Students Explore Black Lives Matter through Dialogue and Reflection

By Cierra Kaler-Jones

Smooth R&B hummed through the speakers as I entered the Zoom room for Sam Chiron’s Intro to Law class. Chiron, a social studies teacher at Thurgood Marshall Academy, welcomed each student as they entered the room and invited them to join a Peardeck that would lead us through the morning’s lesson. The lesson that day was focused on exploring the questions: What is Black Lives Matter (BLM)? What are the 13 Guiding Principles? 

Through the Peardeck slides, Chiron shared a series of images and prompted students to share their thoughts in response to the photos. “In exactly five words, write down what the images make you feel.” Some of the images included pictures of BLM protests from across the United States, while one photograph showed Colin Kaepernick kneeling during the anthem of an NFL football game. Student responses filled the chatbox:

Black lives are important and strong.

It makes me feel good about my Black people.

Powerful, encouraging, passionate, freedom, and proud. 

These images make me feel a range of emotions.

We are not getting the justice we deserve.

Students noted that it was challenging to only name five words they would use to describe the images because they felt there was so much they wanted to add. Chiron gave students the space to write or share more than five words and affirmed that each word they offered was powerful and important. Chiron explained to students that they were starting a new unit on the Black Lives Matter movement and that they would explore the movement through images, poetry, and art. The unit would include time for them to reflect, identify their thoughts and feelings, and create artwork that expressed their ideas and viewpoints. 

Next, students read the description of Black Lives Matter from the website in their online journals. Then they answered these two questions: 

What are three words that stand out to you in this text? 

If you had to tell a 1st grader about BLM and could only use one sentence, what would you tell them? 

For the first question, students wrote their responses in the chatbox: 

Powerful, humanity, sisters, collective, liberators, liberation, mission, resilient, power, mothers, systematically. 

Many of the words overlapped, which emphasized how many students felt that words like powerful and liberation resonated with them. After answering these questions, the class then read through the 13 Guiding Principles of BLM to reflect on their answers to some additional questions: Which principle most resonates with you? Why is that principle from Question #1 significant to individuals, the country, and/or the world? Which principle do you find the least important?

Chiron broke the class into breakout rooms for smaller group discussions on which of the guiding principles resonated most with each individual. In my group, students shared that globalism, Black women, and collective values meant the most to them after reading all of the principles. Students agreed that globalism and collective value were important for solidarity and highlighted the strength of communities working together. They also noted that we need to protect and honor Black women. One student also offered that restorative justice was a principle that spoke to them because they felt like restorative justice provided a base, or a foundation, for the rest of the principles to be enacted. In our conversation, the group centered us on the beauty of community when we lean on and support one another. 

When we returned from our breakout rooms to the full class, Chiron grounded us in the difference between Black Lives Matter and All Lives Matter,

Black Lives Matter simply points out that Black people’s lives are undervalued in the United States and that they are more likely to experience violence at the hands of the police. 

To reinforce Chiron’s point, he shared a Twitter video that explained the analogy that if one person’s house was on fire, we wouldn’t sprinkle water on everyone’s house. Particularly, Chiron noted that Black people experience police violence, anti-Blackness, and injustice; therefore saying their lives matter reinforces their humanity in a society that actively perpetuates white supremacy. 

In the Peardeck that Chiron shared with students at the beginning of class, he showed a few interactive slides where students would identify on a continuum whether they agreed or disagreed with quotes made by politicians and artists. We discussed statements made by President Obama, the 45th president, and the rapper, Fetty Wap. The quotes allowed us to analyze and offer a critique of different perspectives, particularly perspectives that were rooted in racist and discriminatory viewpoints. 

At the end of class, students filled out an exit slip before leaving the Zoom room. They answered the question:

In one or two sentences, how would you explain the Black Lives Matter movement?

Chiron centered students’ perspectives in this lesson, as much of the class created space for dialogue, reflection, and thoughtful discussion. Throughout the lesson, Chiron paused and intentionally asked, “What do you all think?” He started with students’ experiences and encouraged them to bring their understanding of the topic into the lesson. 

This introductory lesson was the first as part of a month-long unit in alignment with Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action. In the weeks after this lesson, the class viewed BLM artwork and shared their reflections and worked on the #LastWords activity to examine how words and art are used to amplify movements for justice. 

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Cierra Kaler-Jones is the Education Anew Fellow with Communities for Just Schools Fund and Teaching for Change. She is also a Ph.D. candidate at University of Maryland, College Park studying minority and urban education.