Being a black boy isn't a disease!

Dear World,

Being a black boy is not a disease that needs to be diagnosed, x-rayed, poked, prodded, studied, and drugged up! Since when did being a boy become an ailment, and particularly being a black boy??

I am SICK and TIRED of boys who look just like me being diagnosed with ADD, ADHD, ODD, ABCD, this D, that D and the other D!!! With those diagnoses, comes the medicine, the IEPs, the behavioral this and behavioral that; the stigma, the treatment, the preconceived notions and ultimately the ire of society!

It's no wonder prisons are stuffed with kids and men who look like me! It's no mystery why these guys are being killed on the streets in higher percentages than others! They are literally out of their minds, druggies since five!!

I'm not a conspiracy theorist (except when it comes to Governor Corbett and the funding of Philadelphia's public schools), I just can't help but notice what seem to be disproportionate numbers!

Make no mistake, I do not condone boys using this as an excuse for stupidity! You act dumb, dumb stuff will come, point blank! But as a society we can do our part and not assume that because a five-year-old boy runs around the school that something is wrong with him! Regain order, yes! But we need to think long and hard before we "treat"!!

Is something really the matter with him, or does he spend hours on end in our classrooms then goes home to the same amount of space for several more hours with many more people? Is he the product of a less than ideal pregnancy and would more "skittles" really help? Let's ask ourselves these and other questions before that prescription or IEP is written, because once written...

First, do no harm!

Yours truly,
Me

New Science Teacher

Science is the one subject I've never taught as an elementary school teacher. I remember Dr. Shmuckler at Temple teaching the science methods course. I remember my elementary science class with Mrs. LaComp, then with Mrs. Williams at another school, followed by Mrs. Johnson, Mr. Oxley, Mr. Mealy(sp), Ms. Lewis, Mr. Finley, Mr. Ulrich, and Mr. Belz....yes, I was a teacher-geek even then remembering most of my teachers...lol.

This year is my first year teaching science however. Since I was getting a new grade to teach, I figured I might was well dust off my science pedagogy from undergrad and take a stab at science.

All summer long I was apprehensive. I am an English/Language Arts teacher at heart and am currently in a program to be a certified reading specialist. If I was going to do this "science thing", I wanted to be all in, providing the best instruction and experience I could! So I read articles, blogs, tweets and the like all summer. I visited the websites of national science organizations, notable television programs and people, etc. to prepare for my three classes of 5th graders.

I just want to report, that while I have a ways to go both content-wise and pedagogically speaking, I'm starting to get the hang of it and am enjoying it. I teach with the premise that science should be experiential in nature; the premise for my ELA and Social Studies teaching. Note: I'm also teaching Social Studies this year, a subject I've taught quite a few times before and with which I am much more comfortable.

I want my English back for sure, but at least I know that if I go self-contained in perhaps a younger grade, I could do it.

Two Weeks In...

We are two weeks into the school year here in Philadelphia and morale is sinking quickly! That shouldn't be! Teachers are worn out and despondent. And it's no mystery why that's the case.

We are without essential services, personnel, and supplies. Many classes are beyond overcrowded around the district and teachers are finding themselves in communities and buildings they've never been in before. Even if in our particular classrooms things appear to be fine, we are one with our colleagues all around. Their pain is our pain! We also know that things can change for the worse quicker than we can blink!

On top of all that, the state, city, and district are insistent that teachers are the cause and solution of the financial debacle the district is in. They want us to take as much as a 13% cut in pay and contribute as much to our health benefits! They say that we need to share in the sacrifice and pain! Laughable! I already vented about that!

To turn the knife in our hearts, a new teacher evaluation system is in place which makes teachers "more accountable" for student achievement by attaching test scores to teachers! You have GOT to be kidding me!

The governor wants the PFT to buy $45 million at a price tag of more than $100 million. Seriously gov? Are you that thick-headed?

