John G. Shedd Public School

Thunder Soul and musical education...

2012-02-17T00:35:00.003-06:00

[VIDEO] Thursday night I went to the local movie house (ICE Theaters-Chatham 14) to see a special Black History Month presentation of a documentary Thunder Soul. It's the story of a high school stage band that were able to accomplish so many accolades with their performances not only in this nation but around the world.

The documentary started off with the original band members who had attended a Houston high school back in the 1970s and how they came together as well as talking about the man who brought them all together. "Prof" Johnson was a music teacher who definitely made an impact on his students and was able to write music around the popular style at the time.

They talked about the genre of stage band music. How this band - Kashmere Stage Band - had essentially outperformed all the other stage band. In the words of one Kashmere band member those other bands were technically good, however, they didn't feel the music and had no soul. They did some things as performers much different than other similar bands of their era.

Then they talked about the breakup of the band. Questions by officials at the Houston school board about how this band could afford to tour and then they just decided it was time to break it up instead of continuing to support such a good thing in a poor neighborhood high school. Ultimately in frustration Mr. Johnson just retired because they gave him a lot of grief for doing his job.

Typically it's safe to say this blog isn't an always activist blog, but there was a point to be said in that last paragraph. "Prof" opined in this movie that anyone who wants to take music (or art) out of our schools should be fired. His point was when would be the next time any youngster would at least get a chance to play a musical instrument of any type.

I had to think about my music teacher at Bennett-Shedd, her name was Ms. Burnett. I remember making fun of her because she wore sneakers to school one day. I had never seen that from a teacher and rarely did I expect back then any teacher would wear casual clothing to school.

In any event, I'm sure my classmates in that era did the typical music thing listening to key songs and what not at the time. Unfortunately there isn't much that I remember of those times where we studied music. The only memorable material was all the notes and to arrange them on a musical staff.

The point to be made here is what if students had the ability to touch a musical instrument at the time. Just to get an opportunity to play around with an instrument just to experiment with the idea of having any type of musical talent. If there were instruments at Bennett-Shedd there was only a piano that no students (unless they already had talent) ever played.

Granted I'm sure it's a financial issue but can one really have musical education without allowing one student to play an instrument of some sort. It's OK to study musical notes and arranging them on a music staff, but one thing I never learned in school was to at least carry a note whether with a voice or an instrument.

I'm giving credit to "Prof" Johnson he did it with his students back in the 1970s allowing them to perform as a band. Would today's music teachers on the elementary & secondary levels allow the young people to do it now?

BTW, if you can find it go see Thunder Soul!

LSC meeting on my birthday...

2011-12-17T15:33:00.011-06:00

This month's LSC meeting was held at Bennett School's auditorium. Hence the picture of this mural near the doors of the auditorium. This mural is one of several. One day I need to ask permission to photograph them. They should be treated as treasures.

Anyway, the issue of an extended school day came up. I believe it was mentioned in the media where the transition to an extended school day would occur in 2012-2013, the next school year. Concerned revolves around safety as students may be forced to travel to and from school during times when it's dark. Students would be expected to spend 7.5 hours at school under an extended school day.

Since it's going to happen next year, individual schools are expected to come up with a plan for how to conduct their extended school day. Of course CPS HQ can either adjust, advice, or reject the plans by the schools.

Also three parents stepped forward to express interest in an opening for LSC parent representative. One of them was a male and currently two males serve on the LSC. They all gave statements to those in attendance and then the LSC went into a closed session to consider the candidates.

I wish that they had their meetings in the auditorium but booo to no refreshments being served. They need to work on that. ;)

The Cartel

2011-12-12T07:15:00.000-06:00

[VIDEO] Close to a year ago I wrote about the documentary about public education entitled The Cartel. Now you can watch this film in its entirety on Hulu! Just click the word video within the brackets at the start of this paragraph and you will be able to watch all of the roughly one and a half hours of it. Although there will be several brief breaks for advertisements.

Hat-tip Newsalert!

Citizen Watchdogs of Education Training

2011-10-18T13:17:00.000-05:00

Citizen Watchdogs of Education Training Cross-posted from The Sixth Ward

Meeting schedule for the Bennett Shedd LSC

2011-10-12T23:27:00.001-05:00

Just got a copy at the latest meeting but if anything should change refer to the about page and get in touch with the school. For Bennett School the phone no. is (773) 535.5460.

As per the most recent LSC meeting on Oct. 12, there is now a Parent Representative vacancy on the LSC. If you're the parent of a Bennett-Shedd student this is one way to get involved!

