An Open Door

The Dragon Drop is proud to share some of the inspirational speeches made by staff and community members at this year's annual Take Back the City event. In this installment, Director of Operations Mr. Kyle reminisces about his school communities growing up and relates them to ours here ar Freire...

It was another balmy, sticky late August day. Kids shuffled around me. Bumping into me, ignoring me, happier than me. Why was I here? Where was I supposed to go? I didn’t belong. Welcome to high school.

The year was 1999. I was 14. It was the '90s when I started high school. Some of you weren’t even born. That makes me old. Well at least to you it does. For me, it blows my mind that some of you were born after the '90s.

Anyways 1999…I was probably about five inches shorter and even skinnier, if that’s possible. My mom made me return the leather Lugz boots I had bought because they were cool, or as she said – not preppy enough - and in turn made me buy oxford dress shoes (if you don’t know what they are, picture an old man with his pants hiked up to his armpits and then the shoes that he is wearing – those). She said everyone else would have them too. Yeah that didn’t happen. No one else had them. I looked like a gigantic tool. My collared shirt was tucked in. I was wearing baggy dress pants in public for the first time since I was about five (cool kids only wore jeans when I was a kid) and those freakin’ shoes just topped it off.

Knowing me, I probably hadn’t had a proper haircut in awhile either…not too hard to imagine I’m sure…but not long like this, more like - yo man you need a haircut cause no girl will ever talk to you looking like that. To sum it up, I felt like a huge dork, and I was lost and alone. That night and for the rest of the nights for about two or three months, I went home and cried. I hated it. Hated it. Everyone in my family told me I could go back to my public school, everyone but my mom. She told me that she would not allow me to quit. Her son would not be a quitter. If I still wanted to leave after I finished my freshman year, I could…but not in the middle of it.

Classrooms that Inspire

Take a tour of Freire teachers' inspirational wall decorations! 

Community Near and Far

The Dragon Drop is proud to share some of the inspirational speeches made by staff and community members at this year's annual Take Back the City event. In this installment, 10th grade English teacher and peer mediation coordinator Mr. Chad talks about his community...

I've been thinking a lot about community... Community is being a part of a group. It is belonging to something. [A student holds up a picture of the earth] Here is a picture of a community that you all know and recognize; it is the planet we all live on called earth. Somewhere on this planet, we are living in a little dot called Philadelphia. Now imagine zooming out from this picture to see what community our earth belongs to.

We end up looking at our solar system. And there is our planet earth. Our world looks kind of small compared to all of these other planets. It's small - but it still belongs.

We zoom out further and now we see what is called our galaxy - the Milky Way - and somewhere in that galaxy is our solar system that contains Earth. Starting to look even smaller right? But it still has a place in that galaxy.

We zoom out further and we see what is called our "Local Group" - a collection of galaxies that are near our galaxy. That little dot is our Milky Way. Now our own galaxy which before looked so large - it now seems so small itself. 

We zoom out further and we see what is called the Virgo Supercluster - this contains our local group and other collections of galaxies - our local Group is one of these little dots somewhere in here. Our "Local Group" looks tiny now which makes our galaxy look even smaller and our earth...well - this is where my mind starts hurting.

We zoom out further and we see the observable universe - and one of those little dots is the Virgo Supercluster. That looks small now which in turn makes everything else look tiny and makes our earth look totally insignificant.

When I first saw this, I almost had a panic attack because I immediately questioned the point of ANYTHING in this world. I started to think that nothing matters and we DO NOT MATTER AT ALL. But the more I thought about where we fit in the universe, I started to think a little more positively. Instead of feeling small and insignificant and essentially like giving up life as knew it - I started to appreciate how amazing it is that we actually exist among all of this space stuff - I started to appreciate how we, these miniscule tiny little nothings, could have emotions and feeling that are so strong. How is it that we could be so insignificant yet I can look at my wife and daughters and have such strong feelings of love for them - how could I go through each of my days at work and have such strong feelings - negative and positive - that I feel drained at the end of the day? That's amazing.

Walls that Inspire!

Freire teachers design classroom spaces that support and enrich instruction in many ways: The Dragon Drop recently toured our classrooms to highlight some of the cheeriest and most ingenious uses of wall space. 

In Room 304, Ms. Sarah and Ms. Jamie help students make connections between what they're learning now and how it will matter to them in the future. In Rooms 302 and 313, Ms. Julie and Mr. Chad constructed a mountain collage to track major assignments throughout the year. In Room 018, Mr. Paul uses his white board to indicate student jobs and short- and long-term agendas and creatively displays the periodic table. In Room 312, Ms. Taryn highlights rock star student work in her "90 and Above Club" feature. In Room 3002, Mr. Luke and Ms. Stephanie create large mosaics of mathematical problems and solutions. In Room 309, Ms. Rachael, mixes motivational posters with students' positive write-ups. And in many rooms, teachers display calendars, personal pictures, and art to create comfortable, inspiring, and collegial places for learning and living to happen.   

Voices from TBtC: Coach J.B.

The Dragon Drop is proud to share some of the inspirational speeches made by staff and community members at this year's annual Take Back the City event. In this installment, administrative support team member and varsity boy's basketball coach John Brown talks about "family" in an unexpected way...

The word COMMUNITY is described as a social group of any size whose members reside in a specific locality, share government, and often have a common cultural and historical heritage. From this description, ‘Common cultural and historical heritage’ are what stand out to me most.

Twenty-five years ago, at the young age of 24, I along with my sister, sat in the front row of our family church, and said goodbye to our mother who passed away at the tender age of 41 from brain cancer. Fourteen years later, I would sit in that same row, and say goodbye to my maternal grandmother.

