|
February 2003
Our Powel School
By Meg Wise and Jennifer Johnson
We wanted to write this article to encourage neighbors
in Powelton with young children to send their children
to our local school: The Samuel Powel Elementary School.
While the families who have five or more years at
the school know what a marvelous place it is, we thought
we should let the younger families know what Powel
is like. Let me say at the outset that this is a biased
view. We've had very good experiences there, not perfect,
but very good, and we hope you will visit the school
and see what it has to offer. We believe that while
Powel is important to the neighborhood, it is also
important that we support Powel.
In many ways the school has been the focus of our
small neighborhood. Originally built because of the
social activism of young families in the 1950's, Powel
is unique in its position as being both high achieving
and maintaining a diverse student population. Talk
to any of the people who sent their children to Powel,
or went to Powel themselves, and almost all them have
a wonderful story to tell. There are many things that
make it special: a dedicated teaching staff, families
who are invested in the success of their children
and the school, and the creative management and endless
energy of the principal, Marge Neff. From the introductory
interview with the kindergarten teacher to the inspirational
Moving Up Day exercises at the end of fourth grade,
the children double in age, changing beyond recognition.
At the end of Powel children are not just prepared
academically, but they are also well-prepared socially
for the more challenging experience of middleschool.
Early on Powel became home to a core group of teachers
who worked with each other to build a cohesive and
creative learning environment, including neighbors
Judy Buchanan, Eva Gold, Sabra Cameron, and Donna
Erickson, and like-minded Rhoda Kanevsky and Katie
Zimring. Over the years they have moved on and up,
and the last of the core group will retire this spring.
But it is important to note that they have been joined
by many wonderful new teachers who continue their
work, but also bring new vitality and vision to Powel.
Powel is a small school, with 11 classrooms from
grades K-4. Unlike most schools in the School District
of Philadelphia, where teachers are assigned based
on seniority, Powel now participates in site selection,--
according to which a committee of teachers and parents
hire the teachers they think best match Powel's educational
philosophy. This means the school is able to choose
teachers who share the school's educational vision.
Powel is also remarkable in its commitment to small
class size. Thanks to a federal grant that brought
Literacy Interns to public school classrooms in Philadelphia,
each of Powel's Kindergarten and 2nd grade teachers
has a full-time, college graduate co-teaching in the
classroom. The program is an effective way to develop
new teachers through mentoring relationships with
veterans, as well as a way to reduce class size. Powel,
however, has taken reduced class size to a new level,
with three first grade classrooms of approximately
15 students each. This doubles the time and actual
teaching that occurs in the first grade, a critical
moment for emerging readers and writers. This intimate
classroom experience allows the 1st grade teacher
to really get to know each student. For example, Jake
Yanoviak still remembers stories he wrote in first
grade, and sometimes pulls out copies to read for
fun, now two years later.
What kids learn in grades K-4 hasn't changed much
since most of us went to school, but the ways that
children learn at Powel may surprise you. Literacy
is key to the daily program at Powel. Kids in all
grades--including Kindergarteners--participate in
"The 100 Book Challenge," a proven program
where time spent reading enjoyable books is shown
to builds skills and a love of reading. Students select
books appropriate to their reading level (neither
too easy or too hard) and spend 30 or more minutes
reading every day, in the classroom and at home. Celebrations
are held throughout the year for readers who meet
their goals, and achievements are announced during
Principal Marge Neff's morning address over the loudspeaker.
Students also write extensively every day. During
Writer's Workshop, writers learn to appreciate and
to produce a wide range of genres, from poetry to
fiction to memoirs. Students' works are published
and bound, and take a proud place on the classroom
library shelves. Parents often volunteer in the classroom,
as Meg did when her son was in Kindergarten, to serve
as reading mentors and meet with children in 1:1 conferences
to discuss their writing. The energy devoted to this
cultivation of a love of reading and writing is amazing,
and justified by the achievements of the school's
young readers and writers.
Other educational events take place throughout the
year that are effective--and fun--ways to learn. Third
and fourth graders, for example, research a biography
project in the Spring: they select a notable person,
collect information on the person's life and accomplishments,
write a report, then present a dramatic depiction
of their subject to students in the lower grades.