Bennett Shedd LSC 2011-12 Schedule

LSC report: Bennett-Shedd is on probation...

2011-09-19T13:00:00.001-05:00

I learned this at yesterday's LSC meeting. The new principal - Ms. Roberta Fields - is making it her goal to get the school off of probation. For the most part it's based on the school's ISAT scores and CPS expect 100% improvement by 2014. She did note the school board merely raises the ante on what they expect and 100% improvement does seem quite unreasonable to me.

It was also noted that some of the students who took the test were special need. In earlier LSC meetings it was noted that they test the special needs students at the same level as their peers at their proper grade level. Unfortunately how can you compete with say seventh graders if you're mental capacity is only on say the 2nd grade level. It is hoped that now that the special needs students are exposed to the materials of general education students they may do better on the test the next time around.

Also enrollment has dropped this year. Bennett-Shedd has 482 students for this year while last year they had 560 students. Principal Fields noted that the decline in enrollment was due to charter schools although CPS is experiencing a decline in enrollment citywide. At Shedd School there are only 15 kindergartners.

Also the LSC talked about the issue of a longer school day. The individual members didn't appear to take a stand on this issue one way or another but a reasonable concern is over child safety especially when the students don't get out of school until it's dark. It's not just about the classes but the extra-curriculars and also concern about those whose parents aren't able to pick them up from school.

Also I got a new handbook at the meeting. It's not important to me necessarily since I'm neither a student nor am I a parent of a Bennett-Shedd student. However I would like to share some scans of this handbook in the near future.

Future reference if you ever want to attend a Bennett-Shedd LSC meeting they will be held on the 2nd Wednesday at 4:30 every month. Unless otherwise noted and they will announce future meeting dates at the meetings. May want to give the school itself a call if you want to find out when the next LSC is. Refer to the About page here on this blog

CPS Now Wants Longer School Day in January - Chicago News Cooperative

2011-08-25T11:12:00.000-05:00

CPS Now Wants Longer School Day in January - Chicago News Cooperative

Less than two days after negotiations between the Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Teachers Union stalled, a new offer is on the table presenting the possibility of a teacher raise and a longer school day as early as January.

Schools CEO Jean-Claude Brizard first offered to pay elementary school teachers 2 percent more to work an additional 90 minutes each day in September when he appeared on WTTW’s “Chicago Tonight” Tuesday night. During Wednesday’s Board of Education meeting, CPS officials said the changes could be made as soon as January, 2012.

The offer came as a surprise to CTU president Karen Lewis. “It would’ve been nice if we had that proposal while we were actually in negotiations,” Lewis said Wednesday after the board meeting. “For some reason they decided to do it on Channel 11.”

The two parties began negotiating over wages after the board voted to deny teachers their 4 percent contractual raises in June, citing a $712 million deficit.

Yeah making a proposal on TV show when it could've been made behind closed doors in labor negotiations is not exactly a good look. I'm just going to side with Karen Lewis on this one!

I do however like the fact that they're talking about a longer school day especially on the elementary school level. Let's hope that the school board and the teachers can come to terms with that.

ALSO you can watch CEO Brizard's appearance on Chicago Tonight below [VIDEO]

Use of iPads is increasing in CPS classrooms - Chicago Sun-Times

2011-08-23T09:53:00.000-05:00

Use of iPads is increasing in CPS classrooms - Chicago Sun-Times

An initial federal grant last year put 750 iPads in CPS classrooms ranging from kindergarten through high school. The new grant will supply elementary classrooms with 4,500 iPads, the last of which should arrive by the end of the week.

“I like playing math baseball,” said National Teachers Elementary Academy fourth grader Mavric Johnson, as he dragged a finger across the screen of an iPad — the almighty, and only, instrument in teacher Jennie Cho Magiera’s classroom. Writing utensils and paper are out of sight.

“It’s cool, we don’t like leaving this class,” Johnson said.

It’s allure may seem gimmicky, but Cho Magiera insists substance outweighs novelty.

Data from the ninja and baseball games, as well as a math test Johnson just completed, is sent back to Cho Magiera’s iPad, where she tracks each students’ progress, enabling her to pinpoint problems and tailor the lesson plan each student will face on their iPad.

This is how Cho Magiera was able to simultaneously teach 20 students 20 different lesson plans as a violin version of Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody played Monday morning in the background of her classroom in the South Loop.

Using technology to enhance the learning environment. Whatever tools can help our young people understand what they're supposed to understand. Perhaps in the future they won't need actual textbooks, just read their iPad or whatever tablet device is available to them.

