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!

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!!

Shoutout on Youtube! I'm humbled!

So, it's a Saturday evening and one thing that I'm involved in had me looking for pictures of John B. Kelly School online since my phone was being all technological!! {angry emoji}

As I was perusing the Internet, I happened upon a video and recognized the parent of one of my former students on Youtube. So I clicked! I can't tel you how much this video almost "messed me up" in my eye area!!

It's less than four minutes, watch til the end!

Ms. Kane, you are more than welcome!!!
Aden was such a joy to have!! I wrote about him last year this time! He's THE resident historian of the class!!

THEY SHOWED OFF at Grumblethorpe!!!!!

Yesterday, my students and I hiked ourselves over to Grumblethorpe here in Germantown, a 10-15 minute walk from our school. I had never been, but for years other classes at John B. Kelly School have and continue to make their way over there and engage in hands-on lessons and experiences of historical, geographical, and horticultural significance.

THEY SHOWED OFF!!!
(in a good way)

Just as they did in our "classroom without borders" at City Hall, they demonstrated the power of the effects of real teaching and learning!

The first few minutes of the experience at Grumblethorpe served to build or establish schema, with a discussion on history and geography. When asked to identify the seven continents of the world, they did it without missing a beat!!

What's the big deal Mr. Flemming?

The reply from the staff at Grumblethorpe, "WOW!!! I really wasn't expecting that!! This is the first public school group, and we've had many, that was able to do that!! I actually think I need to take a second and just stand in awe! I expected to be here for several minutes!"

No, I was not offended in the least bit! I was proud! Proud of my students for showing off as I secretly patted myself on the back for holding my ground as a teacher and belief that test prepping is not teaching and that in my homeroom, English/Language Arts, Math, SCIENCE and SOCIAL STUDIES are all important (and the media by which I sometimes employ to teach them---music, art, kinesthetics, and more).

Their response to the intelligence of my students was matched with a statement from one of my notorious "outburst-ers".  His comment, "THAT'S A SHAME!!!" (That of all of the public school groups they've hosted and for sometime, that we were the first group who could do that with no trouble, in concert, and without skipping a beat.)

My students continued to show off as they continued to demonstrate what they knew during a Q&A about various historical events!

As the morning progressed, the groups were split in two and they got an opportunity to plant pumpkins in the yard and basil in cups. As they dug spaces to plant the sprouting pumpkin plants, they found grubs and worms and their excitement couldn't be contained (not that any attempts were made either).

Meanwhile the other group continued to impress our hosts as they recalled facts about what plants need to grow, including air? No!! (sort of lol) but "carbon dioxide".  Love it!!

After about an hour and a half, we made our way back to school, they had lunch, and afterwards I praised the mess out of them for being so intelligent and encouraged them, as I often do, to never stop loving to learn! With one student in particular, I told him that people may call him names, that it had happened to me, but to let it roll off like water on a duck's back. Being interested in and loving history and science is NOTHING for which to be ashamed.

No, no SWBAT discussions. I think I've made my positions clear in other posts!

Order in the Court!

Because I don't want to end with a rant on the evils of the testing industry, the debauchery known as school reform, and the vices of some politicians along with their school reformy backers, I'll begin with those folks and say this: the following learning experience could NEVER be captured on a standardized paper and pencil bubble test! The following scenario involves THIRD GRADE students in a real PUBLIC SCHOOL in the GERMANTOWN section of Philadelphia! Furthermore, despite the scenario that follows, I'd probably be considered a "failing teacher" because I didn't create a lesson plan that called upon the almighty Danielson, nor did I carry lesson plans with me that included those insidious acronyms "SWBAT" and "IOT", nor did I have them read a "passage" about judges, the biography of the judge we were going to visit or the history of the structure of City Hall! With that...

A week ago, my students and I took a journey to Courtroom 534, City Hall, Philadelphia, PA. No, no one was in trouble! We've been studying the Constitution and particularly, the Bill of Rights. I thought it would be a nice capstone for our studies by touring a courtroom and conversing with a real judge! Nothing could have prepared me for the fantastic time we had there!

Her honor, Judge Shreeves-Johns called me into chambers and together, along with her Court Crier (I learned something new), fine-tuned what we thought would happen in the moments that would follow. She would pose different scenarios to the children that would test various amendments of the Bill of Rights. They, the students, would in-turn, reply with their opinion on the legality of said issues.

All rise!

Her honor, adorned in her black robe (kids 'shock' face---Mr. Flemming, you have a robe like that! You wore it in class! Me to them, "Shhh!! Court!") walks in to a nervous and eager group of third graders (and three equally as intrigued adults).

She, along with her staff involved each child in the trial process. Jury, sherriffs, court crier, prosecution or plaintiff, defense counsel and defendant.

