D.C. Area and Beyond Participate in BLM at School Week of Action 2023
Gearing up for the Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action is no small feat. While many educators in the D.C. area have been uplifting Black Lives Matter at School work with participation in the Year of Purpose, the Week of Action (held February 6–10, 2023) is a focused opportunity to uplift the guiding principles and national demands.
Read about how D.C. area educators prepared for this year’s D.C. area Week of Action during their curricular planning meeting on January 7th and how educators in the D.C. area and beyond engaged in the annual curriculum fair. Then read below about how educators in the D.C. area and beyond brought the Black Lives Matter at School guiding principles and demands into their classrooms.
Check out Hannah Halpern’s BLM at School Week of Action Sample 5 day schedule for her elementary school students.
Read an article featuring stories from the D.C. Area Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action at In These Times, “Black Educators are Reimagining A Better Education System.”
D.C. Area Stories | D.C. Area Social Media | Stories From Beyond the D.C. area
D.C. Area Stories
Sip N Paint at Freedom HS
De’Ana Forbes, a teacher at Freedom High School in Woodbridge, hosted a sip n’ paint during the Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action. Students enjoyed lemonade, sweet tea, and chips and salsa as they sketched and painted the Sankofa bird or Black power fist. Read more.
Community as Resistance at Hayfield Secondary
African American History teacher Ariel Alford centered the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH) as the chosen "Resistance" theme for the Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action project. Using the Black Panther Party as a primary focal point, students explored "Community as Resistance." Students were introduced to Black writers, poets, and photographers who have recorded the power of community among Black people, created unique visual presentations, then taught middle school students at Hayfield what they learned. Read more.
Students Hear from HBCU Alumni at Montgomery Blair HS
For the Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action, the staff of Montgomery Blair High School (MCPS) planned a range of activities including a panel discussion of 10 Blair HS staff who are alumni of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). Read more.
Loving Their Amazing Selves: Author Ofosu Jones-Quartey Visits Rocketship PCS Legacy Prep
Ofosu Jones-Quartey, author of Love Your Amazing Self: Joyful Verses for Young Voices, interspersed a read aloud of select verses from his book with mindfulness exercises at Rocketship PCS - Legacy Prep in support of the Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action. Read more.
Self-Portraits and Braiding in Art at Seaton ES
Athena Kopsidas, art teacher at Seaton ES (DCPS), led students through projects that incorporated The Skin You Live In and Don't Touch My Hair! and art during the Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action. Read more.
“Free Our Books” Say Fourth Graders After Studying Representation and Book Bans
As part of the Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action at Inspired Teaching Demonstration PCS, 4th graders studied the importance of representation in books and the book bans that have been escalating throughout the country since 2021. Read more.
Black Lives Matter at School Marketplace of Knowledge at Bruce-Monroe ES
On March 24, the entire school community at Bruce Monroe ES @ Park View (DCPS) was invited to participate in the Black Lives Matter at School Celebration of Learning. The school was transformed into a Marketplace of Knowledge that was the culmination of a six-week project that involved all grade levels in deep explorations of Black Lives Matter. Read more.
Sweet Cherie Brings Go-Go to Simon ES
At Simon ES (DCPS), K-3rd graders learned about the history and fundamentals of go-go and got a chance to play an improvised tune on Sweet Cherie’s bedazzled keyboard. They danced when they heard their name called by the talker, just like at a go-go. The visit was especially joyful because one of the teachers, whose parents met at a Chuck Brown concert in 1972, was celebrating a birthday! Read more.
Sweet Cherie at Washington International School
During a middle school assembly, there wasn’t an empty seat in Washington International School’s theater — unless the students and teachers were up dancing to Sweet Cherie’s music! Cherie dove deep into the history of go-go, speaking to students about the different sub-genres and their many bands. Read More.
Teach the Beat! Swamp Guinee at Seaton ES
Athena Kopsidas welcomed Teach the Beat back to Seaton ES in February for a series of visits where students were able to participate in assembly-style visits in celebration of the Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action. Meeting in the school’s cafeteria, Matt “Swamp Guinee” Miller facilitated the two visits with students through interactive lessons on different percussive instruments used in go-go. Read more.
Unapologetically Black Educator Story Lounge
D.C. Area educators for Social Justice co-hosted our second annual story lounge with EmpowerEd DC celebrating the Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action. Educators shared their stories as teachers and how their experiences as students drove them to education, and DCAESJ program manager Vanessa Williams shared a composite poem with golden lines and messages from storytellers that night. Read more.
Past Is Prologue: How Lessons from the Reconstruction Era Can Help Us Build a Better Tomorrow
On February 23, Mimi Eisen, co-author of Erasing the Black Freedom Struggle: How State Standards Fail to Teach the Truth About Reconstruction, was in conversation with Michelle Coles, author of Black Was the Ink, to discuss the parallels between the Reconstruction era and today. Participants in this virtual event had time to collaborate, share resources, and reflect on their own Reconstruction teaching and learning experiences. Read more.
D.C. Area Social Media
Stories from Beyond the D.C. area
Kansas
Cordley Elementary School
Christina Smith and Rebecca Reaver
As a result of a Teaching for Black Lives study group, Cordley ES celebrated their first Black Lives Matter at School Week with a kick-off assembly and daily activities and questions to deepen the conversation.
