The Silver Lining: Safe Routes Philly at McDaniel Elementary School

Students: 94 students (5^th grade)

Date: May 18^th, 2010

Neighborhood: Point Breeze

It was a Tuesday and also an Election Day, and students had a delayed opening for the occasion. On top of that, the students also had an afternoon assembly. Due to all the changes from a normal day with summer coming ‘round the corner’, it was difficult to keep students focused on any lesson, even if it was about bicycles. All of these factors made for a very challenging day.

Now, normally I have a schpiel that I say when a class isn’t focusing on the lesson. I stop where I am in the lesson and say (rather sternly) that I am here by the grace of the principal and their teacher, because we all feel that this is something important for them to know. I then continue, “but if YOU don’t want me here…I can leave. If you want me here, I’ll stay, but for that I’ll need some respect. What do you want me to do?” I wait for a response. In the past, students have always asked me to stay.

That little bit has usually been enough to get the class back in order. I had said this at least once in so many different schools already – Sharswood, Mitchell, Independence, Academy in Manayunk, Franklin, Hackett, Welsh – and it was very effective in every single one.

On this day, however, it did not work.

The first class couldn’t get settled.

The second class tried harder…but still challenging.

I wondered to myself, “why am I still here?” and sat down in a desk feeling deflated. I sat down with the teacher of the second class for a lunch break before beginning my next class. I asked for feedback and how I could make it better. “We’re all trying to figure that one out,” she remarked. In our conversation, I learned that many students in McDaniel go through much more than anyone should at home and in their neighborhood. That helped me to understand that a bad lesson wasn’t my fault, nor was it the children’s. I just needed to work harder on the next one.

When it was time for the third class to begin, I was determined to make it a good one. I immediately rearranged the desks into a circle. As soon as the students walked in, I handed them a questionnaire and told them to have a seat in the circle so that we could begin. It was already going smoother than the other classes.

I tried every strategy I possibly could to help keep this class focused. I moved the leaders who distracted students and gave rewards – temporary helmet tattoos – to those that were doing what I wanted them to do. I kept checking in on them by asking them to clap if they could hear me, and I brought students up to participate and help me with the lesson. Now, even though there were still a few groups of students who talked non-stop, students and staff that were constantly walking in and out of the room, and a fight between two girls that almost ensued, I still managed to do more in this class than the first two!

I returned to the office feeling like I ran the Broad Street Run a second time. I was tired, worn, and dispirited. But as I glanced through the questionnaires from the day, I found a silver lining.

There was one paper with a message written in pink marker at the bottom. The message in big round letters said, “I had learned many new things.”

That one message made all the work worthwhile.

Want to get involved? We need volunteers! If you’re interested, please contact Joshua Willis at joshua@bicyclecoalition.org.