“I thought, well since she’s not here anymore, why should I?”

I do not think my sophomore+ students will be totally satisfied until there is a public leak in my tear ducts. Really! “I know it would’ve shown my humanity, but I refuse [to cry]!” That was my response moments ago after a student’s Beautiful Black Faces collage presentation.

The assignment was simple. Turn the classroom into a museum of beautiful Black faces. Create a collage. On the board, affix cut-outs from newspapers/magazines or print-outs from the internet. Be intentional in your approach, whatever and however that might look for you. Be prepared to either write about or discuss your collage.

 

A few Beautiful Black Faces collages

One student, Sahmir (pseudonym) portrayed Black people who, in recent memory, lost or took their own lives. He explained that many of the people on his collage chose to end their lives as the result of cyber bulling, bullying in general, or just decided that life was no longer worth living. He then chose to share with the class that upon the death of his own mother some years ago, he, too, contemplated suicide. He admitted that he was too scared to actually cut himself or make any other attempts but that he struggled with the thoughts. “I thought, well since she’s not here anymore, why should I?”

He credits his overcoming these thoughts to the support and love of his grandmother who conveyed that he would be a coward; that after surviving many other adversities since birth he’d take the easy way out and kill himself. This, he says, woke him up, and caused him to realize that he did have people for whom and reasons to live.

Sahmir's collage

After several spell-bounding seconds…

“Wow! That. Was. Powerful!” was all I could muster. As we all sat and took in the moment, one of my other students raised his hand to comment on Sahmir's presentation. He remarked that he also lost a parent some years ago, his father. He admitted to struggling to come to grips with this new reality, that his rock, his dad was no longer here. Like Sahmir, he also had his grandmother, along with his mother and brother to live for and concluded that suicide was not an option. With that, he shared some words of advice and encouragement from the perspective of one who experienced similar thoughts and feelings.

At this point, the class sat in silent, reflective contemplation. Something was happening in the room. Something organic. Healing? Release? A renewed desire to hold loved ones closer? The raised hand of another classmate temporarily interrupted our thoughts. At this point I was really struggling to keep it together.

This third student shared with the presenter and with the rest of us how she lost her mom five years ago. Cancer. She didn’t know if she’d be with her father, in foster care, or wherever. She expressed how she struggled with what and how to feel; what it would now mean to live in a world where her mom was no longer present. She could relate with her peers in their quest to try and make sense of loss and the uncertainty of what would come next.

As they each shared their experiences, their courage was on full display for all of us to observe and it was a sight to behold. I wrote down as much of this as fast as I could once class was over so that I wouldn’t forget some of the exact words and feelings of the moment. Revisiting this more than a week later, the memory and feelings of that class period are just as palpable and raw now as they were then.

“I just want to say that your strength, each of you, is AMAZING! I admire your courage and your willingness to share some of the most intimate details of your life with us, because you definitely did not have to!” Those were my exact words to them. Later I would reflect on how much I got to know some of them, their lives and their loss, through this art assignment. I would also reflect on how comfortable they felt sharing such very personal, unobservable details of their lives with me, with us. After several more silent seconds, we continued with the rest of class. How? I don’t remember.

Sweet and Bitter Irony: Music From A Closed School

http://www.knightarts.org/community/akron/jazz-for-the-eyes

That could be the name of a song, or did someone already copyright that? Sweet and Bitter Irony: Music From A Closed School

Earlier today, and clearly in my summer "chill mode", I was enjoying a cup of coffee, resting under the foliage of a small tree, in my car when...a sound....a sweet sound....a soothing sound.....a saxophone sound!!

It didn't take long to realize that there was someone playing their sax somewhere near the shuttered George Pepper Middle School out in Southwest Philly.

The music was....mellow....soft....nice!
And in front of a school that likely did not have a vibrant music program in the years just preceding its closing. Unfortunately it's vibrant music and other arts programs that the majority of our schools wrongly settle without.

As a classroom teacher, I do appreciate music and the visual arts and do my best to incorporate them both into the 207 experience. But I have no issue with admitting that I don't have the extensive creative background or experience to make the most of integrating such media into the teaching and learning event.

Yes, Sweet and Bitter Irony indeed!! That such beautiful music now IS and, then too, from the outside of the school!



Pictures of Pepper - http://www.schoolclosingcollective.com/?q=node/12
One account of Pepper's history - http://hiddencityphila.org/2013/04/final-bell-nears-at-brutalist-southwest-philly-middle-school/

Quil Lemons, Photographer Extraordinaire!!

