Features

Tamir Harper

Staff Writer 

English Teacher Matthew Kay does his best writing from the classroom to his house.

He gets distracted by his classroom and his home office, but zones out to his Beats headphones and go in while writing.

This writing routine is going to have a big payoff for Mr. Kay in 2017. Last fall, he announced that he will be publishing a book around race in the classroom. The working title is “Loaded Conversations.:

Before releasing the book, Mr. Kay held a well-attended online professional development on December 12th for whomever was interested in watching and participating. The conversation lasted an hour with people from all across the United States that is genuinely interested in improving race relations in their classroom.

Kay is not new to helping teachers improve race conversations in their classrooms. Kay started this specific line of work three years ago at EduCon with History Teacher Pearl Jonas. After seeing such success, he continued to hold sessions around race in the classroom both at SLA and in other venues.

When teachers at SLA were asked about his work, they all appreciated having Kay here at SLA.  

Jonas stated that “his discussion rules, listen actively, police your voice and be patience.” Jonas also shared that Kay has been leading more professional development around the class. 

Math Teacher Brad Latimer, who has been teaching for nine years at SLA but also is a Adjunct Professor at the University of Pennsylvania, shared that “Kay is probably the most talented the educator that I have ever in terms of setting classroom expectations and being consistent in terms of creating a learning space that is safe, comfortable for everyone in the room and consistently reinforcing that it is a learning process.”

Mr. Kay received news that he may be writing a book from SLA Founding Principal Chris Lehmann. Mr. Lehmann received a call from now Kay’s publisher searching for a teacher to write a book about race.

As Kay says, “I luckily happened to be in the office at that point just hanging around.”

Kay has provided SLA Media with an exclusive part from his book. “…that if we are training the next generation of teachers, entertainers, lawyers and politicians; if we are molding thoughtful citizens, wise counselors, and people of righteous passion; then our classrooms must be deliberate in their approach to conversations about race.”

What motivated Kay to write on this topic? After completing a PD with Ms. Jonas he saw how engaged people are really pushed him to write the book when the opportunity arose.

According to the Science Leadership Academy website, Kay is an alumni of the Philadelphia Public Schools and West Chester University. He is one of 5 founding teachers left at Science Leadership Academy and also serves as an Athletic Director and Varsity Boys Basketball Coach. Kay is not only a teacher at SLA, but is also the founder and coordinator of the PYPM Slam League.

The book is not the only arrival coming for Mr. Kay this year. As many students know at SLA, he and his wife, who is also an English teacher, are expecting a baby girl soon.

Meymey Seng

Staff Writer

Tenth and eleventh grade English teacher Joshua Block is traveling to New Zealand to visit schools and research education. He will be there from late January until the end of the school year. After knowing that his friend Hanako Franz was looking for a position, he immediately told her and she gladly accepted. Alongside Ms. Franz is a student teacher from Penn, John Taylor-Baranick, or Mr. TB.

About Her

Ms. Franz was born in Japan but grew up mostly outside of Pittsburgh. Aside from being a teacher, her hobbies include hanging out and being really loud with her friends, which is one of her favorite things. Another activity she enjoys is doing taiko, which is Japanese drumming, which Ms. Franz describes as  healing. She also loves to read, simply lying down with a book. Although, some of her hobbies like biking could result in pain, but can be laughed at when looking back. On her first day substituting at SLA, she was riding her bike when she hit a pothole, falling on her side. She then got on a trolley and was a little late, but luckily did not have a class first period. Once she healed, she went biking again.

Although teaching was not what she always wanted to do, she had a change of heart when she was in her early twenties.

“I had this moment when something hits you and your thinking really transforms. When I was in Japan, I remember it so vividly, where I was in college but my major was undecided and I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do. I always enjoyed working with young people and education is something that I think is so critical in terms of any sort of like social change,” said Ms. Franz. “So I remember being in my grandma’s kitchen making toast, I had been thinking for months about what do I want to do, and I then I was just sort of like, teaching!”

A Big Change

Before becoming a substitute teacher, Ms. Franz used to work at Olney Charter High School. Also, the school system gives the substitute teacher’s freedom over where they can go. So out of all the schools to substitute at, why SLA?

“I’ve known Josh [Block] for years. When I decided that I was going to sub, I thought that I would just be a sub at a lot of different schools, explore the different schools in the school district because I’ve only taught at two schools in Philly. I decided to do that and then I heard Josh was looking for a substitute. He has a really sweet schedule and it was hard to say no.”

Restarting the Queer Straight Alliance

Since being at SLA, there were many reasons that caused Ms. Franz to start up the QSA club once again. When working at Olney, she was apart of their QSA club and thought it would be a good idea to continue that. She knew that Mr. Block supported it in the past and that it was something that he hoped would continue. “For me as a queer educator, it’s always really important for me to be out. My first day, I came out to all of the students because I know how hard it can be when you don’t have any adults around you that are queer.”

So, she wanted to try and start the club to see what the interest level was. If there were students interested, she would want to be apart of helping.

Something that amazed her was during the first Queer Straight Alliance meeting, many students said that they feel like they can be out. “It seems like SLA has created a safer environment than a lot of schools. For the most part students sort of did that after school and weren’t super affectionate in public. So it’s cool to see students hold hands and they can express themselves.”

