Stories from the 2021 DC Area Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action

Teaching StoriesBlack Lives Matter at School
Written By Allison Acosta
 
Middle school teachers at Two Rivers Public Charter School wore Black Lives Matter t-shirts to show solidarity. The educators taught lessons on the history of Black Lives Matter Week of Action in Schools and the 13 Black Lives Matter Guiding Princip…

Middle school teachers at Two Rivers Public Charter School wore Black Lives Matter t-shirts to show solidarity. The educators taught lessons on the history of Black Lives Matter Week of Action in Schools and the 13 Black Lives Matter Guiding Principles.

 
 

From February 1-5, 2021, Teaching for Change's D.C. Area Educators for Social Justice hosted the fourth annual D.C. Area Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action. This local week of action is part of the national Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action and Year of Purpose campaign taking place in cities across the U.S. to promote a set of national demands based on the Black Lives Matter guiding principles that focus on improving the school experience for students of color.

This year, DC Public Schools officially endorsed the Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action, building on the active participation by DCPS teachers in the Week of Action since 2018 and the District of Columbia State Board of Education 2019 resolution. The Fairfax Association of School Social Workers also endorsed the Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action and shared their excitement online.

 
 

More than 440 educators from over 150 schools across the DMV area signed up to participate in the 2021 Black Lives Matter at School week of action and Year of Purpose. Below we share a growing collection of teaching stories from the week and beyond, resources for curricular development, and more.

Preparation: 2021 Black Lives Matter at School Virtual Curriculum Fair 

On January 30, 2021, Teaching for Change and the Howard University School of Education co-hosted an annual curriculum fair to help educators to learn more about the Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action and Year of Purpose. More than 500 educators from 42 states and the District of Columbia deepened their practice as they learned from the keynote speakers and participated in workshops. This was the first year that the curriculum fair was held virtually.

 
 

Read more about the curriculum fair.

Stories from the 2021 D.C. Area Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action

Early childhood art inspired by Cyrus Kabiru.

Early childhood art inspired by Cyrus Kabiru.

Early Childhood Art Inspired by Cyrus Kabiru's Afrofuturist C-Stunners
Art teacher Marla McLean led early childhood students at School Within School @ Goding in an exploration of Black joy through the Afrofuturist art of Cyrus Kabiru, who creates glasses (he calls them c-stunners) out of discarded materials. Continue Reading.

Children’s Rights Lawyer and Author Visits First Graders
Dr. Shani King, children’s rights lawyer, professor, and children’s book author, joined Celestina Lee’s first grade students at Garrison ES for a virtual read-aloud of his new book, Have I Ever Told You Black Lives Matter at a virtual visit coordinated by An Open Book Foundation. Continue reading.

Racial Justice Town Hall
On the evening of February 2nd, nearly 70 participants attended a virtual town hall on racial justice held by Glen Haven Elementary School in Maryland. This was the third Town Hall for Racial Justice held by the school since June 2021. Continue reading.

Centering the Intergenerational Black Lives Matter Guiding Principle in a Kindergarten Classroom
Ashley Chu introduced her kindergarten class at Center City PCS to the Black Lives Matter Principle “intergenerational” for the BLM Week of Action. Chu notes, “We chose to focus on only one principle and tell multiple stories to develop a deep understanding. We began the week’s study by defining the intergenerational principle using the child-friendly definition: It’s important that we have spaces where people of different ages can come together and learn from each other.” Continue reading.

Peace of Mind and Arts Education During the Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action
Students and staff from Lafayette ES gathered virtually for a special “Wellness Wednesday” during the Black Lives Matter at School Week, featuring an introduction to the Black Lives Matter Movement 13 Guiding Principles and a lesson on the history of Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing. Continue reading.

Students Explore Black Lives Matter through Dialogue and Reflection
Students in Sam Chiron’s Introduction to Law class at Thurgood Marshall Academy PCS discussed images and text related to the questions: What is Black Lives Matter? What are the 13 Guiding Principles? The lesson was an introduction to a month-long unit on the Black Lives Matter movement. Continue Reading.

