Students in Ariel Alford’s African American history class at Hayfield Secondary School (FCPS) learned from two artists-turned-educators based in the United Kingdom who shared their stories and curriculum modules designed to champion people of African and African diaspora heritage.
By Vanessa Williams
DCAESJ and EmpowerEd DC’s third annual Unapologetically Black Educator Story Lounge was just as powerful, moving, and joyous as the previously held events.
Gearing up for the Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action is no small feat. While educators in the D.C. area likely have already been uplifting BLM at School work with participation in the Year of Purpose, the Week of Action is often taken as an opportunity to engage in more and perhaps larger scale efforts to uplift the guiding principles and national demands…
Students were introduced to Black writers, poets, and photographers who have recorded the power of community among Black people, then created unique visual presentations and taught middle school students at Hayfield what they learned.
Using the Pan-African colors as their palette, students transformed blank canvases into stunning recreations of the Sankofa bird, Black power fist, or their own original creations
A Week of Action. A Year of Purpose. A Lifetime Commitment. And all of this can start with just a few hours of planning. On Saturday, January 7th, all DCAESJ working groups joined together and invited fellow D.C. area educators to share advice, build on resources, begin planning their BLM at School Week of Action, and continue to participate in the Year of Purpose.
By Kimberly Ellis and Vanessa Williams
What is the Tulsa Race Massacre? How do we, as a nation, tell the story of the massacre? What is owed to the Black community as a result of the massacre? Ashley Bryant created two weeks of lessons to explore these questions in celebration of the Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action and Year of Purpose.
In Spanish 1 at Thurgood Marshall Academy, students learned about several Afrolatinos during the Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action.
After exploring their connection to the Black Lives Matter movement in previous activities, my 11th and 12th grade students at Thurgood Marshall Academy worked through the #LastWords lesson.
Go-go musician Sweet Cherie, keyboardist and singer for the all-female Bela Dona Band, joined the music class at Anacostia HS as part of the 2020 Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action. A highlight of the visit was when Sweet Cherie led the room in Junkyard Band’s go-go classic, “Sardines.” One of the drummers joined her in the circle and midway through the song added a bounce beat to the rhythm.
On February 6, students at Francis L. Cardozo Education Campus (DCPS) hosted lunchtime events for Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action.
As a part of the Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action, students in Beth Barkley’s Human Rights and Social Action classes at Cardozo Education Campus (DCPS) created a tribute to the young Black men who have lost their lives to police brutality.
While we try to make decisions that elevate our students of color all year long, the focus on Black Lives Matter Week of Action at School presents a unique opportunity to concentrate our efforts in order to create the best “soil” to help our students grow.
To continue the momentum of Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action, Teaching for Change coordinated visits by two Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) veterans to high school classrooms.
Tenth graders in Christy Gill’s English class at HB Woodlawn Secondary Program (APSVA), learned about the 13 guiding principles as a part of the Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action.
Students read articles and discuss the media portrayal of black victims of racial violence versus white perpetrators of mass shooting as well as articles about "missing white women syndrome."
At Thurgood Marshall Academy in D.C, eleventh grade students explore how laws and policies are created and evaluate the impact on different communities through a legal lens in an Introduction to Law class. Their teacher, Sam Chiron, used the Resistance 101 lesson.
Students learn how words can be used as a way to reflect and inform others of issues of society.
William "Ju Ju" House (EU) and Geronimo (Trouble Funk) did a go go workshop at Anacostia High School (DCPS) for a music class.
Students in Jill Weiler's class at Trinity Washington University led a discussion of the 13 principles and 4 demands on Thursday, February 7. Then they made posters to make these principles and demands visible on campus.
Students from the Culture at Home homeschool community met at the National Gallery of Art for a tour of the exhibit Gordon Parks: The New Tide, Early Work 1940-1950, then engaged in group discussion, photo analysis, a poetry slam and a writing assignment inspired by the book 12 Million Black Voices by Richard Wright.
As a part of Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action, high school students at EL Haynes Public Charter High School, learned about social justice activists. They used the Teaching for Change lesson Resistance 101.
High school students at Capital City Public Charter School, with the guidance of their U.S. history teacher Ben Williams, learned about the 13 guiding principles as a part of the Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action.
On December 19, 2018, D.C. Area Educators for Social Justice hosted an Educator Open House at the Teaching for Change office for Black Lives Matter Week of Action in Schools. Read more >>
At School Without Walls at Francis Stevens (DCPS), students in my elementary ESOL class read a newsela article and watched a Ted Talk in order to understand the term "systemic racism" and how it impacts people in the United States and in other countries.
As a part of Black Lives Matter Week of Action in Schools, SEED Public Charter School educator Topher Kandik did a powerful lesson on the last words of victims of police brutality.
As part of the Black Lives Matter Week of Action in Schools, U.S. government teacher Ben Williams from Capital City Public Charter School taught a lesson titled “Getting to Know Bayard Rustin: A key leader and organizer of the Civil Rights Movement.”
High school U.S. history students attended a presentation by SNCC veteran Courtland Cox, coordinated by teacher Lordsline Exantus. Cox explained to the students that his years of activism began when he was their age, and like many of them, he grew up in an immigrant household. He also told them that the in the 1960s, the apartments near their school were for whites only and that he protested the DC football team for not allowing Black players.
On Tuesday, students were able to make connections between our world history content and Black Lives Matter movement today. We are currently studying the Indian Independence Movement and Partition. This allowed us to relate the Civil Rights Movement's peaceful methods to Gandhi's Salt March and history. From there students were able to evaluate the principles of the Black Lives Matter movement and compare those to the writings of Gandhi.