Not only do the students learn about their own person,
or people, but they become intimate with their classmate's
characters as well. All students prepare a Science
Fair project in the Fall, on the topic of their choosing.
Projects are on display in Powel's hallways during
the month of December, and the projects deemed the
most interesting (and well done) are eligible for
a city-wide fair.
Every Spring, the entire school community focuses
on a thematic unit that intersects with all subjects'
math, science, social studies, and reading and writing.
This year the theme is China; themes for other years
rotate through Ancient Greece and Africa. Families
of Chinese or African heritage always share recipes,
music, and traditions, so the students get a hands-on
appreciation for a new culture. Visiting artists reinforce
the units theme and classes take trips to relevant
performances. The Ancient Greek unit gives an intensive
emersion into Greek mythology culminating in the Greek
Bee where children compete to be the one who knows
the most facts.
Outside the regular classroom, field trips are another
way to make learning real. Most classes go several
times a year to the Philadelphia Art Museum and to
performances at the Annenberg Center at Penn, and
other museums. All students attend music classes one
to two times a week, Teacher Mr. Kelly also directs
a school choir. For interested 3rd and 4th graders,
small group lessons on string, brass and woodwind
instruments are available. Students also attend gym
class one to three times a week, for calisthenics,
fun and games.
One of the things that clearly sets Powel apart from
other schools, public or private, is its library.
With a huge selection of books, and new ones added
every year, the Powel Library was carefully tended
by full-time librarian Sabra Cameron for years. When
Sabra retired in 2002, Kathy Phillips, whose son was
then in 4th grade, was hired as the new librarian.
Kathy continues Sabra's commitment to helping match
children with books when classes come to the library
for their weekly visit to check out books, and she
is a resource along with the library's thousands of
books and its new Apple computers for students engaged
in research projects.
Powel has the special status of a desegregated program
and students are able to transfer into the school
under this program. It may be the Philadelphia school
system's finest example of racial, economic, and educational
diversity in the elementary years. This is not always
a simple roll to play. There are many different kinds
of needs, but Powel works hard to provide an equal
education to all children, and uses the strengths
of some families to give opportunities to everyone.
It is lucky to have many actively involved families
who give countless hours of their time to supplement
the resources of the school.
Once Powel ends in the fourth grade the students
usually attend one of three schools: MYA, Masterman,
or GAMP. MYA, Middle Years Alternative, is a lottery
school which now accepts all Powel students and prepares
students for the special admission high schools like
Central, Girl's and Carver. Julia R. Masterman is
a special admission middle school and requires high
standardized test scores for admission. It is considered
to be the most academically rigorous Philadelphia
middle school, and Powel places many of its students
there each year (17 in 2002). GAMP, Girard Academic
Music Program, is also a special admission middle
school with a comprehensive music program and a nurturing
community. Powel is one of the only schools which
ends in fourth grade, so its works hard with parents
to choose the right school for each child.
Probably the best way to see what Powel's all about
is to visit the school during one of the kindergarten
"teas" which are held in the Fall and the
Spring. To find out the exact date call the school
at 215 823-8201. You'll meet both kindergarten teachers
(yes, Teacher Carter always smiles like that) and
get to see what the school looks like What you won't
be able to see is how those of us who's children have
graduated from Powel feel about the place, about all
the memories of concerts and plays, trips down 36th
Street to the Annenberg, and of kickball games after
school. It's a really special thing for your children
to be able to walk to school a few blocks away and
to get to know the other children in the neighborhood
as classmates. We still have that kind of school and
let's help keep it that way.
|
Powel's Teachers:
Rosann Vennera and Tracey Frazier (K)
Iris Carter and Tiye Carter (K)
Cheryl Martin (1)
Gillian Maimon (1)
Jamila Hendricks (1)
Brenda Starling and Tim Dickson (2)
Michele Bell and Lisa Katzer (2)
Tara Giordano (3)
Katie Zimring (3)
James Peters (4)
Sarah Labov (4)
Along with Principal Marge Neff and a school
staff of 26 teachers,
assistants, and support staff.
|
|
