By Vanessa Williams
There were no fresh baked, chocolate chip cookies in sight. No peppermints being discreetly offered and passed from big to little hands. All of the sweaters appeared to be store-bought, not hand knit. Yet everyone at Smothers Elementary School (DCPS) the morning of their Intergenerational Read Aloud were wrapped in the love, wisdom, and laughter only grandmas can give.

Athena Kopsidas welcomed Teach the Beat back to Seaton ES in February for a series of visits that were part of the way Seaton was participating in the Black Lives Matter Week of Action this year. Matt “Swamp Guinee” Miller facilitated the two visits with students in the school cafeteria, leading students through interactive lessons on different percussive instruments used in go-go.

Children learned about the history and fundamentals of go-go and each child 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.

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.

Students were introduced to Black writers, poets, and photographers who have recorded the power of community among Black people, then created unique visual presentations and taught middle school students at Hayfield what they learned. 

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.

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 ten Blair HS staff who are alumni of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).

By Bridget Fuller

On February 26, the Anti-Bias Early Childhood Educator working group met to connect as a community, discuss challenges and successes with the Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action, and share ideas on using biographies in early childhood classrooms.

D.C. Area Educators for Social Justice and the African American Civil War Memorial and Museum invited D.C. area teachers and allies to a convening to decry the GOP legislation that would require teachers to lie to students about the role of racism, sexism, heterosexism, and oppression throughout U.S. history on Saturday, June 12. The rally was part of a national day of action to Teach the Truth organized by the Zinn Education Project and Black Lives Matter at School.

On February 2nd, 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?

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

On February 19, go-go became the official music of Washington, D.C.! This important legislation requires the mayor’s office to produce, fund, and implement programs that support the preservation and creation of go-go music — and the culture and history it represents. At Teaching for Change, we are honored to partner with D.C. area schools, musicians, and authors on our Teach the Beat project, which provides lessons and facilitates classroom visits.

Go-go artist “Sweet” Cherie Mitchell visited Langdon Elementary School in connection with Teaching for Change’s Teach the Beat program. This is the second year that the program has been able to visit Langdon, a partner in Teaching for Change’s Tellin Stories parent engagement project. At the January parent-principal meeting, parents participated in an icebreaker where they were asked to consider: what does go-go music mean to you?

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.

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.

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 at Noyes Elementary School (DCPS) learned about go go during Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action with a Teach the Beat lesson from international go-go artist, William “Ju Ju” House on Tuesday, February 5.

See tweets from Friday.

William "Ju Ju" House (EU) and Geronimo (Trouble Funk) did a go go workshop at Anacostia High School (DCPS) for a music class.