I'm an elementary school teacher turned high school English teacher, School-Based Teacher Leader (SBTL), and adjunct professor here in Philly. These posts are the views, as I see them, from room 105, my first classroom number. Enjoy, engage, and share!
For a second school year, I've been podcasting with my students. This year, we've recorded four Black-centric episodes. We didn't intend to focus 80% of this year's episodes, so far, on race, but it is what it is and we're here for it!
Engage. Listen. Like. Rate. Comment. Share. Subscribe on your podcast app. Hit us up @BEOYouth on Twitter and Instagram.
A Conversation with Ms. Lee 🎤Ms. Lee was a student at Barratt Junior High School, here in Philly, when Dr. King spoke there. The class got a chance to speak with her about the experience.
"Black-on-Black" Crime When Talking Police Brutality? 🎤The question was, "Is it fair to bring up "Black-on-Black" crime in a conversation on police brutality [towards Black people]?"
Tulsa Race Massacre and Black Wall Street: One-on-One with Nahjae 🎤For her senior project, Nahjae wanted to present on a topic that she hadn't learned in school. She summarizes her learning here.
Who can(not) say n*gga? 🎤3 friends, two of whom are Black and one mixed-race, have a very frank conversation with each other about who can and cannot, or should not, use the n-word.
Some time ago I wrote two little posts about using students' whispers via ear-hustlin to gather qualitative data that can inform our pedagogy as teachers. This TikTok video demonstrates how it could also contribute anecdotally to our advocacy and policy-making.
Sit at a student's desk. See what they see. Take in the scene from their vantage point. If something needs to change and it's within your means and power, change it. It's the "little" things.
My class and I pulled up very quickly to a second intersection this fall. At this 2nd yellow light, I feel the need to insert something fresh into the course. We received a little boost when we relocated to our current space. As a teacher who likes to keep his fingers on the pulse of my GenZers and monitor whether learning experiences are true to their respective names, learning and experiences, my challenge remains to keep up with Generation TikTok. "Trite" happens far more quickly than I remember it happening as a teacher even a few years ago.
Friday afternoon, I sat in my office contemplating a next move for Comm101 while also working on a little writing thingy to present. The heat in my office was on Hawaii, as one school police officer put it, so I relocated. I took my laptop and went to room 305, our classroom. While I needed to be somewhere less equator, I also needed to think.
I needed to be in the classroom.
In the "House" where our room is located, all was quiet, calm, and dare I say, relaxing, a slight contrast to how I was feeling earlier in the day.In the room, I kept the artificial lights off and let only the natural light in. I pulled up something relaxing on the SmartBoard. My colleague had a class of 11th graders next door. My other colleagues were engaged with their classes throughout the U-shaped House of classrooms. Lunches had long been over. This wing was on some learn and chill type stuff this afternoon.
As I sat and worked, one of my auntie-like colleagues passed by. As she passed, I yelled out because I hadn't seen her all day--possible, but atypical. We talked for a bit. She spoke of her experiences coming along in public school. I spoke of how my generation may have been the last to experience some of what she experienced in schools, particularly what teachers were allowed to do.
As we talked and compared notes, the elder with the younger, she mentioned the Black male teachers she had. I asked her what school she went to. She mentioned Barratt Junior High. We kept talking. Later, "By the way, were you there around the time Martin Luther King spoke there?" She lit up! Of course she was there and remembers it all very fondly! She began recalling how she and her classmates felt, where exactly she sat, and how some of the boys had to borrow ties from some closet or something. She remembers it all very vividly.
It was my turn to light up! I work with and am in the company of someone who was an 8th grade student at Barratt Junior High School when one of the most prolific of Black people came to speak with students in a Philly public school. Say less. "Would you mind coming to speak with my class?" Yes! <inserts something fresh for a couple of class sessions>
Short story. Was chatting w older colleague. Me, "Oh wht school did you go to?" "Barrett" *chat some more* "Were you there around the time MLK spoke?" *beams* "I was in 8th grade, X-row, 3rd seat." ✔Booked to come to Comm101 to chat with the class" The end.
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.
In no particular order other than that's how they came to me.
1. Some of you know that last school year, during 100% remote teaching and learning, my class and I started a podcast. Last year, a core group of students maintained a stable enthusiasm for our poddizy. This year, I think I am more excited about it than are my current students, so I thought to dial it back a bit and return to it in a few weeks or months. Then this...
Short story. "Ard yall, gonna back off the podcast for now. Energy doesn't seem to be there for it rn" *handS up* "Wait, wait...but I like that jawn" Teacher confused--very teenager-y. The end. https://t.co/9yHgtKy2wY
2. All standardized tests can hit the bricks as far as I'm concerned. I hated them before and now that I've been designated the testing coordinator, I really hate those exams. Going to do my job because I take my work seriously and it's a reflection of yours truly, but that don't mean that Keystone and *they whole generations can't hit the road, no bap!
There's something to be said of the times we're in when the FIRST FULL WEEK OF SCHOOL, upon returning from an educational experience NONE of us had ever undergone before, was dedicated to Keystone Testing. I mean, really! "We could have done them last spring, but chose the fall because of the pandemic." Be bold. Cancel. them. all. Forever and ever, Amen!!
3. One of the brothas with whom I've bonded since 9th grade (he's in 12th now) saw me carting crates of Keystone exams (thinking it was something else) to the IMC for make-ups. His words,
"***** he boutta teach the ***** out of this school!"
Don't ask me why that felt so good (minus the expletives) to hear.
4. Last night (Tuesday night) I thought I was sleeping into the weekend and was not going to wake up for work. What jolted me to reality was some thought I was having in my sleep about me not actually having worked a full week yet. I shared that with colleagues during Common Planning Time (CPT). That might cherry-on-top me looking everywhere for my phone (right next to me) and for a stack of papers I just had (right in front me) and me chatting with one of my APs with a pen in my regrowing curly top that I forgot about. What month is this?
5. Slap a teacher huh? Sure. You misunderstood the assignment!
6. I got excited a few times recently when a couple of the seniors stopped me to chat about what they were currently reading (Mildred Taylor's All the Days Past, All the Days to Come) or what they wanted to read (The Son of Neptune Rick Riordan, The Girl Who Could Fly Victoria Forester).
7. "Weirdo!" My new assigned name by a young lady who wanted to stay in "Corridor Class"😏as I stood there refusing to move from their huddle, listening in on their conversation, annoying the beelzebub out of that little crew. I must make one correction, however, it's *Dr. Weirdo, please and thank you. As you were...
8. I love teaching.
9. wya rn lmk hmu - bno? ard omw idc
10. Young queen again brought up how she's had both me and another colleague 3 of her 4 years at MLK. As much as she *says she doesn't like that, don't believe a word out of her mouth. She's feeling our classes...or *puffs chest out*...both teachers.
