Final Day at Maplewood

Sadly, today was our final day reading with the residents at Maplewood Manor Nursing Home and Rehabilitation Center. As I mentioned in previous posts about our visits there, we establish an intergenerational bond with the residents while there and while reading with them.

Last time the kids and I will be reading with the residents here. The kids added a singing component. More later in a blog post #classongeek

— Stephen R. Flemming (@kellygrade6) June 5, 2017

With every visit, we add a little something, planned or unplanned, to the experience. The last time we visited, we sought to gather the stories of a few of the residents, write them up in a mini-biographical sketch and read them back to them. Well, if it can go wrong, it will. We started the process, but for a wide variety of reasons, we were unable to completely finish this mini-project. Undeterred, we pressed on.

As the kids were finishing the short stories and poems we brought along with us, one had the idea to sing to the residents. I can't lie, I was hesitant. I, however, was not going to be the one to stifle their excitement. So #onward...sing children! At first, a smaller group of them sang to the residents at one table. The song of choice, The Star Spangled Banner, which we're learning for our 5th grade Move-Up Day next Friday. Cute. lol That went well! I thought they'd be nervous, but nah! That must've been me.

Then another one of them got the idea to sing to all of those who were in the dining area. Ok. Now I'm even more hesitant. Were they going to stop us? Would the residents respond? What about those working in their offices? I'm not a worrier, so it bewildered me why I was worrying now. Still, I set aside my feelings and let them have at it. To overcome my apprehension, I gave them a quick public speaking, 10-second mini-lesson.

Introduce yourselves, especially for those with whom you didn't read.
Tell them where you're from. John B. Kelly Elementary School.
Tell them what you want to do. Sing.
Tell them what you're singing. The Star Spangled Banner and the Black national anthem, Lift Every Voice and Sing.

As the children sang, those who hadn't read with us, moved their wheelchairs, got up from where they were seated, or looked up, and were quite the captive audience. My "allergies" started to act up when a grandfather and his two guests, moved to where I was seated and were moved by these young voices. One of his guests, "Ms. Alice", wanted to know more about who we were, where we were from, and why we were there. She stated that Mr. Resident (for privacy sake), really enjoyed what he heard and loves this sort of thing.

Another resident, with whom we hadn't worked before, really expressed his joy at having the opportunity to sit with one of students as they read and learned from each other. I overheard much of their conversation and I wanted to just sit in rapture.

I cannot quite put into words the connections WE made and how we felt. To know me is to know that I have a special place in my heart for those who are older and have had some experiences. It was good for the kids and me, all of us, to be a part of this intergenerational experience!

A Little Reader's Theatre Drama

For those who aren't aware, I'm a third grade teacher....this year anyway. In an effort to develop reading fluency, one approach is to employ reader's theatre. My class isn't new to reader's theatre. But what I heard today made me chuckle a bit.

They were working/reading in groups of three, a skit on an animal trainer. I overhear one girl say, "How many times I gotta tell you to read with EXCITEMENT? It's a SCRIPT!!"

Ha! How 'bout them apples!!

#207ReadsAloud

I am in my second year as a third grade teacher, having been reassigned to the primary grades from quite a few years as a teacher of middle school students (primarily 6th Grade ELA). It's been quite the adjustment and quite the journey. I honestly believe I'm becoming a better teacher because of it. This, because I want to be! Based on my observations and the feedback that I get from current and former parents of my third graders, the kids are learning quite a bit.

With each passing year and with each group, the classes are different, even when I taught the upper grades!

This year...
"Mr. Flemming, can I be the teacher tomorrow?"
I have been asked this question more than once this school year and by more than one of my third graders. I finally figured out some way to begin working in the "student as teacher" idea on a small scale.

Read Alouds.

Teachers do it all the time. It's pedagogilese for "reading a story" to the class. "Fore-word" it with "interactive", Interactive Read Aloud, and you have pedagogilese for:

• asking questions along the way
• having conversations throughout the reading of the book
• having intentional stopping points.....etc etc.

Today was day one of our classroom read aloud series, hashtag #207ReadsAloud. It is completely voluntary. There are no grades. No extra credit. No zeros. No pressure. No hype.....well, maybe a little hype!

Young Mr. ABCDEFG (obvious pseudonym) went first and it was great. He wanted the kids on the carpet. Check! He took his place in the chair. Check! He read the book while holding it open for the class to see the pictures. Triple check!!

It all began continued (since they were the ones who started it by asking to be the teacher) yesterday with my asking for volunteers to read to the class. They each picked a date in January. I put their name in my Google calendar. They will pick a book that can be read in one sitting and they'll take the reigns of reading and go for it! Each day at 9am, #207ReadsAloud!

The ((((BIG)))) Reveal!!

Since the fall, the 3rd grade students of room 207 at John B. Kelly Elementary School (my kids, ha..duhh lol) have been exchanging correspondences with the 3rd grade students of Mr. Shankle's 3rd grade class at Meadow Point Elementary School in Aurora, Colorado!!

On average, twice a month, we would write each other. And on average, twice a month the students in both classes would anxiously await a big brown envelope with their teacher's name on it.

Today was the day that the students finally got the chance to meet face to face with their pen pals. No, we didn't travel to Colorado (what a field trip that would've been). And no, they didn't make their way to Philadelphia. We harnessed the power of technology and the internet to converse via Google Hangout!

The experience was a great one overall, with each child getting the opportunity to speak for a few seconds with his/her pen pal. The combination of excitement and nervousness may have been too much for some of them as their often active mouths suddenly became mute!! lol It's OK.

