D.C. and Beyond: Stories from Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action 2022
The fifth annual Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action wrapped up recently and educators in the D.C. area and beyond participated in powerful ways. Social justice educators prepared in a variety of ways, including attending the D.C. area and national Black Lives Matter at School curriculum fairs. Read below for insight about how educators lifted up the 13 guiding principles and national demands of Black Lives Matter at School during this year’s Week of Action!
D.C. Area Teaching Stories from the 2022 Black Lives Matter
at School Week of Action
Macfarland Middle School - DCPS
Sixth grade humanities teacher Melanie Holmes designed a week of lessons to engage students in learning about the Black Lives Matter at School national demands. After exploration of the movement, students crafted a call to action in support of one of these demands. Read more about Holmes’ Week of Action plans.
School for Friends - D.C.
Early childhood educator Makai Kellogg attended this year’s Black Lives Matter at School Virtual Curriculum Fair and was inspired to practice more empathy with her preschoolers as they are creating art. Looking to former D.C. public school teacher and artist Alma Woodsey Thomas as their inspiration, the Sea Lions created works of art similar to her work or their own originals. Read more about Kellogg’s story.
School Within a School @ Goding – DCPS
DCAESJ elementary working group teacher co-leader Raphael Bonhomme integrated math and economics into a close study of Brian Flores’s lawsuit against the NFL. Beginning with the hiring and eventual firing of Fritz Pollard, the first African-American coach in the NFL, Bonhomme traced historical and present lack of diversity in the NFL. Students reflected on what implications that has on the NFL, and sketched ways they can improve the league.
Hearst Elementary School – DCPS
DCAESJ elementary working group teacher co-leader Hannah Halpern facilitated active lessons on D.C. area Black history and culture and encouraged students to read titles related to Black Lives Matter at School in reading stations throughout the Week of Action, as well as reflect on them with activities and self-guided resources. We were able to pop in for an in-person class visit on the last day of the Week of Action.
Hayfield Secondary School – Alexandria City Public Schools
High school social studies teacher Ariel Alford facilitated a deep study of photography and photojournalism projects. Entitled Black@Hayfield, the project was designed to document the experiences of Black students at her school in Virginia. Read more about Alford’s story in an upcoming Teaching Story.
Howard University School of Education
Our annual partner in Black Lives Matter at School, Howard University School of Education, curated a gallery walk of children’s books centering Black characters, Black stories, and Black experiences at Founders Library during the Week of Action. Students of the School of Education led the activity and were supported by Drs. Altheria Caldera and Katherine Norris. Here are curated booklists around the 13 guiding principles for Black Lives Matter at School.
Garrison Elementary School – DCPS
K-2 Special Education DC teacher Kioma Renaud chose five inventions created by Black inventors to explore. First, students learned about Garrett Morgan and the traffic light. Students used color, sorting, and fine motor skills to create traffic lights and played a variation of the childhood classic game red light, yellow light, green light. Students learned about cause and effect in scientific experiments through creating light circuits (invented by Lewis Latimer). Then, students learned about George Crum and George Carver by picking out ingredients and air frying potato chips, as well as rolling peanut butter spheres. Lastly, students learned about Augustus Jackson and the way he revolutionized the ice cream process.
Watkins Elementary School – DCPS
Monique Sullivan had 4th grade ELA students honor and celebrate the Week of Action by researching the principles of the Black Lives Matter at School movement and the key definitions. Students worked in pairs to write short speeches about the principle or definition they chose. Each day a pair of students was invited to share their speech on the school-wide announcements. Over the course of the week, students shared what they had learned about Movement and Collective Action, Transgender Rights, Patriarchy and Misogyny, and being Unapologetically Black. The informative and inspiring announcements brought Sullivan’s classroom community closer together as students cheered each other on. Additionally, the class created a bulletin board highlighting the principles of the movement. Students chose coloring sheets highlighting different principles and decorated them for the board, enabling all 4th graders to learn more about the movement.