Community Meeting and Video Celebrating What Black Lives Matter Means
On February 2nd, 2021, educators and school leaders at Two Rivers PCS organized an all-school virtual community meeting celebrating the themes of Black excellence, joy, freedom, and culture. Members of the school community recorded and shared in a video their responses to the prompts: What does Black Lives Matter mean to you? And What is Black joy? Continue reading.

Why Black Lives Should Matter to EVERYONE
Middle school students from the class of Lia Bengtson and Tarja Lewis at Kendall Demonstration School in D.C. created a video to kick off Black Lives Matter Week of Action at Schools. They challenged viewers to think about why Black lives should matter to EVERYONE. Continue reading.

Teaching 13 Guiding Principles in Early Childhood Classrooms
On February 15, 2021, 36 preservice and in-service teachers from Gallaudet University, Kendall Demonstration Elementary School, and the Maryland School for the Deaf gathered for a virtual workshop presentation titled Teaching about the Black Lives Matter 13 Guiding Principles in Early Childhood Classrooms. Continue reading.

Teaching Consent: Centering Empathy, Diversity, and Loving Engagement in Early Childhood
Makai Kellogg used the Black Lives Matter guiding principles and the book Don't Touch My Hair to discuss consent with young children at School for Friends. Continue reading.

Third Graders Learn About Restorative Justice and Loving Engagement Through the Civil Rights Movement
Third Graders Learn about Restorative Justice and Loving Engagement through the Civil Rights Movement as part of a larger unit on youth activism. Continue reading.

Fourth Graders Discuss Don’t Touch My Hair
Fourth Grade students at Milton Gottesman Jewish Day School read and discussed Don’t Touch My Hair. Continue reading

Outline for the BLM Week of Action in a High School ELA Class
Students in grades 9/10 English Language Arts classes in the International Academy (newly arrived immigrant students) and a grade 11/12 elective course at Cardozo Education Campus collaborated throughout the Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action. Continue reading.

Additional Approaches and Activities

Here are selected stories from teachers in the D.C. Area Educators for Social Justice Middle and High School People’s History Curriculum Working Group.

We treated the Week of Action as a launch for the Year of Action. Each day during the Week of Action, we posted a school-wide trivia question. The prize was a book from the Social Justice Books list that matched the theme of a guiding principle. – Nicole Clark, Two Rivers PCS

My World History class studied how stereotypes about Africa were created by racism AND create more racism. We then studied ancient African empires and learned how to combat stereotypes when we hear them in the future. – Mollie Safran, Fairfax County Public Schools

In my D.C. History classroom, students looked at the origins of Black History Week/Month with a lesson created by Howard University professor Greg Carr on Carter G. Woodson and the Origins of Black History Month. We then moved into tribute pieces and presentations of notable Black Washingtonians throughout DC's history. – Ben Williams, Capital City Public Charter School 

I organized with students in our school district to get staff signatures on a petition calling for the removal of police from schools and instead fund counselors and restorative justice trainings. Since that week, we collected 200 teacher signatures. – Neha Singhal, Montgomery County Public Schools

I sought my students' feedback on what they wanted to for Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action. Based on their requests, I creates two lessons: (1) an art project focused on the principles and demands and (2) a study of Afro-Latinidad. – Tiferet Ani, Montgomery County Public Schools

We spent the month going into the origins of the #blackgirlmagic (and #backboyjoy, as well as the less gendered alternatives #blackgxrlmagic and #backboijoy). CaShawn Thompson, the creator of the #BlackGirlsAreMagic, came in to speak to the students and answer questions, which was awesome and really informative, especially in the PWI where I teach.

I introduced the Black Lives Matter 13 principles to my pre-service education students. Read how. – Tiffany Mitchell Patterson, West Virginia University

For Black Lives Matter Week of Action, we started our first ever Black Student Union in our middle school using the 13 guiding principles. One of our members created a Padlet to house interviews about the types of traditions Black students engage in with their communities and families. – Yolanda Whitted, DC International PCS

Social Media Posts from the 2021 DC Area Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action

 
Allison Acosta
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