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.

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.

Cereal | A note on student-teacher relationships

I visit classes* most often to sit and watch how my colleagues work their magic, especially with this 100% remote teaching and learning world in which Philly and other schools and districts find ourselves. Recently, a student in one class came off mute to ask for additional time on an assignment. The exact words were, "[Teacher] can we get like five more minutes because I had to go give my niece some cereal?"

So what's the big deal? Why am I writing about a bowl of cereal from an unidentified-for-the-internet uncle to an unidentified-for-the-internet niece?😕😕

That a student felt comfortable enough to come off mute, with about 20 other people on the line, to ask for extra time with the reason being that he had to go feed his niece says a lot! It says a lot about the rapport this teacher built with his students. It says a lot about remote learning space concurrents. It also says a lot about the teacher who understands this and replied, "Sure, no problem" with a facial expression that spoke loudly of "Of course, why would I not give you an extra few minutes."

Teacher-colleagues, understand the realm in which we all find ourselves and let's govern ourselves accordingly.

Administrators at the school and district levels, this applies to you as well. Be kind to us and to yourselves until this whole thing is past us and we're able to look back on this from a different mental, physical, emotional, spiritual , teaching, and learning space.

*My role this year is that of a partially-released School-Based Teacher Leader (SBTL) for English. I also teach, by choice, one section of a dual-enrollment Communications class. 

Let Black words marinate | A note on student-teacher relationships

I'm typing this late on a Friday night (into Saturday now) in October after a long week here in Philly. Monday morning I found out one of my students--one of our students at MLK High School was killed; the fifth, I believe, in as many months at our school. Last weekend, while he was at a vigil for his cousin who was taken too soon, someone chose to end Hyneef's life. 

I cried.

Again. 

That was Monday morning.

Monday afternoon, Walter Wallace, a brotha from West Philly, was shot and killed by Philly police. Sadly, angrily, this put Philly into the national and international spotlight as another police department in America chose to serve as police, judge, jury, and executioner for a Black man; an extrajudicial process not afforded to others who aren't in crisis and make multiple attempts on officers' lives. Exhibit A.

Walter Wallace Jr.’s life mattered. He should still be here. Another way is possible. Imagine a world where mental health issues, disabilities, or your race do not make you a target for criminalization & state murder.#WalterWallaceJr#blacklivesmatter#blackdisabledlivesmatter pic.twitter.com/QQOuRC0DdV

— BLM Philly (@BLMPhilly) October 30, 2020

 

https://t.co/f9YwslwCvv

— Dann Cuellar (@DannCuellar) October 21, 2020

Oh and we're still neck-deep in a global pandemic that has disproportionately taken Black lives.

Oh and in Philly we're teaching 100% online, much like many others across the country.

Oh and it's election season, a true-to-form 2020-type election season.

Combine all of these experiences and it quadruple underscores the need for classrooms, virtual or otherwise, to be safe spaces, mentally, physically, and emotionally, for Black students to be. The relationship that we as educators have with our students in large part determines the degree to which our classrooms are those needed safe spaces.

This past week during our common planning time for the English department, my colleagues and I shared examples of how we strive to do just that, build and strengthen relationships and make our classrooms virtual sanctuaries.

During the conversation, the need for teachers to also have these safe spaces was reiterated. We allowed ourselves to become vulnerable; to share our successes and struggles with relationship-building in this virtual space when our students need us most. We allowed ourselves to feel, to empathize, to embrace, to be right, to be wrong, to just be as teachers who are also human and who are also impacted by the aforementioned traumatizing experiences, as most of us are Black educators. To a great extent, we also allowed our students to see us for the humans we are this past week, something we also talked through during our chat.

In church, sometimes the program/bulletin reads at the bottom, the service is subject to the move of the Holy Ghost. If you know, you know. 👀☺There comes a time when the lesson plan needs to be subject to the reality of Black students' lived experiences. Why Black, specifically? If you have to ask, you may be part of the problem in the classroom. Fix it. Fix it by listening to Black students. You have two ears and one mouth for a reason. Listen to Black educators. Listen to Black parents. When you listen, that doesn't mean you're thinking of what you're going to say next in either rebuttal or even a compliment. Sometimes just say nothing. Let Black words marinate.