Philadelphia's teachers, counselors, nurses, and other school based staff, parent and student advocacy groups as well as national leaders and warriors in the fight for full and fair funding for public education are on the frontline, fighting back with all the strength we have to ensure that EVERY child, not just those in certain schools or from certain backgrounds, gets what s/he needs to have a chance at success too!!!!!

All of this, and we're just two weeks in! smh

A colleague of mine, sick of the nonsense is organizing a discussion/forum in her classroom for the faculty at our school next week. The purpose of the talk is to express concerns that are specific to our school and to come up with solutions that are real and attainable and to move unapologetically to make the teaching and learning environment in our building as stress free as possible. With a whole year ahead of us, and stress already real, something has to give!

Dear Kindergarteners

Dear Kindergarteners,
My name is Mr. Flemming and I am a teacher. Did you know that there are a whole lot of teachers? How high can you count? Can you count to ten? Well, there are more than ten! Can you count to twenty? Well, there are more than twenty!

Have you ever heard of the word "thousand"? WOW!!! That's a really big number!! If you hold your hands out really wide, it's bigger than that!!! Well, there are more than one thousand, more than two thousand, more than three thousand teachers, wow!!! There are a whole lot of THOUSANDS of teachers in schools everywhere!!

Today you started school. Maybe this was your first time or maybe you went to preschool or daycare!

I just want to tell you that I believe in you! That means that Mr. Flemming, and all of my THOUSANDS of teacher friends, we know that you are smart and that you are going to be good at reading and math and a whole lot of other things that boys and girls do when they are in school and at home!!

Do you like to draw or sing?  I like to draw and sing sometimes, but you probably sing and draw way better than me!! Maybe you can draw me a picture one day or sing the bigger kids a song. That's who I teach. I teach the bigger kids, they are in 5th grade this year!

Well, if you like to draw and sing and maybe play the drums, make sure you ask the principal, that's the boss, if you can sing and draw in school! There are teachers who would LOVE to help you draw or paint or sing or play the musical instruments! Does that sound like fun? It sounds fun to me!

I want you to promise Mr. Flemming one thing. Promise me that you will always work really really hard!! That means you'll do all of your school work and homework and that you will always try your best! Make sure you listen to your teachers and the other grown ups at school!! Okay?

It's probably time to go to bed. Mr. Flemming is very sleepy right now! You want to make sure you get a good night's sleep so that you can be on time for school tomorrow and so you won't be sleepy!

Good Night!
Have fun in school tomorrow!

~Mr. Flemming

'Twas the Night Before School Started (Philly version)

'Twas the Night Before School Started (Philly Version)
Stephen R. Flemming - Philly Public School Teacher

‘Twas the night before school started and all through the halls

Were the children, some teachers, and that’s about all!

One principal, some staff, a single secretary

No music! What art? Don’t even call that a library!

No counselors, few aids, and hardly supplies

Yet they call this a school? HA! What lies!

Barely enough funds, to open on Monday

Yet the Gov and the Mayor say, “Well, someday,

We’ll give you the money, you think you all need

But not before concessions from that blasted PFT!”

“Those teachers must give back some of the bountiful excess

You don’t need those high salaries or that hefty egg’s nest!”

But we’re saying, “No! You haven’t a clue!

What it takes to teach kids or make it on through

Through attitudes of despair and hopelessness ‘round

Because of the grown ups, who let them all down!

We spend hundreds of thousands collectively as staff

We sacrifice often to make supplies last!

So, no to give backs, we didn’t cause this problem

And we’re not responsible to help you both solve them!

So tomorrow we start, 8:30’s the time

Thirty-three kids, in two straight lines!

So on primary, on middle, and on teachers secondary

Elementary or high school, we’ve got to be ready!

On teaching, on learning, on standing up tall

Proud to be teachers, proud to called

Called to teach children and youth at all stages

Called to make an impact that’ll last through the ages!

Aunt Lucille

Aunt Lucille was the oldest living member in our family on my mother's side. She passed a couple of years back. Before she did, I had the chance to visit her a couple of times while she was in a nursing home not too far from my school.