Howard High School – Howard County Maryland Public Schools
11th and 12th grade Modern World History & African American Studies teacher, Masami M. Stratton taught the 13 Guiding Principles. She organized the principles into five groups: Group 1 Restorative Justice, Empathy, Loving Engagement; Group 2 Globalism & Diversity; Group 3 Trans & Queer Affirming; Group 4 Intergenerational & Collective Value; Group 5 Black Families, Black Women, Black Village, Unapologetically Black. She then asked students to write: 1. What do they mean to you?; and 2. How should we practice them in our community/our school? Finally, Stratton asked students to draw posters illustrating these groups as affirmative & inclusive.
Stratton sought to emphasize that we are an inclusive movement, that we can only be as strong as our most vulnerable, so we must pay particular attention to those who are targeted (historically and in contemporary times). Stratton then displayed the students’ work across the back of the classroom. Check out the photo album.
Moten Elementary School – DCPS
Laura Goemann, a DCPS teacher resident in a PreK 4 class, explored the book Sulwe by Lupita Nyong'o. After a read aloud, the class discussed the book’s plot, how Sulwe felt, and what Sulwe learned. One student recalled how the other children were mean to Sulwe because she was darker. Another student recalled that Sulwe’s mom told her that she is beautiful. Goemann expanded upon this by highlighting how Sulwe learned that she is beautiful inside and out. The class also connected the book’s discussion of inner beauty with their music teacher’s ongoing discussions of inner light and how we show our inner light through kindness and compassion. The students reviewed ways in which they show their inner light, such as “being nice,” “helping,” and “giving hugs.” The next day, Goemann played the class a video of Lupita Nyong'o reading Sulwe on the Netflix Jr. series Bookmarks. A discussion followed in which the class reviewed how to show inner beauty. They then made beautiful thank you letters for their custodian and cafeteria worker. The students presented their letters with excitement and gratitude, truly showing their inner beauty.
Georgetown Day School — DC
The lower school offered a menu of activities for the Black Lives Matter Week of Action, with suggestions for each day to align with the 13 Guiding Principles. In addition, the pre-K welcomed Dr. Denisha Jones, education justice advocate and member of the national Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action steering committee, for a discussion of the guiding principles. As noted on the GDS website, "Students asked questions and gave heart-melting compliments to Dr. Jones. As the students waved good-bye, one gave a spontaneous 'Black Lives Matter!' cheer." One of the organizers for the event is one of the founding members of the DCAESJ early childhood working group.
Complete our form to request a class visit from a member of the DCAESJ team.
Social Media Posts from the Black Lives Matter
at School Week of Action
Use the hashtag #BLMatSchool and tag @dcaesj on Twitter
Hanging out with @nessaann91 representing for @dcaesj and #BLMatSchool in an awesome PD with @DCPS! Thanks for the invite @DCPSLeap pic.twitter.com/sVxze9gjU9
— Nakeesha J Ceran (@njc89) February 3, 2022
Today kicked off Black Lives Matter at School week of action and I’m excited about the conversations and engagement @DunbarHSDC @DCPSSocStudies @dcaesj pic.twitter.com/kBB1fjpCOh
— Ms. G (@MsG_Teaches) February 1, 2022
Concerted efforts to ban teaching the truth about the history of racism, sexism and all the -isms are not new. There is so much power in knowing the truth, and that’s exactly what they are afraid of! So let’s #TeachTruth #TeachReconstruction #BLMatSchool #TeachBlackHistories ✊🏽 pic.twitter.com/Ft400JGjZ9
— Tiffany Mitchell Patterson, PhD (@DrTMP) February 3, 2022
"We're asking educators to reflect on their own work in relationship to antiracist pedagogy and abolitionist practice, persistently challenging themselves to center Black lives in their classrooms." 🔥
— Report back about BLM at School Week of Action! (@dcaesj) February 1, 2022
📸: The #BLMatSchool Week of Action: Literacy Edition Gallery Walk @HU_SOE! pic.twitter.com/Hk2DCVcgLI
Making learning relevant engages our students. We discussed the #BLM 13 guiding principles & rated their prevalence at DHS. They are now using their voice to write an essay providing evidence as to whether black lives matter to our students based on their actions. #BLMatSchool pic.twitter.com/Rh2oXs6rHQ
— Shelina Warren-Martin, Ed.S, NBCT (@shelinawarren) February 4, 2022
Week of Action: Beyond the D.C. Area
Lamberton Elementary School – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
In Sheila Myers’ 5th grade class, students read the 13 Guiding Principles in small groups and discussed what the principles meant to them. Then, students selected one principle to illustrate and created a design. Through collaboration with the art teacher, Myers’ students painted their designs on t-shirts and cardboard. Students also learned about popular protest statements such as “I Can’t Breathe” and learned about past and present freedom fighters. Students then showcased their work at the schoolwide march. Simultaneously, students made connections to the Black Families principle through their current novel study: Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson, discussing family separation. Check out the photo album.