Bennett-Shedd is back in session Sept. 6th

2011-08-05T16:09:00.001-05:00

Now with a new principal in longtime faculty member and assistant principal Roberta Fields.

Bennett-Shedd is not a track E school at least and as such those schools will start instead on August 8th.

Are you - parents & students - ready for the upcoming school year?

This is a month old pic..

2011-07-28T20:10:00.003-05:00

But Bennett-Shedd at least has a new principal just in time for the start of the new school year. And it took less time than I thought it would to choose her!

What about the 8th graders you may want to know???

2011-06-14T09:58:00.000-05:00

Well I wasn't in time to talk about my experience graduating from the 8th grade as I was for my experience in talking about graduation from kindergarten (kgs) yesterday. Yesterday the 8th graders had their commencment and on this day kgs have theirs both Bennett & Shedd at Bennett's auditorium.

Strangely enough my folks didn't have many pictures of the ceremonies. There was a ribbon pinning ceremony where the parents would walk onto the stage to pin a ribbon on me. Then after that the actual graduation which took place just about the last week of June the year I graduated.

In any case one of the many tassles hanging on a pin in my room included one from my 8th Grade commencement. I still have a few artifacts from that time even though I'm closing in on almost two decades since that time. As part of my grad regalia in addition to a cap and gown with an unattached tassle, there was also a kente scarf and a medal.

Not sure where my actual cap and gown is but I still have the medal and it's not particularly fancy but something I still treasure enough to get the medal itself attached to the ribbon again. The ribbon is red, black, and green and most likely to emphasize our African roots. I couldn't possess my kentae scarf because my mom would appropriate it whenever possible.

Somewhere around the house are the tickets from the graduation. I also ran across a program and my certificate. Also I do have a class picture which is really just all the portraits of not only my graduating class, but also the teachers, counselors, and administration at Bennett School.

Unfortunately if I wanted to share that I would have a tough time. The class picture is a little too large to just put on my HP scanner at home. :(

Unfortunately we had to sing at our graduation and when I rehearsed the ceremony some teachers discouraged it. My 8th grade teacher since I didn't get the step right to his satifaction said I had to march by myself when others marched in pair. Unfortunately we also had to sing some knock off songs such as "Kiss 8th Grade Goodbye" based upon the song "What I did for love". That in addition Bennett's school song.

Anyway at some point I was glad it was over and off to bigger and better things. On some level however I'm excited in more ways than one of the current crop of 8th graders.

It's graduation season at Bennett-Shedd...

2011-06-13T21:57:00.000-05:00

Today Bennett's 8th graders had their commencement. Tommorrow - June 14th - there will be a ceremony for Bennet-Shedd's Kindergartners (KGs). It was announced at the last LSC meeting that they wanted to bring the KGs from Shedd so that they can also use Bennett's auditorium.

When I graduated from Shedd's KG program years ago, there was a ceremony held at the Shedd's auditorium/gymnasium. We used a stage or platform that could be pulled out for specially occasions such as awards ceremonies.

I unfortunately do not have many reminders of this ceremony except more than likely a cap & gown where the tassle was attached to the cap. Probably because young children tend to lose things. I have no certificate from back then and I no longer have my KG class pic. Also I recall finding a program from that day and didn't have the foresight to hold onto one of those.

There are pics that are in an album around the house with pictures of my and my family on the day of the KG ceremony. Around the time of my KG ceremony my bother graduated from Harlan High School. So there are some pictures in that album of him doing commencement at Third Baptist Church near 95th & Ashland.

Either way Shedd's auditorium/gymnasium also became the schools' lunchroom and computer lab before I moved onto Bennett School for 7th & 8th grade. For the purposes of a computer lab the school librarian - Mr. Hackenbrock - would roll the computers on trolleys in order for us to mainly play various computer games. Some of us would play a version of Prince of Persia but also Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune, or even Where in the World is Carmen San Diego?

After many years of either allowing students to leave home to eat lunch or most students bringing a lunch to school with them, Shedd brought in the lunch program. Thus the gym also became a lunchroom and when there was gym classes usually on Thursdays classes would be held with folded lunchtables and platforms for assemblies off to the side. Rarely as obstacles but they were there.

Well this year KGs won't have the experience I had close to a quarter of a century ago. Can't believe it's been that long ago, but this post was allowed to go a little too long this evening. :P

Dr. Barbara J. Ellis Media Center

2011-06-09T18:52:00.000-05:00

Or the Bennett School library with a banner and a portrait of the late Principal Barbara Ellis. There was a dedication ceremony for the library last month as the library was closed for renovation in time for the May LSC meeting. This was taken before the June LSC meeting convened on Wednesday! In fact one issue they discussed was the Principal vacancy and how to conduct it.