Experience So Far

Some things that stood out to her is how tech savvy the students are at our school. “Students know more about Google Docs than I do,” she said. She has also noticed that the students are encouraged to be creative in many different ways.

At her previous school, she taught ninth graders and the advisory was structured differently. “I never experienced an advisory system where it’s two times a week after class at the end of the day. I like having a space where I get to interact with tenth graders. I think that advisory has the potential to be really transformative and a space where you can build really strong relationships with your students, outside of the class and super academic focus.”

One tradition that Mr. Block’s classes has is a Friday performance, singing, dancing, or more at the end of class.

“We are continuing that, and one Friday, I was trying to get students to do it and a lot of them were shy. They’ll dance at their tables, but won’t do it in front of the class. There was one student who was dancing a bunch at her table during the period, so at the end of class I was like alright, come on, you’re up, and then she wouldn’t do it. Then another student just put a song on, and that student went in front of the class and killed it. The room was dying, Mr. TB was crying because he was laughing so hard. She danced to ‘You Name It’.”

Fitting Right In

Both teachers and students are happy to have Ms. Franz on board.

“Working with Ms. Franz is a treat. She brings so much life to the classroom and her enthusiasm is contagious. Besides being a smart and experienced teacher, she is a very supportive colleague,” said student teacher Mr. TB, who co-teaches with Ms. Franz.

“Having Ms. Franz as a teacher is a very influential, impactful, and refreshing. Ms. Franz is laid back and is already contributing to SLA, bringing the Queer Straight Alliance club,” said Junior Mekhi Granby. “Having Mr. TB as a teacher is super uplifting, he always has a smile on his face and brings his energy to class every time.”

“She seems like an agreeable person to be around. I haven’t had her for that long so I’m not familiar with her style of teaching yet, but if I had to pick something that I liked it would have to be her class discussions,” said Senior Fatu Castillo.

With all her contributions so far, the students at SLA feel very comfortable and are excited with welcoming Ms. Franz.

Mekhi Granby

Staff Writer

In the winter of this year, SLA got a new club: The Black Student Union.

The club has frequently been advertised in the advisory memo as having lots of meetings, which has generated a lot of attention among students, and a lot of confusion as well.

Sophomore Zoey Tweh and senior Alicia Jones are the co-leaders of the group, with English teacher Matthew Kay, and Health/Phys Ed teacher Pia Martin serving as sponsors.

“The black student union hopes to accomplish an inclusive community that prioritizes taking care of each other,” Tweh explained when asked what the purpose of the club was.

I hope it will be a place where we have speakers come in and talk to the group either educating them on an issue we chose to focus on or simply speaking to us about whatever their expertise is, be it: Black History, activism, telling their stories, as well providing suggestions and opportunities. Which leads to the other hope that this will be a community that is constantly providing opportunities for those within the BSU, that they may not otherwise have access to or time to seek out themselves.

“We hope this will be a space for people to increasingly become more comfortable in who they are and loving where they come from, in other words, we will constantly be encouraging people to practice self-love. We hope that every year from now on Black History Month will be celebrated at SLA in a meaningful, well thought out way. And that it will be a safe space in the school where people can speak about how different issues are impacting them in and outside of school. As well just a great space to enjoy ourselves, listen to music and eat,” said Tweh when asked the purpose of the Black Student Union.

Tweh’s initial issue was with SLA’s curriculum for not including anything special for Black History Month. She then spoke to Mr. Kay who told her that “Instead of going to the principle and complaining, you should do something about it.” Kay suggested either starting Black Student Union or founding a committee for Black History Month. Tweh chose the first option.

Kay has previous experience as a member of a Black Student Union in college

“I know nothing about the BSU, except that it exists” said Senior Colin Pierce, who is caucasian, when asked what he knows about the BSU. From being an advisor and mentioning the BSU multiple times while reading the advisory memo English/Journalism teacher Larissa Pahomov has noticed a ton of confusion first hand surrounding the BSU.

This is SLA’s first Black Student Union, but the world’s first BSU originated in San Francisco State University some time in the 1960s. The concept isn’t completely new, but it was definitely new to some students at SLA. Some students know barely anything about the BSU while some know more than others.

“I know that the Black Student Union was created by a group of African-American students who wanted to discuss issues blacks face including racism, police brutality and other things. I also know that they wanted to discuss black history and even do something for black history month,” Junior Jaszmine Randle, who is African-American expressed.

A factor that plays into the confusion is the fact that SLA already has a student union — a chapter of the Philadelphia Student Union, which seeks to take political action but is not connected with any particular racial or ethnic identity.

“I somewhat agree because it is a good idea, however I somewhat disagree because I feel like it’s segregating things considering there is already a regular student union and it doesn’t make sense because white people are still allowed in black student union , and blacks are still allowed in regular student union so it’s pointless to separate the two,” said Randle.

Tweh clarified that the club does not prohibit non-Black students from joining.

Most BSU meetings  contain a majority of African American population but African Americans aren’t the only race included. “In our meetings there has been a latino, caucasian, and middle eastern presence, ” Tweh explained.

“Being an exclusive group was not the vision, there are other black student unions around the country and I doubt that there’s one that doesn’t have a presence of other races,” Tweh remarked. Students of any race are welcome to join the black student union with the notion of it being more focused towards African-American issues and culture.

“We appreciate different cultures, and it’s really a safe place for everyone,” said Tweh.