In “crews” of four to five, students each picked up an instrument from Ju Ju’s percussion section of cowbells and several types of drums. Then as a whole class, with drumsticks in each hand, Ju Ju taught the students to tap out a go-go “pocket beat” and a “bounce beat” that is popular among younger go-go performers and listeners.

I led students in a “See, Think, Wonder” routine of a photo of a Black man drinking out of a water fountain labeled “whites only” and then asked them why do they thought I was wearing this on a day where we would be talking about the Black Lives Matter Movement. Then students broke out into groups to discuss one of the 13 guiding principles of the Black Lives Matter movement.

William “Ju Ju” House led a class on the go-go pocket with second graders at Beers Elementary as part of the Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action and the and the Teach the Beat project to bring go-go to D.C. classrooms.

On Monday, February 3, Inspired Teaching Demonstration PCS 1st through 5th graders participated in a community meeting to kick off the Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action.

As part of the 2020 Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action, Teaching for Change was able to donate children’s books to the school libraries at several schools in Wards 7 and 8 as part of a generous grant from the Horning Family Fund in coordination with the DCPS Partnerships team.

We are excited to announce the launch of the DC Area Educators for Social Justice network's second annual Anti-Bias Early Childhood Working Group, a collection of classroom educators, librarians, social-emotional specialists, non-profit directors, teachers trainers, and arts educators experienced and committed to anti-bias education.

On the morning of Saturday, June 1, members of the Anti-Bias Early Childhood Education Working Group met at the offices of Teaching for Change for the final session of the year. The working group met monthly throughout the school year to provide feedback on children’s literature, support teacher growth and development, and collectively create new curricular resources.To culminate the year together, they gathered for a final workshop focused on Teaching About Family Structures and Fairness. Read more >>

On Saturday, April 27, 2019, the Antiracist Research and Policy Center held the First Annual National Antiracist Book Festival at American University in Washington, D.C. Among the hundreds of attendees were Teaching for Change staff and a board member. In addition to being mesmerized by the panel presentations throughout the day, we had the honor of offering a teacher workshop in the afternoon. Read more >> 

We all know what “The End” means when reading a children’s book. The story has concluded. The last sentence of a book can also indicate to a reader that there is closure. But what are the consequences of that closure when it comes to books about ongoing social movements? Isn’t there always more to the story? Or is the struggle for justice over? Read more >>

In my 5th grade ELA class at Munda Verde Bilingual PCS, each day during the Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action, a family member from our class came in and described what Black Lives Matter means to them. With gallery walks and dialogues, students became experts on the 13 guiding principles of the Black Lives Matter Movement.

Mark McCants, the math resource teacher at Stoddert Elementary School (DCPS), shared this description of the school’s activities.

Third grade art students read Milo’s Museum as they prepare to be “curators” of their own shadow box projects.

Fifth grade students interview immigrants from Latin America about their experiences and present their stories.

Teaching for Change partnered with Filmfest DC: The Washington, DC International Film Festival for an eighth year to spread the word about the international film festival and to bring filmmakers for several films into D.C. classrooms in April and May.

Georgian Forest Pre-K-5 staff development teacher Asashia Martin shares her experience of going to multiple classrooms to support and/or co-teach lessons during the Week of Action.

At Bruce-Monroe ES @ Parkview (DCPS), a dual language English/Spanish school, students explored the principles of the Black Lives Matter movement by reading and completing projects related to The Day You Begin / El día en que descubres quién eres, Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut, and Milo’s Museum.

Brian Stark, a fifth grade teacher at Lowell School led his students through the lesson Introduction to the Principles of the Black Lives Matter Movement. They then created a “wordle” word cloud based on the Principles.

First graders in Melissa Somerville’s and Jessica Jones’ classrooms at Inspired Teaching Demonstration PCS read the book Milo’s Museum by Zetta Elliott in preparation for the Black Lives Matter Week of Action.

On February 8, 2019, fifth graders in Ashli Wilson’s class at DC Edgewood Prep in Washington, D.C. read Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom: My Story of the 1965 Selma Voting Rights March as a part of the Black Lives Matter in Schools Week of Action.

Students from Kendall Demonstration Elementary School and Model Secondary School for the Deaf wrapped up their observation and celebration of Black History Month on March 27, with a biographical performance and arts program.