It's a Rap

I couldn't think of a better way to end an 8-week accelerated semester than the way it ended tonight.

Several weeks ago I wrote about one of my college students who asked if he could write a rap for The Soloist by Steve Lopez, our course text for the English part of the Reading course. Tonight, after a few more Article Articulation assignments, also discussed in that previous post, I informed the class that after he raps, it's a rap.

He set up his background music and with such finesse he
spit them barz and lyricals
quick as carz, satirical...

In church, we give the benediction.
His rap was something like that. And it wasn't a corny jawn either. He did the thing. There was nothing left to say.

So let the class say, "AMEN!" (Except for the part that I still have to report to work next week, but it's cool though)

I Embarrassed Myself in Class....On Purpose!

Picture this.
We're reading "The Bully" by Paul Langan in addition to our curriculum stuff. We come up on the part where Darrell meets Amberlynn in the supermarket and his heart starts racing. Anyone familiar with the book knows that Darrell is a timid 9th grader with a minuscule frame.

What does Mr. Flemming, the 5th grade English/Language Arts teacher do to illustrate what Darrell may have been feeling? He recalls for the class the times when he was in full geek mode and had his little crushes!
Skinny.
Nerd.
Lived in the library after school when he went to Masterman.
Believed at one time, as a student, that summer vacations were a waste of time.
Wasn't about the latest guy fashion.
Old soul.

But to learn that a girl I liked for a long time had a crush on me?

Then at the end of ANOTHER school year to learn that ANOTHER pretty girl had a crush on me?

The kids hollered as I recalled these experiences and as they were imagining their teacher as a geek trying to hit on a pretty girl!
"Hi! Would you like to read with me?"

Yup. That's me.

(Note: I was fine being who I was. It made me who I am. My childhood was great! Love you Pop and Mom Flem)

New Friends at Maplewood Manor Nursing Home

When I get the chance to sit and think, that can be dangerous....in a good way!

Yesterday, a few of my students and I, along with a few of my colleagues, went to Maplewood Manor Nursing Home to read to the residents there. We went to read and came out smiling!!

The facility is about a 15-minute walk from our school, right there in our community. It began as a thought about a month or so ago. I called Maplewood, left a message, received a call back and we set up a tentative date. We spoke of the possibility of making this a once a month thing as well. I sent out a survey to parents to gauge the interest level. There was interest.  Permission slips were sent out, I spoke with the principal, and boom!

The idea hit me like a ton of bricks that it would be better to go after school. Why? Just because. That little blurb was in the survey too. Still, there was great interest on behalf of the 5th grade families. (There were some kinks on my end that I'll have to fix for next time.  Long story short, me being too hype, I got unorganized and quickly)

We left the school around 3:15pm. But before doing so, the kids and I had a little chat. "This is the first time your teacher has done anything like this. We'll see how it goes. No matter what, just go with the flow. We'll speak, be polite, introduce ourselves and why we're there and enjoy ourselves."

On the way I allowed them to snap pics, and to snap, as in....this. Why? They're "snapping chatting" (lol) about going to read! Why not?!?

The staff was very warm, gracious, and welcoming! We entered the recreation area and immediately we all got to work introducing ourselves to the our reading buddies and the kids got to reading. My colleagues and I would only step in for a sec to move a kid closer or to slide the book between the two reading buddies. #SmilesAllAround

The kids loved it! They'd read to their new friend and in a couple of cases their new friends took the book and read back to the much younger buddies!! I even got the chance to read to a couple of the residents, "Mother to Son" by Langston Hughes and "Green Eggs and Ham". Both were a hit!!

We stayed for about a half hour before heading back to school to the waiting arms and cars of parents! Wow! That's all I can muster right now. Wow!! It was one great experience for us all!

Today, during one of the classes we had a panel discussion. The students ran it. The panel (the students who went to Maplewood) took questions from their classmates about the event and they responded well.

The student panel

More than 24 hours later, I'm still sitting here reflecting in rapture! There isn't a test in the WORLD, no benchmark, no Pearson, no PSSA, no PARCC, nothing, that can capture the essence of that and myriad other experiences!!

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!