Aunt Lucille was rough, but I loved her! She said what she meant and meant every single word she said. Growing up she'd share stories of her father and her claim to be his favorite. I recall the times she was lauded for her home made candy. A strict Christian of the Pentecostal Apostolic church, she played no games. She was Aunt Lucille, Mother Lucille Mathews, Sister Mathews however you wanted to address her depending on how you knew her.

The last time I visited her in the nursing home, she quickly reminded me of how tough she was. As I prepared to leave, I bent down to kiss her frail frame and she said, "You call that a kiss?" Aunt Lucille was blind and not too lucid anymore, but she was still Aunt Lucille! So, I smiled and went and "really" kissed her cheek. When I got back to the car, I sat and I wrote. I wrote about my experience that afternoon with Aunt Lucille. I didn't know that would be the last time that I would see Aunt Lucille alive.

Tonight I went to see "The Butler" for the first time. After watching the film, I had to come home and just write. Tonight reminded me of that experience with my Great-Aunt Lucille (my mother's aunt). That movie reminded me of the struggle of my ancestors of that generation. It reminded me of the charge that we have in this generation to carry the baton and make things a little better for the generation that is to come! This is why I teach!

The Butler

I sat. And….sat. And…………………sat. Until the final words of the credits descended the screen into wherever they go, I sat. The Butler is a powerful, riveting film that touches the heart, aches the soul, teases the tear ducts, stirs the anger, and strengthens the resolve; the resolve to continue the fight for racial equality and social justice.

I sat. And sat. Pondering, thinking, wondering.

I sit now. Word document open. Typing. No particular structure or order to my whatever…journal entry? Blog? Tweet? Thoughts, that’s it. Just….thoughts! These are just my thoughts, in no particular order and possibly breaking every syntactical rule and exception that exists in the English language.

The lyrics to “My Country Tis of Thee” reverberate in my mind. I don’t know when it was written, so I’m going to pause to look it up. Just did. A few different websites all suggest that the lyrics were written in 1831.

My country tis of thee,

Sweet land of liberty….stop, this part right here! In 1831, liberty was not experienced by everyone on U.S. soil. It wouldn’t be until 1863 when the Emancipation Proclamation was proclaimed, two years after that with the passage of the 13^th Amendment that slavery became illegal and nearly ONE HUNDRED years until the passage of the Civil Rights Act.

Land where my fathers died….true

Land of the pilgrims pride….okay??

From every mountain side, let freedom ring….they could only hope!

It is now 2013. I sit at my small desk in my apartment in Philadelphia on Saturday, August 31, 2013. Last weekend there was a huge march in Washington to commemorate the 50^th anniversary of THE march on Washington where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his now most notable speech later titled, “I Have A Dream”. This past Wednesday, on the 28^th, five hours of festivities marked the actual day on which the march took place, concluding with this nation’s first African American president, Barack H. Obama speaking at the exact same time when Dr. King spoke.

It is now 2013. We have come a long way. Every time our current president, Mr. Obama, gives a press conference, flies overseas, goes on a bus tour around college campuses, has white people protecting HIM, yes, we really have come a mighty long way!

It is 2013. Public schools in urban areas are closing by the dozens in places like Chicago and here in my hometown, Philadelphia. Teachers are being laid off by the thousands. Governments are holding much need funds for schools where an overwhelming number of students who poor and who are African American and Hispanic make up the majority.

History reminds us of the time when it was once illegal to teach blacks how to read and write. History also reminds us of how many overcame that obstacle and taught one another anyway. It reminds us of how many whites risked their lives and livelihoods to assist us in our struggle for freedom and equality.

The Butler. More than a film, this was the voice of everyone who lived during the years of slavery and the post slavery century of struggle. It was the voice of those whose veins carry the blood of true human warriors; the blood line that still runs warm in the veins of every child of color who lives in impoverished areas; areas where politicians in the last few years have metaphorically referred to as a “cesspool” and “rat hole”.

See the movie, but listen to the voices!

Lee Daniels’ (from Philadelphia might I add) The Butler