I was raised by these two amazing and strong women, who were the most influential people in my life. Not only mine, but my entire family. They taught all of us the value of caring for and helping people. So naturally, when they passed away, my life was filled with a void, that up to this day has never been filled.

So as I tried to figure out how to function in this world without them, I constantly thought about the common cultural and historical heritage they instilled in me and started to rely on them with my family. All of us did. We struggled and were in a lot of pain. So what we did was lean on each other more. Love each other more and treat each other with respect and formed meaningful relationships. We became a stronger, close-knit and more caring family because we realized, we were all we had. So when people identify my extended family, they use all of those characteristics I just mentioned. Now I’m not saying we’re perfect. We have problems, issues, and challenges just like every other family. But because of the values instilled in us-we learned how to co-exist.

Now if someone on the outside was to do a survey of the Freire Charter High School Campus, what would they say about us? Would they say, “That’s a community I want to be part of” or would they say, “I don’t want any parts of it.” (Click below to continue reading...)

Chalkboardwalk Empire

Guest Dragon Dropper Hang Le, an undergraduate student at Swarthmore College, has been assisting Stacey in researching teaching and learning here at Freire. Here is the next installment in her series of reflections on "what works here".

Hovering his fedora just above his head, Mr. Brian addresses his class: "Once this hat goes on, we are not in 2015 anymore. We will be back in 1926!"

Pulling his hat down low, Mr. Brian ushers his students into an animated debate about the merits and challenges of the Volstead Act--commonly known as "Prohibition". The students in his 10th grade U.S. history class have been randomly divided into two sides, representing the Traditionalists and the Modernists. They quickly immerse themselves into their given roles with an air of confidence and dedication, taking up their respective causes with the fervor of actual stakeholders. Mr. Brian, transformed into the mayor of Philadelphia, completes his look with a (fake, of course) cigar in his mouth, it was as if the classroom had really been transported back in time to a meeting at City Hall in the 1920s.

This was not the first time I had experienced such a simulation in Mr. Brian's classroom. In previous weeks, I observed students stepping into the shoes of immigrants, internment camp residents, and soldiers in the trenches. Through these activities, the students were able to authentically build and share historical knowledge in the classroom, moving beyond the mere reading of textbooks and into the more dynamic sharing of narratives.

10th grade teachers at their annual Speakeasy event

Of course, these role-playing activities require clear instructions and constructs, as I learned from Mr. Brian. For example, prior to the debate on Prohibition, Mr. Brian spent at least ten minutes setting up his expectations. He repeated multiple times that the students would be randomly assigned to the two sides, and that they would need to argue based on the perspective of their side rather than their personal opinions. To further help the students understand their assigned positions, Mr. Brian called on two students to remind the whole class of the main beliefs of each side--serving as an activation of prior knowledge gained in their class. He also explained in detail the system for earning credit for participation in this activity. The students were then given about five minutes to prepare their arguments based on the readings. After such thorough preparation, everybody was eager to participate in the debate once the class hopped into their time machine.

Through the use of such historical simulations, replete with costumes!, Mr. Brian is able to foster a lively and engaging learning environment with healthy competition among the students.

New Teacher Inspiration

Guest Dragon Dropper Laura Agosto, an undergraduate student at the University of Pennsylvania, has been interning at Freire this year. The Dragon Drop caught up with her recently about how her time at Freire has influenced her. Here's what she had to say:

Before working at Freire Charter School, I was unsure if teaching was something that I wanted to pursue. After only a few short weeks here, however, I became confident that teaching in a classroom is where I want to be. Over the past nine months, I have learned and grown under the mentorship of many of Freire's teachers and staff members. The care and dedication that they have for their work is inspiring. Perhaps one of the most important things I have learned while at Freire is the value of building relationships of mutual trust and respect. Every time I've seen a Freire teacher or staff member work with a student, they are patient and supportive, regardless of the task. As a result, there is an emphasis on success and growth that allows the student to feel valued. Through their positive reinforcement and commitment to applauding growth (instead of fixating on struggles) the students of Freire believe in themselves and their capabilities.

As a tutor in the Writing Center, I have tried to build these same kinds of relationships with the students I conference with. Being their tutor does not automatically mean I am someone they will listen to or feel comfortable with. I start every session hoping to foster an environment in which the student feels comfortable asking questions and working with me. This can be as simple as asking them a bit about themselves or their day, and in turn, sharing a bit about myself. Even if a student enters the Center with a negative or defeated attitude, I continue to try to connect and motivate. I have noticed that often, their initially sour attitude or reluctance to open up is really a front for their frustration with or confusion over an assignment. I have learned that if I focus on rebuilding their confidence in their ability to formulate and express their thoughts through writhing, their attitude--and their essay!--will improve greatly.

One particular instance in which I have felt the payoff of this effort was with a student who came into the Writing Center with a pessimistic and disinterested attitude. She had been struggling in her class and was told by her teacher she had to come to the Writing Center. She did not want to be there or work with me. As hard as she pushed back, I pushed her to make the session a valuable use of her time and intellect. By the end of the session, she was laughing and actually applying herself. A week later I saw her in the hallway, and she came running up to me and told me with a smile that she got an 85% on the paper. In that moment, I felt fulfilled and excited to be doing what I am doing. It wasn’t just that her grade had improved, but also that she felt confident in her ability to succeed. My experience at Freire thus far has taught me that if you are willing to invest time and care in your students, the rewards can be amazing. It is what pushes me to become a teacher after graduation this Spring.