Class pictures of Bennett School back in the day...

2011-06-02T23:59:00.001-05:00

[VIDEO] This was posted at YouTube by RoselandTom just last year. He probably remembers the Roseland of years past. There is a community of such people who has good memories of the neighborhood. Technically Bennett School and even Shedd School is located in the Roseland community area on the south side of Chicago.

Anyway the pictures seen here with more recent shots of Bennett School features pictures of past students of the school going back to between 60+ to 50 years ago. Bennett is a very old school believe it or not.

A Nickelodeon classic: Make the Grade

2011-05-19T00:02:00.000-05:00

[VIDEO] When my folks first got cable it was the first time I saw Chicago Blackhawks hockey. Quickly I also became interested in this network called Nickelodeon. Alas I have more adult tastes than this network provides these days.

Still, Make the Grade is an example of one show I would like to see produced again today. The vid above is from 1989 hosted by Lew Schneider. Unfortunately seeing the broadcast history of this and other game shows produced for children, they seem to have a very short life.

I was a fan of Double Dare (DD) back in the day. It's safe to say that DD was the most popular of all those children's game shows. But Make the Grade is one should that hopefully would encourage our young people to do well in school. At least so I'd hope!

Got a glimpse of those old WPA Murals

2011-05-16T15:36:00.001-05:00

I don't know if this lunchroom contained all the WPA murals at Bennett School that I had found out about close to two years ago. There are more pictures that I had taken at this month's LSC meeting which was held in the school's student lunchroom. This picture I posted because of the American flag. :P

Through exotic produce, Chicago schoolkids learn to eat healthy - Chicago Sun-Times

2011-05-10T23:09:00.000-05:00

Through exotic produce, Chicago schoolkids learn to eat healthy - Chicago Sun-Times

I still believe our young people should be exposed to those foods that are healthier for them. Of course that doesn't mean that we keep our young people from bringing a lunch from home.

Rutabaga. Star fruit. Jicama. Uglifruit. A lot of adults would have a hard time even identifying any of these in a fruit-and-vegetable lineup.

But not Louis Martinez, even though the first time he held a star fruit, he didn’t know what to make of it.

“It made me laugh,” said Louis, a 10-year-old third-grader at John Hay Elementary Community Academy, a Chicago public school in Austin, a neighborhood not known for having exotic supermarket produce sections. “It’s shaped like a star.”

Laughing’s OK with Wayne Williams, the principal at John Hay. It’s one of 14 Chicago schools where a federal grant is bringing produce to the kids. But at John Hay, the principal and third-grade teacher Jorie Schneider amped things up a bit. They’re mixing the mysterious with the mundane.

Looking for artifacts from the year I graduated from Bennett School.

2011-05-06T17:01:00.001-05:00

Been digging some items out. Even found one artifact, a receipt from my school librarian for some graduation fees. Was really looking for some graduation tickets from the year I graduated. Will look for more and then scan the results for posting onto this blog. Alas, the artifacts will show my age. :(

Chicago elementary principal Reason's "Nanny of the Month"

2011-05-02T14:14:00.002-05:00

[VIDEO] The Principal at Chicago's Little Village Academy is Reason's Nanny of the Month. The critique is over her attempt to protect students from unhealthy food choices. Mainly banning lunches brought to school from home and forcing students to eat food provided by the cafeteria. Of course that does no good if students refuse to eat the food provided by the school's lunchroom anyway. :/

Public School Bans Homemade Lunches

2011-04-11T14:21:00.001-05:00

[VIDEO] This video is out of Chicago's Little Village Academy where the principal wants to protect her students from unhealthy food choices. Doing so means preventing children from bringing to school their own lunch and forcing them to eat whatever is in the school's cafeteria. Even though as reported in this video from FOX News, the students may well not like the food and choose to throw it in the trash.

At least it's not CPS policy to do so and that the Principal made the call on this. I would be highly upset about this especially if I know to give my child a healthy sandwich, a juice, or even a piece of fruit. Who is this person to say that I as a parent (not a parent yet, personally) don't know how to make healthy food choices?

UPDATED 6:00 PM District 299 has other related links to this story.

CPS proposes school consolidation...

2011-04-03T13:51:00.000-05:00

This post from Chicagoist talks about how CPS wants to deal with a $270 million deficit this year. Two ways amongst others to deal with deficit, tackle labor costs especially teacher pay or consolidate those schools with low enrollment.