His name is Quil Lemons. He’s 18 years old and fine example of a young black man doing some good in the hood!

Quil and his camera work wonders and those wonders were on display at the James Oliver Gallery on the 700 block of Chestnut Street here in Philly!

After ascending Jacob’s ladder, an unending and very steep stairway to heaven, I quickly discovered the climb was worth it! I beheld white walls awash with Quil’s photographs, on display for all of the guests take in. Pictures of young men, young ladies, objects, and an object of his affection, his sister, Zuri!

I eventually made my way to introduce myself to mister picture-taker extraodinaire, mentioning that his mother and I went to school together and that I was proud of what he was able to accomplish!

During the evening I made my way to James Oliver, the owner of the gallery and thanked him for giving Quil the opportunity to showcase his talents. While it may not have been my place to thank him, I felt like I needed to do so on behalf of young black men everywhere who are making a fine mark on the world with our talents and abilities, one way or another! I informed him that I read the piece on Fox29’s website and appreciate the focus on the positive contributions of our youth to society at large!

FOX 29 News Philadelphia | WTXF-TV

As I sat and munched on the hors d’oeuvres that were available, I noticed Quil doing “Quil”, snapping candid shots of the guests he knew. As he snapped, I got a quick snap in myself, a pic of him getting pics!

Capturing young ladies seated just outside of the picture!

All the best to Quil and big ups to mom, Jade and grandmom for raising a great kid!! Now, on to New York for college!!

Related:
Young, black, male, and plays classical!!

Re: The Suburban Station Violinist

On ART class at our school...

Recently, I asked my students to write an essay on whether they believe our school should have an art class five days a week instead of just one day a week. (Tuesday is the day we have an art teacher in our school.) Ummm, sure, I guess!

One of my resident art students on art class five days a week:
"Yes, I think John B. Kelly should have an art class five days a week. I love art and I can teach Mr. Flemming art. The End."

I'll take it!

My "Arts" Beliefs...

My belief in the arts being a component of children's learning experiences is not anything new.
As I was looking through old facebook pictures, I came across one when I was the Youth Program Director at the YMCA in West Philly! (Yup, I was born and raised in West Philly---and Southwest---52nd Street corridor)

I was responsible for nearly all youth programming at the branch and was always looking to improve upon the quality of our programs. I loved my team of youth program staff and volunteers and the majority of them loved "Mr. Steve" right back!

You'll notice the book I circled in the picture. With our leadership and with a great core of young arts teachers (high school students who I hired from CAPA in South Philly) we put together a PHENOMENAL dance program and a budding drama program!! At one point we had more than 100 girls enrolled in any one or more of our dance classes in two studios at the Y!

We had big productions throughout the year that would coincide with hat/glove drives and would also bring news crews. One year, we chose to take our end of the year performance at one of theaters at the Annenberg Center on Penn's campus!!!

The School District of Philadelphia, City Hall, and Harrisburg must do more increase the arts experiences of the students in Philadelphia, something that is as basic and expected in many of our wealthier suburban school districts. Many of our students have creative minds and abilities and are stifled because of the dearth of arts programs in our schools. Many teachers try to fill the void as best we can, but I will humbly admit my limitations!!

Click the link to find out what I did this past week for a kid who is always drawing in class!

We have GOT to do better!

Looks like my kids and I will be writing letters and sending some emails! It's not enough to just complain. Stay tuned!

P.S. I remember one critique from one of my principals was that I do too much "arts stuff" for Social Studies and not enough reading, lol (I actually did do quite a bit of reading with them--and it was good too, but every time there was a visit it seemed to be during our singing/rapping segments)

Since you like to draw in class...

I have a kid who loves to draw and is ALWAYS drawing in class! There are times when I go all traditional and say, "put that stuff away and pay attention!!" Then there are times when I feel very badly for him and many many others who don't have an art program in order to release their "artistic tension." (Like how I worded that? lol)

At Kelly, we have art once a week, in a regular classroom. Note: We have more than 600 students.

Instead of going into a huge political and public school funding dissertation, I'll dedicate this post to letting you know how I'm going to accommodate this student today.

Last week I had the class develop haikus on chart paper. They were to write two or three of them "all over the paper." Here's the task of my budding artist during SSR today...

Task for the person who is ALWAYS drawing in class----design the cover of our class big book of haikus! #art #artsed pic.twitter.com/JeEVljkFCl
— S. R. Flemming (@kellygrade6) January 14, 2015