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Rising Star Charter School Teacher-Doris Flemming

A Knack for Literacy
Fleming finds success with struggling readers

As a child growing up in Barbuda in the West Indies, Doris Fleming would corral her two younger brothers, and any willing and available neighborhood children, into the back yard where she would give them lessons using the corrugated iron wall of the outhouse as her blackboard.

When she was a teenager Fleming and her family moved to the United States and she began to dream about becoming an accountant and wearing high heels in her fancy office. But in her 20s she had her first child, Jevaugn, and she decided to hold off on career plans for a while. At home she taught her son the alphabet and his numbers. When Jevaugn went to kindergarten, he got so much praise from his teachers for his reading ability that Fleming said to herself, “That’s it, I’m born to teach.”

Fleming went back to college to get her undergraduate degree in English Literature at Lehman College in the Bronx, where she graduated with honors. While at college, Fleming taught adult literacy at the New York Public Library, and three years ago she applied for a job as a tutor at Sisulu-Walker Charter School in Harlem. Although Fleming was not yet certified, the principal, Karen Jones saw that she had a lot of potential and hired her. It wasn’t long before Fleming was teaching her own kindergarten class.

Last year, many of her kindergarten students were having difficulty learning to read—particularly those who had recently moved to the United States. Fleming has a special affinity for these students and engages them by asking them to talk about their country of origin. Her time teaching adult literacy at New York Public Library taught her patience and prepared her for teaching students who are learning English as a second language. “She brought struggling kids up significantly, and introduced her work ethic to the classroom” Jones said.

When the principal was looking for a reading coach to implement Reading First, a million-dollar grant that the school received to improve reading skills as part of No Child Left Behind, she immediately thought of Fleming.

“When I gave her the Reading First material, she took home all of the reading guides at the weekend,” Jones said. “When she came back on Monday, it was like she totally immersed herself in it. She understood what was needed.”
As part of the Reading First Program, Fleming does a lot of professional development and works with the teachers in each grade helping them implement innovative teaching strategies.

“Most students receive a Swiss cheese education,” Jones said. “With Reading First they’re getting the full slice. That is a testament to Doris. She has done a marvelous job.”

That success has been recognized. In July, Fleming, Jones and four teachers from Sisulu-Walker will go to St. Louis, Missouri to represent New York at the National Reading First Conference.

— Lucy Kennedy