She posed various legal scenarios and asked for those who represented the state and the defense to speak to the allegations and their legality as it pertains to the various amendments. Most of the children were sharp and where anyone may have been a bit nervous, she looked to the jury for anyone who may have had a legal opinion. She used the court crier (one of the kids) and "polled" the jury quite a few times. After each "case", roles were switched and another case was brought before the court.

Where she challenged them, they met the challenge each time! Even when a few were nervous and got tripped up, it was warming to see the rest of the class come to the rescue and "stick it" to the judge (in a way only 8 and 9 year old children can)!!

The eloquence with which a few of them spoke was astounding! Some legal issues involved more than one amendment, but that didn't unnerve the kids one bit! They made their case to the shock and dropped jaws of even her court staff!

In one case, the defense attorney was jacking up the case for her client and the client, who knew the law, replied loudly, "you're supposed to be HELPING me!!" Judge Shreeves-Johns was impressed and remarked that he could easily represent himself in the case.

In another case, the defense attorney was extremely nervous and didn't answer the judge's questions in a  way that would help her client. The client was "locked up" as a result, but in her wisdom, the judge opened up the possibility of an appeal to everyone, appointed one of the jurors to be the new counsel and had the lawyer become a sheriff (no shade to sheriffs at all, lol)

After some time, the children got a chance to ask her some questions as they related to the Bill of Rights and the law. I prepped the kids ahead of time for this possibility and had them write down questions on 3x5 cards and have them in their pocket, ready to pull out in a moment's notice if the opportunity presented itself!

Knowing 207, knowing my students, questions would NOT be an issue! (smile)

A couple of questions really stood out. One asked whether or not she, the judge, felt bad if she had to "lock up people". She paused only for a second and replied "no", because in her courtroom, if she must "lock people up", they did what they were accused of and need to learn that there are consequences for breaking the law.

Another question that had me grin from ear to ear with unfettered pride was, "So the 2nd amendment gives people the right to own guns, but does it give people a right to kill? I ask the question because I don't think it does!" (What the???) One edu-commentator/poet/inspirationalist wrote that we can tell a lot about whether a child is learning, not by the questions s/he answers, but the questions s/he asks!

After court, we got the chance to take pictures with Judge Shreeves-Johns and thanked her for allowing us into her space for a little more than an hour!

Her stenographer, real court crier and aids were all GREAT!!! The chaperones who accompanied me were both impressed as well! Words cannot explain my pride for my kids that day! They were sharp!!!

Even now, a week later, I'm still so very proud and impressed with my students! THIS is real and experiential learning, for which I am an advocate and of which I am a practitioner!

They learned a lot and based on our experience and some of the conversations I overheard, many wouldn't mind a career in law! Isn't that what this is all about? Inspiring a generation of children and youth? Real teaching and learning?

Go 'head 207!! Y'all did the thang!!!

Why the SRC shouldn't approve the 39 new charters...

Want to know why the SRC shouldn't approve the THIRTY-NINE (39) NEW charter schools?

Multiply John B. Kelly Elementary School's story by SEVERAL DOZEN real public schools and feel free to add things that at the moment I can't think of because I'm irritated:

1.  We don't have a nurse five days a week, we have her 3x per week (and some schools less than that)

2.  We have an art teacher once a week. On a Tuesday. (many schools don't even have that much)

3.  We have four Noon Time Aids for 700 kids at the lunches

4.  Kindergarten classes are sitting at 30 kids (contractual limit yes, but why max out?)

5.  One secretary for 700 kids, more than 100 adults, and a host of parents, delivery persons, outside agencies, etc. who need to be "buzzed" in. But security is a priority?

6.  I buy dozens of books so that my kids can have NICE, clean, new books to read and not tattered, old, donated books from the 1980s and 1990s

7.  I painted my own classroom from whatever old, jaded (is that the word I want? Probably not, but I'll use it anyway) color it was to reflect a classroom that says, "You're Welcome Here" and not "I don't give a rat's houtinany about you"

8.  With my own money I purchased magazine subscriptions and have purchased whole class sets of grade level (or slightly above) books that are relevant (i.e. The Story of Ruby Bridges)

9.  A guest teacher, during her prep and lunch is organizing Afro-centric books and placing them  in clear view for teachers to use in class because we have no librarian

10. I haven't seen a raise since January, 2012, nor have I seen a step increase since 2013 or an upgrade in pay when I received my M.Ed (and Reading Specialist cert, by the way...an area that many of our children struggle in...I'm just saying...)

I'm sure I'm missing a TON of other things that I'm not thinking of that truly make our schools, schools and places where teachers feel respected and appreciated.

But there's a whole movement out there that is pushing for the approval of 39 NEW charter schools which would all but completely bankrupt our district and cause more harm than good! We have 86 charters already. The second largest district in Pennsylvania can be found right here with our charters along with the largest district, our district run, real public schools!