In spite of the challenges that confront us, I am hopeful. I am also prayerful. I have to be! Running through our veins is the blood of royalty, of freedom fighters, of thinkers, inventors, change-makers and agents, and so much more!

Teacher-student relationships matter, especially now! Our students aren't looking for chumbuddies in their teachers, but they sure as the sun rises want someone who's human!

That's how you know it's real; a note on student-teacher relationships

This week was long. Full stop. Educators have those types of weeks every now and then. Every day, however, brings new possibilities for that day. I clicked out of my Communications class last Thursday on such an intellectual and cultural high, but I'll have to detail that later. I do believe, however, that I--their teacher--was able to leave class like that in part because of the relationships I've built and continue to build with them. Hence, the topic for this post. Critical to students' success in the classroom are student:teacher relationships.

Kennedy-Lewis and Murphy (2016) in their research on "frequent flyers" write, 

"The students in this study repeatedly mentioned wanting educators to listen to them and to believe them—and complying and working for teachers who did show care—confirming findings in existing literature showing that students deem as “good” teachers those who care about them personally, hold them to high expectations, and show them respect (Alder, 2002; Corbett & Wilson, 1998; Cothran & Ennis, 2000; Wilson & Corbett, 1999)."

Additionally, "Student-teacher relationships characterized by these attributes correlate with students’ improved academic engagement (Goodenow, 1993; Noblit, Rogers, & McCadden, 1995; Wang, Haertel, & Walberg, 2003) and socialemotional development (Baker, 1999; Crosnoe et al., 2004)."

This week, I have received or seen texts and tweets that had me like...

These texts and tweets came from colleagues across the district who offered evidence of their burgeoning student:teacher relationships. They solidify that relationships, do indeed, matter! I must insert that the texts and tweets I reference here come from Black teachers who work with majority Black students. That matters!

Relationships matter! Relationships matter! Relationships matter!

When students say things or demonstrate that they value their rapport with you, sometimes the words escape you! One of our colleagues expressed this sentiment:

Another colleague texted in part:

"My students sometimes tell me they love me...it's so genuine and spontaneous and that's when I know they like me"

One colleague sent a summary of a conversation she had with one of her students. That student finally understood that annotating was simply one tool to help a reader engage with text, likely increasing their level of comprehension; that annotating isn't some extra thing to do. I'd guess that most conscientious teachers have seen the look or that moment when you see something click and a student "gets it." Those repetitious thuds you hear and feel are you patting yourself on the back! Help yourself!*

There are ways to tell if what you're experiencing in the classroom is real. Unsolicited and uncoerced expressions of love and gratitude are signs that it's real. When a teacher features current and former students on their class social media platforms for "Post Me Saturdays" and the students dm pics every week, that's how you know it's real! Random, "Ard, teach, luh u! Holla!" Yup, that's also a sign it's real! Text chats with teachers over culturally-relevant TV series is a sign that it's real. "This the only class I come to frfr (for real for real)" is another sign it's real. (Take that opportunity to drop some auntie/unk advice). Random emails from students you haven't seen in years is a sign that it's real. Students not running in the opposite direction when they see you in the hood is a sign it's real. Students ready to fight for you when walkthrough teams pull up is another sign. *shrugs*

If I didn't make it abundantly clear, relationships matter! They especially matter now when physical distancing has sometimes meant social distancing. When the chords that have held us tight are thinning. When our manz are being gunned down in the streets and we can't even say goodbye right. When that self-serving, racist, bigoted clown who holds the highest office in the land would have us believe Black lives don't matter. When we're not supposed to do what the gifs below demonstrate. Relationships matter!

If you want to build those relationships, start by not focusing on the academics and ask them a random question like, "Should parents have their children's social media passwords?" then "Would you want to have your children's social media passwords?" Watch.

*the title is a little misleading, but read that jawn I wrote back in 2012