Academy at Palumbo – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
High school Economics teacher Ashley Bryant created two weeks of lessons to explore the Tulsa Race Massacre and socioeconomic impacts on the Black community. Read more about Bryant’s story.
Woodland Hills Elementary School – Santa Clarita, California
Out on the West Coast, Brooke Dupuis’s 5th grade class embraced Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action with lessons, activities, and actions throughout the week and invited all of Woodland Hills Elementary to join in! On top of the 13 guiding principles coloring book, Dupuis’s class made and displayed posters about Black Lives Matter at School, publicly announced the school’s support of Black Lives Matter at School at a parent meeting, and had students visit every classroom in the school to explain the principles and demands to all other students in the school.
Dupuis reflected,
My students saw the importance for Black Lives Matter not just for Black students but for everyone. They also felt empowered to teach others and learned the principles more deeply so that they could.
Wyandotte HS – Kansas City, Kansas
Michael Rebne shared an activity related to centering Black women. In having students reflect on their connections — or the lack thereof — to Black women, it drove home how central they are to our shared humanity.
Students reflected:
My mother is a very strong woman who has inspired me by her work ethic and her determination.
I admire my 3rd grade teacher, she was a very passionate teacher, and even though I wasn't a great kid she still treated me equal to the other kids and wanted everyone to learn.
[I admire my] friend/old neighbor Keyale. Her mom does people's hair. I would spend nights over there and learn things all the time.
I remember my 3rd grade teacher...I always looked up to her because she made me feel safe and comfortable.
I admire my co-worker Ms. Yvonda because she is headstrong and just amazing overall.
Resource: WHS Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action 2022 Community Calendar
Community of Peace Academy – St. Paul, Minnesota
Caitie Ryan-Norton read The Undefeated, by Kwame Alexander, in class. Ryan-Norton regularly uses picture books to highlight important content in her class, and students loved the illustrations in the book! They asked a lot of questions about who was depicted in each picture, and spent a lot of time listening to music from artists on the artist page. They now have a class playlist that features some of the jazz musicians featured!
Books for Teachers: Donated by Publishers for the Week of Action
In support of the Black Lives Matter at School Curriculum Fair, a number of publishers generously donated titles related to the Black Lives Matter at School 13 Guiding Principles. We extend our appreciation to Astra Publishing House, Candlewick Press, City Lights Publishers, Haymarket Books, Heyday Books, The Innovation Press, Lee and Low, Lerner Publishing Group, Shout Mouse Press, Tilbury House, and Little, Brown Books.
Year of Purpose
The 13 guiding principles and national demands of Black Lives Matter at School can be uplifted throughout the year with the Year of Purpose. Beginning in the fall on October 14th with Justice for George Day and reaching into the summer with Juneteenth, the Year of Purpose is designed to intentionally create space and opportunity to raise certain guiding principles with accompanying calls to action. Prepare to participate in the Year of Purpose with the toolkit and continue tagging us @dcaesj and using the hashtags #BLMatSchool and #YearofPurpose.
Learn more about ways to formally endorse, amplify, and engage in Black Lives Matter at School.