s from my class community (currents/formers/parents, etc.) 👇🏾 pic.twitter.com/gY41PIlxi5

— Stephen R. Flemming, Ed.D. (@kellygrade6) June 14, 2021

When news broke of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court's decision to overturn the conviction of Bill Cosby, I wanted their quick thoughts on it. Here's how I put it to them and here's how they voted.

I kept a journal this past school year

2017

One year ago, today, I started a journal.

Old school.

Paper and pen. 

Dates. 

Times. 

Reflections. 

Journal.

The last time I recall keeping a paper/pencil journal, I was a student-teacher.

On June 24, 2020 I received a series of emails confirming that I would, in fact, be the School-Based Teacher Leader (SBTL) for English at Martin Luther King High School. The next day, I started chronicling that journey because I wanted to capture what would never again be; my being a first-year SBTL in a global pandemic, amidst racial, social, and political unrest. 

My goal was to capture my feelings and reflections at particular moments in time, be they feelings about meetings, the class I taught, feel-goods or frustrations. Those moments in time were whenever I wanted. 

I won't dedicate this particular post to an exhaustive review of my pen-to-paper reflections, but there is one entry I'd like to focus on in particular.

Here's an excerpt from one of my lengthier musings in the wake of the murder of one of our students and of Walter Wallace.

10/28/20

On Monday I found out Hyneef Poles was killed. I cried. Then Monday(?) afternoon/evening Walter Wallace was shot and killed by police--here in Philly...

These two events were the backdrop of an email that I sent to the English department. It's also the backdrop of our "this week," including our CPT.

Today my colleagues and I just said whatever needed to be said. We were vulnerable. [Teacher] talked about how she teared up in class...[Teacher] talked about how her...class...allowed themselves to be vulnerable....

Today's CPT was needed...

I also emailed Dr. Hite this week and asked if any scheduled walk-throughs could be postponed. He actually replied--agreeing with me.

7:23pm

P.S. My handwriting is so sloppy--sheesh. I can definitely write better than this.

My Twitter Spaces chat with 2 Black male educators

I tried something new today and on a whim.

I hosted a Twitter Spaces chit-chat. One, I wanted to see what it was like. Two, I wanted to speak with a few Black male educators about the positives of this past school year. For this "let's see what this app can do" convo, these two brothers, @MrFlemmingMEd & @pastorsalis, joined me.

Tweet to @TwitterSpaces

Some of the takeaways about the positives of this past year?

• The ability to still establish and maintain those crucial student:teacher relationships
• nixing the "Do Now" in favor of "Temperature Checks"
• Morning Meetings/Town Halls/Community Meetings
• Being able to travel the world virtually with students
• Trying new things like...launching a podcast with students😉

The moral? Try something new. Find the light in darkness. Relationships matter.

CRT in Mildred Taylor's Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry

UPDATED 6/24/21

I hear there's quite the brouhaha in this country over the "teaching" of Critical Race Theory (CRT) in our public schools. Who'd have thunk? 😐I should note that teaching is in quotes because I see CRT as more of a lens and a paradigm than a school subject. Update: I've since learned that "Classic Critical Race Theory" is a school subject in law school. I knew it was rooted in law, but thought that it was *just* a lens and not a course. I learned this from Kimberlé  Crenshaw.

Creator of term ‘Critical Race Theory’ Kimberlé Crenshaw explains what it really is https://t.co/KUMUv8dcC6 via @msnbc

— Stephen R. Flemming, Ed.D. (@kellygrade6) June 22, 2021

Dr. Gloria Ladson-Billings, whose name we don't hear enough of as she's the OG of CRT + education, summarizes, "...CRT actually attempts to make plain the racialized context of public and private spheres in our society" (Ladson-Billings, 2003). In education, she has and continues to look through this lens to "explicate new epistemological perspectives on inequity and social injustice" (Ladson-Billings, 2003).

In short, the social construction of race is woven tightly into the fabric of this country and the CRT looking glass seeks to make race's threads visible, including in education.