Once a month, students visit their Hawk Families, which are cross-grade level groups of Kindergarten through 5th grade students. In Hawk Families during Black Lives Matter at School Week, students read the book I Am Every Good Thing by Derrick Barnes. After reading, students discussed what it means to matter and also wrote three positive affirmations with their group. Some positive affirmations that were brainstormed included:
I am kind
I am brave
I am strong
I can make a difference!
The next day, students worked on posters that showed what they believed mattered and what they stood for. Students had lots of discussion about current events, as well as the injustice that many groups of people face.
On Friday, students participated in a "Continue the March" march and rally that called for equality, kindness, and acceptance.
The students had lot of local support, including the purchase of Black Lives Matter at Cordley t-shirts and coverage in both local papers. They were the only local school to participate, but they had 97% positive feedback from the parents in their community. There was some pushback in general because of the concern of this being a "political issue" in a school.
See local press coverage in the The Lawrence Times and LJWorld.
California
Hayward Unified School District
Candace Cofield
Supportive slide deck created by educators.
Hayward Unified School District (HUSD) endorsed the principles and demands of the BLM at School Week of Action, sharing a public statement in support of the BLM Week of Action, promoting the week of Action, and generating resources for educators.
Each Teaching for Black Lives study group member agreed to focus on the principle of “Unapologetically Black” and to host activities at various sites connected to that theme. Organizationally, HUSD aligned events and programming with BLM Week of Action.
They supported teacher leaders to understand and apply learning from Dr. Gholdy Muhammad’s work. She explains,
I take up the ways in which literacy was defined historically within Black communities, particularly in Black literary societies. And I found that literacy was synonymous with education. Literacy was also defined within the four frames of identity, skills, intellectualism, and criticality, the four-part equity model. In other words, as Black people were learning, they were cultivating each of those four areas of their lives. If we compare these four areas to schools today, I find that most educators are teaching skills only or their state learning standards. Yet, our students need more.
In sharing Muhammad's framework, HUSD supported their educators to lean into Black traditions in ways that support ALL learners to be seen, valued, heard, and loved. Towards that end, they encouraged all sites to utilize funds the district has made available through our LCAP [Local Control Accountability Plan] to devote purely to African-American programming.
As a result of these efforts, the Teaching for Black Lives study group formally adopted the HRLF [Historically Responsive Literacy Framework] as something to develop lessons around to share from the Teaching for Black Lives perspective.
Resources:
Woodland Hills Elementary
Brooke Dupuis
Fifth grade students read the Black Lives Matter at School coloring book and learned each of the 13 principles of Black Lives Matter, then made posters to bring awareness of Black Lives Matter at School week and hung them around the school. The students also read the book All Because You Matter to ground the new learning in history.
Fifth grade students went to younger grade levels to read and discuss the principles with them. Teachers then continued the conversations with younger students.
The students came to a better understanding of why we say Black Lives Matter and why it includes all of us. They had a better idea of how you can take steps to make change around you. They were motivated to be more active in their communities because they understood what types of action they could take.
The younger grades were motivated by the older fifth graders and felt comfortable asking them questions they may not have asked of their teachers.
Coliseum College Prep Academy
Charquita Arnold
Charquita Arnold, who usually coordinates the Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action activities at the school, used some materials from Seattle Public Schools and created some of her own content.
Arnold shared that, “It was a deeepppp week.” Students reviewed the 13 Guiding Principles and engaged in deep conversations with discussion prompts, and gave Black History Month presentations where they read the poem “Two Sets of Notes” by M. K. Asante Jr., which they received from one of their previous book club meetings. Everyone – staff included – enjoyed the experience. In reflecting on their learning, Arnold shared,
There was joy when students said, “Wow! I didn't know that Black women used their braids to plan escape routes," or the awe on students' faces when they learned in history [class] that Black people were auctioned. How they just learned that in my eighth grade class...I don't know. I paused because I thought he was joking and he was like, "Really ...I didn't know that.”
Arnold noted that some of the empowering feelings of the week were dampened because some students harbor anti-Black sentiments. Arnold is a Black educator and had to remind herself to be strong. She noted that these beliefs are learned and internalized. She charged herself with interrupting anti-Blackness and guiding students out of those beliefs.
View lesson plans and schedules from the week here and here.
New York
Math, Science Research, and Technology High School
Sandra Stokes
When teaching about the Civil Rights Movement in her Civil Rights and Equality class, Sandra Stokes wanted students to be familiar with the grassroots women who fought for our rights, as well. Each day Stokes taught lessons on Septima Clark, Daisy Bates, Ella Baker, and Fannie Lou Hamer and their roles in fighting for justice and the right to vote.
Stokes incorporated text, articles, and video clips about each woman. Students learned about their lives and sacrifices, and how they started organizations like SNCC and worked with young people their own age. The students were surprised to learn about all that these women did because they had only heard of Dr. Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks.
They were so inspired they wanted to create their own group similar to SNCC. When they learned about Fannie Lou Hamer, students were sad to hear that she was beaten and treated so badly. The students were proud that Fannie Lou Hamer went from sharecropper to activist.
Rochester School of the Arts
Meagan Harris
Teachers were able to choose from a number of lessons created and distributed by the school-based planning team and the Black Student Union club that focused on Black history or Black Lives Matter related issues. In middle school science, students discussed how the human race became differently pigmented due to region and migration. In English, students discussed race in To Kill a Mockingbird. Students also attended performances throughout the day.