They all shared the same sentiments; that it was nice to write letters to each other all year, that it was a pleasure to meet them, and all of them ended with a quick discussion of summer plans. It really was nice. (Next year I'll have to plan what the other children will do while the others are meeting their pen pals...the teachers out there can understand what I'm *not* saying aloud)

Aside from reverting back to a fun, old school method of communicating (which, by the way, included both teachers hand writing letters---a challenge for me for sure--), both of us noticed changes in our students' writing. Changes that may not have come without this pen pal experience!

I urge you, go old school with your students! Write a letter or two and send it! (Maybe next year, it's almost summer and to be honest, it's about time! For me it's not the kids or colleagues from whom I need a break, it's....nevermind)

I was informed later that there was news coverage of the event on my colleague's end! Denver's NBC affiliate covered the story!

Third graders meet pen pals face-to-face online http://t.co/T1vLBpCsnK #9NEWS

— 9NEWS Denver (@9NEWS) May 21, 2015

A Reading Teacher's Confession

So, I'm about to confess here.
I assigned a book recommended by another 3rd grade teacher for the kids to read the other day, this while I really needed to work with others one-on-one. The confession part, I hadn't read the book. My colleague had a class set of books and until now, hadn't gotten around to using them.

The kids LOVE the book and can't put it down. Sooooo, do you know what I'M going to do? Read it! Their excitement has made my a bit jealous and I want to know what it is about the book that makes it so interesting!!

I'm actually excited that *this* is my confession because they are LOVING the book and are letting me know that. They're boasting about what chapter they are on. The are sneaking and talking about it (I say sneak because there are times when we should enjoy relative silence when reading....but sometimes I pretend I don't hear them). One girl said to me as I was collecting them to put away for tomorrow, "Mr. Flemming, this is a really good book. I'm on chapter {whatever it was}." All I could do was smile!

Here's to taking the book home tonight and reading it for myself! lol

Mother to Son

Reflecting on Mothers Day and my mother, the matriarchs before her, and others who have adopted me into their lives as their son, I thought about Langston Hughes's Mother To Son and how well the poem describes the resolution of my mother; her strength, her determination to be a woman of God in word, in deed, and in truth!

Then...

I thought about the conversations that my students (3rd graders) and I had about the poem (which they committed to memory and perform VERY well) and what it means. I remember being so proud that they were able to grasp the comparison of "Mother's" crystal stair/rugged stair to life; what it was and what it was not.

I thought about and remembered how we discussed how the poem shifts from what life had been for Mother, how Mother tackled life head on and the exhortation that Mother gives "To Son".

I recall to my mind how my 3rd grade students "got it" and the examples they gave of what Mother might have been referring to when she discussed those "tacks in it", those "splinters", those "boards torn up" those "places with no carpet on the floor" and the bareness of it all. I remember them giving very real examples, some of which probably drawn from a place not too far from their own observations, reality, and experiences.

Then I remember how they and I quoted the poem with a bit of an attitude from the depthtidude of our soulitude when we transitioned to how Mother reacted to life's enigmas as she's just kept "a-climbin on" and "reachin {those} landins" and "turnin corners" even in dark. (We discussed the abstract concept of 'faith'). I remember the neck swings and hair tosses of the girls in the class as we recited those parts.

Finally, with even more resolution in our tone of voice, we'd look at "boy" and encourage him not to give up nor to give in; not to feel bad or sorry for himself, not to "set down on the steps 'cause you finds it kinder hard." But rather, take a hint from "Mother". After all, she's still "goin honey", she's still "climbin'" even though life for her "ain't been no crystal stair."

Happy Mothers Day to all of  the phenomenal mothers out there! Big ups to all of those who knowingly or unknowingly assume the role of a mother for someone; someone who you may not even realize is watching you, beholding your life, your style, your grace, your patience, your poise, your labor of love, YOU! Much love to you all!

Young writers' and publishers' desks...

For a 6th year, I and some of my colleagues are publishing books with our students. I took my students to lunch and specials and loved the way that many left their desks...

Reading is only good for assessing...

When we were told that during the reading PSSA (PA's version of state-wide standardized testing) students could not take out a book or anything with words because "it might help them somehow" or that teachers couldn't wear shirts with words (pshh), I was done!

The idea that reading is only good for assessing is the not-so-hidden message that we send to children when we tell them things like "you can't take out a book when you're finished. It might help you" or when it's said that you cannot cover up your classroom with newspaper because it has "words on it".

The experience became all the more surreal and ridiculous one day when one of my voracious readers looked around, saw others reading books and blurted out to me, "oh we can read books today?"

smh

Note: this same voracious reader, doesn't take too kindly to standardized reading tests. I don't know this because s/he said as much, but based on other provincial benchmarks and standards of reading success -__-

Another note: the idea that "reading should only be assessed" is also evident in our district's spending of some million dollar grant money on DRA2 kits and not on magazine subscriptions, class sets of books, fun/interactive reading programs, librarians, etc.

Visual summaries

I did something today with my 3rd that I used to do with my middle-schoolers. We did visual summaries. I introduced it as a summary without words and just pictures. Our reading routine includes them reading a work of their choice, book, article, or magazine. Discussions with classmates about the reading follow.

Today, instead of conversing immediately afterward, they drew a "summary"; ideally, without words. After their visual summary was "written", they were to then converse about what they read using their visual representation. As classmates looked at what seemingly was nonsense, the illustrator would be forced to give details about what they chose to read.

With my middle schoolers, I would often say "draw or write about what you read". Not all the time would we share such summaries. With 3rd graders, I'm passionate about them moving and conversing quite a bit about what we're learning. I stay tucked away on a ledge somewhere as they talk, watching and listening carefully from my perch, a non-intimidating presence.

Stage a "Read In"

So, here's a John B. Kelly Elementary School room 105 tradition. It's an ELA tradition, but I didn't want the fact that I'm more of a content area teacher this year get in the way of a good tradition. Note: it gets better every year!