Consolidation was mentioned at the last Bennett-Shedd LSC meeting. A teacher was concerned about Bennett-Shedd being consolidated thankfully someone at the meeting noted that they're not on the consolidation list. I had found a list from Chicago Public Radio of those schools who may be consolidated. Have to find it.

Found a list!

Harlan Family Conference & Resource Fair

2011-03-21T18:51:00.001-05:00

Harlan High School is having a resource fair on March 26 from 9 AM to 1 PM. I have posted more details over at The Sixth Ward. One of the workshop topics at this event is the successful transition from elementary school to high school. I wish I could go just so that I can see what that means. Harlan is located at 9652 S. Michiagn Ave.

Chicagoist: Emanuel Looking Outside Chicago for CPS CEO

2011-03-19T12:33:00.000-05:00

So we know who the Mayor-elect wants to lead CPS:

Emanuel is looking to bring stability to a position that has seen three men fill the role in the past three years, who can address the major issues facing the school system - balancing a $750 million budget deficit; improving test scores; improve its own morale problems and be able to deftly negotiate a new contract with a teachers union that didn't back any mayoral candidate in the February general election. Emanuel prefers someone with experience in handling any or all of these issues and high on his list is Baltimore City schools CEO Andrés Alonso.

Alonso and Emanuel have similar ideas about reforming troubled school systems. Before Alonso's 2007 arrival in Baltimore, that city's school system was in a state of decay so bad the state of Maryland was poised to take over parts of it. Alonso diverted millions of dollars in education funds from the system's administration offices directly to the schools, slashed the central office staff by a third, closed schools that were failing and replaced ineffective principals, gave principals at other schools more fiscal autonomy, and the dropout rate decreased by fifty percent. Alonso's sweeping reforms for a school district that was graduating less than half of its students was the subject of a detailed New York Times article last December.

Next LSC meeting is March 23

2011-03-18T18:26:00.000-05:00

Differs from the LSC meeting schedule a little bit. Looks like a No Child Left Behind meeting will occur after the LSC. Might be interesting and hopefully no confusion. Also their advertising food, or well refreshments. For the Bennett-Shedd LSC meeting there are usually refreshments.

It’s Breakfast Time, and Education Will Pay

2011-03-15T13:38:00.000-05:00

This article from the Chicago News Coop details how at elementary schools throughout CPS, children can now eat breakfast right in the classroom. What was once a voluntary program of breakfast in the classroom is now mandatory. Even worse they say because of this what is already the shortest school day among elementary school districts in America's largest cities have gotten a lot shorter.

A typical day for elementary school students in Chicago is five and a half hours. Comparable to when I went to school years ago from 9 AM to 2:30 PM. Of course I have noticed that students at Shedd go to school at least 15 minutes longer than I used to. Thus it seems their day ends not at 2:30 but at 2:45.

According to this article officials at CPS says that breakfast should take no more than 10 minutes, unfortunately:

It gets worse. Schools like my son’s may stagger lunch due to inadequate space. At his school, kindergartners go at 10:30 — a little more than an hour after they’ve had breakfast. Isn’t that nutritionally sensible!

Colleen McVeigh is a teacher who was a consultant to the AUSL network, a group turning around some very tough schools. She taught at 14 of the most challenging elementary schools. Each started the voluntary program and, she informed me, “the notion of taking 10, even 15 minutes, is total garbage.”

Ms. McVeigh said that 25 to 30 minutes of instructional time went poof. Younger kids are, well, younger kids. They need help to open cartons or peel oranges, spill milk, etc. When she caught the drift, she wound up not arriving at her assigned school until 9:20, as was true with many students, she says, because of the breakfast delay.

So what might the students be losing during the course of their school day?

So chew on this: children are losing, perhaps, 20 minutes each day. That’s 57 hours over 170 school days, or more than 10 days — of instructional time.

OK, here's an idea give an extra half-hour at least to the school day. That is start school at 8:30 AM instead of 9 AM. For those student who want breakfast they should arrive at least 30 minutes before the start of classes for the day. Make notification to parents to let them know that breakfast food is available to them.

This may not be the best solution but I've put mine out there at least. There are some who could use a good meal before they start the day. Especially for the sake of their own nutrition.

BTW, check out the Capitol Fax. In addition to a discussion about campaign finance in Illinois, they also posted this very article near the bottom of the post there. Check out the comments made on this very issue although you would have to thoroughly read the comments to find the ones about breakfast in schools.

CapFax is an adult blog, but don't expect anything vulgar there.