While there's lots of discussing and debating, I'm sitting here like, "the censoring of Black teachers, in particular, isn't new." What better way to censor Black educators than to fire them in the era post-Brown v. The Board. In fact, the very book that is the main subject of this post faced some backlash as noted in this letter to the Seminole County School Board in 2004. Taylor, herself, broaches the subject in her 1998 acceptance speech of the 1997 Alan Award.

This isn't to suggest that because this tale's as old as time that we shouldn't resist it. The exact opposite. I've also been thinking that it really doesn't matter to me what laws or policies are enacted, the lens through which I've experienced the world as a Black man and the history behind those experiences is what it is. I continue to learn and teach through that lens and that cannot be legislated out of me. 

Big ups to those K-20+ educators of all colors and stripes, honest resisters in Black and majoritarian media and politics, and those in other sectors who are pushing back. Black resistance isn't new. Black teachers' resistance isn't new. Dr. Jarvis Givens describes these Black teachers' resistance pedagogies as subversive or fugitive.  I suppose because it's  2021 and loathsomely blatant that it makes it all the more..."Wooooooow, y'all racist ratchet bigots really still in y'all feelins about Black existence and truth-telling!" One only need Google "1619 Project" to see how their tightly wound briefs really are in a knot.

All of that said...

The real reason why I'm here is because I thought of a particular event in Mildred D. Taylor's Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry published in 1976.

You may remember Mr. Granger, one of the primary racists and landowners, interrogating Mrs. Logan, in front of her class, about what she was teaching because he "don't see all them things you're teaching in here (the textbooks)." What things? She taught about how slavery was wicked and how whites and the country benefitted, and still do, off of free enslaved African labor. That's a critical look at white wealth accumulation via enslaved Black labor. 

Mama Logan simply replies, "That's because they're not in there."

"Well, if it ain't in here, then you got no right teaching it," since the books had been approved by the school board. Because, of course, school board approval is the standard, especially an all white southern one. 

Mama Logan tells him, "I can't do that."

"And why not?"

"Because all that's in that book isn't true."

Short story shorter, she was fired.

We will see that, if we haven't already. Teachers will be fired. I'm especially concerned for my colleagues who are non-unionized and in spaces where due process might be negligible at best. I suppose the question is, what will we do about it? I reckon the answer is, continue to fight, to teach, to tell the truth about the heinous genesis of this country. 

In the words of the late Ida B. Wells. "The way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them."

Forgive my scribble. I cannot not read a book and not mess it up. I forget the year I did this scribbling.

"Mama's teaching got...her fired."

Did I really just APA this? lol

Yes.

Ladson-Billings, G. (2003). It's your world, I'm just trying to explain it: Understanding our epistemological and methodological challenges. Qualitative Inquiry, (9)1, 5-12 doi: 10.1177/1077800402239333

Taylor, M. D. (1976). Roll of  thunder hear my cry. New York, NY: Penguin Books USA, Inc.

I said "grade me" and they did

Final grades for the class had long since been entered and posted when I sent this out to my Comm101 students.

Here's what they had to say.

3. Explain why you'd give me and the course the grade you gave. Tell me what went well and how I can improve.

9 responses

You let us express ourselves and you give us the confidence we need to speak in the real world. You’re not judgmental and your honest, however you still do your job but you make it enjoyable.

we talk about topics and gets the class included

I don’t know

i gave both the course and you an A because both were awesome

Good person and teacher hence the class isn’t tense and that makes it a good class on a bad or good day... Keep it up.

Doc you’ve made this class one to remember and made me truly enjoy your class. I gave you a double A because you are an authentic person who truly loves his job and want to see us as people grow. It was your honesty and your tenacity that got you this grade. My only advise would be to grow your hair back because the classic 2014 flem when you had me in 5th grade at Kelly should have stayed in the past. I will truly miss you doc until we meet again. -Shane 

This course helps with a lot that will happen in everyday life and you are just really great teacher

I gave this grade because I enjoyed the course as well as your teaching methods. It was fun, interactive and I also learn and explored news things along the way.

You are very kind and it seems like it's not just a job for you it seems like you love what are doing.