Stupid people we have in this world. Just idiots! Sheesh!

"Are we ever going to get art?"

Yesterday during our bathroom break one of my 3rd graders, "Mr. Flemming, are we ever going to get art?"

Me, "I doubt it. That's why I try to do as much art in the classroom with you as possible."

Note: At John B. Kelly Elementary School (a real public school), we have an art teacher once a week, Tuesdays. That's up from none during some years and one day more than what many other schools currently have.

-_-

(Pssst! Pssst! Hey! Shhhh, I thought you should know that today there was a rally for more charters in Philly http://www.philly.com/philly/education/Charter-school-advocates-rally-for-expansion.html, I'm guessing now we'll go back to 0 days a week for the art teacher)

Colorado Pen Pals!!!

Another African American male 3rd grade teacher, out of Colorado, reached out to me in order to forge an old fashion 3rd grade pen pal program between our two classes. He expressed just how much he anticipated the partnership between the two classes and even between us as colleagues, both being black men in a field dominated by women first and ostensibly white.

On Friday we received our first set of handwritten letters. After a weekend and two additional days off, we finally read the letters today. Yesterday I hyped the class up and read the names of those who received letters (everyone). Yesterday, we also identified Pennsylvania on a map and traveled westward with our fingers to Colorado.

Today, we identified Pennsylvania using Google Earth and let the Earth spin as we traveled westward to Colorado! After reading the letter sent to me by their teacher, they got the opportunity to read the letters of their new friends.

"Excited" does not accurately capture the energy in the air as they read their letters and were naturally drawn to each other and to their teacher with what they learned about their pen pal and with "Mr. Flemming, how do you pronounce this (name)?"

Tonight, they, with their parents, are drafting return letters!

THIS is real writing! It serves a real purpose! Every now and then there is nothing wrong with old school methods of teaching. Since being forced to move from a classroom with 21st century teaching technology, I've been forced to go old school with the teaching of some lessons. Having pen pals took me right back to some of those other old school teaching methods and mindsets, especially in a world of texting, emailing, "DM"ing, and "messaging".

To get Biblical, Jeremiah 6:16 does say in part, "...Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein,..." For purposes of this post, I won't finish the post, but it has something to do with the recipients of such a command refusing to do so!

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!

Still scratching my head!!!

So, I cannot let go of the fact that John B. Kelly Elementary School has lost 6th grade to Mastery Charter School at Pickett, a few blocks away. For the last seven years, John B. Kelly has been a K-6th grade school. Using the district and nation's own provincial measures for academic success, scores, we've managed to raise those from 5th to 6th grade every year that the 6th grade teaching team has been a team; 6 of the 7 years.

The School District of Philadelphia decided that Kelly should be a K-5th grade school and that Mastery at Pickett should take over the 6th grade in their building, beginning September, 2013. I even commented about it while being interviewed for a response to Philly's financial crisis in the Huffington Post.

To end my umpteenth rant about this, here are a couple of pictures. I'll let them speak for themselves.

Perhaps if John B. Kelly doesn't make it this year, we'll get our 6th grade back, since 2 years of no AYP seems to be the prerequisite for expanding. Or maybe we'll do what Universal did at Vare, bring in a grade to teach that is against our "license agreement"; which the CFO admitted to at a recent SRC meeting when Feather Houstoun questioned him....I'm just saying. But wait, didn't they still acquire Alcorn Elementary? Hmm

6th Grade at John B. Kelly Elementary School

John B. Kelly Elementary has had 6th grade classes for seven years.

Each year that this teaching team has had 6th grade (6 of the 7 years), we've managed to maintain the highest of academic and behavioral standards. We've managed to build rapports with our students that remain to this day. We've also managed to tackle the minimal criteria for academic performance, PSSA test scores. Scores do not measure all that a child has learned, the reason for my use of the term "minimal".

Using that minimal standard for academic progress, the standard that the district and others use, we've managed to increase the students' proficiency in reading and math every single year that we've been a team! Some years the increase reflected single digit percentage point increase and other years reflected double digit percentage point increases, but ALL were increases!

From 5th grade to 6th grade, the students' percentage points as a whole class increased each year in both reading and math! In what may be the final year of 6th grade at J.B. Kelly, the preliminary results show us going out with a (((BANG)))!!

34% of the students were proficient/advanced in reading for 5th grade to 51% in 6th grade
36% of the students were proficient/advanced in math for 5th grade to 65% in 6th grade
Note: it was the same group of children from 5th to 6th, PLUS a few from private and charter schools


The result: Mastery Charter School at Pickett, a few blocks away, will now become a 6th - 12th grade charter school and John B. Kelly Elementary School will now be a K-5th grade elementary school.

Why?