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“I, too, am a teacher:” Unapologetically Black Educator Story Lounge 2024
By Vanessa Williams
DCAESJ and EmpowerEd DC’s third annual Unapologetically Black Educator Story Lounge was just as powerful, moving, and joyous as the previously held events.
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 educators in the D.C. area likely have already been uplifting BLM at School work with participation in the Year of Purpose, the Week of Action is often taken as an opportunity to engage in more and perhaps larger scale efforts to uplift the guiding principles and national demands…
Self-Portraits and Braiding in Art at Seaton ES
Athena Kopsidas, art teacher at Seaton ES (DCPS), led students through projects that incorporated books and art during the Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action.
“Free Our Books” Say 4th 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.
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.
Exposure: Black@Hayfield Photojournalism Project Captures Uniqueness and Universality of Black Experience at Hayfield Secondary School
By Vanessa Williams
Walking into the front office of Hayfield Secondary School (ACPS), you’re greeted warmly by the office assistant and with cold-looking portraits of the past administrative staff at the school. Nestled in a classroom inconspicuously on the second floor, Ms. Ariel Alford is prepared to launch into a lesson on Black Lives Matter from an international perspective, focusing that day on Denmark.
Black History, Black Present, Black Future: Exploring the Tulsa Race Massacre from an Economics Lens
By Kimberly Ellis and Vanessa Williams
What is the Tulsa Race Massacre? How do we, as a nation, tell the story of the massacre? What is owed to the Black community as a result of the massacre? Ashley Bryant created two weeks of lessons to explore these questions in celebration of the Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action and Year of Purpose.
Art as Empathy: An Early Childhood Educator’s Reflection and Application
By Makai Kellogg
During this session, Rapoport led participants in an activity where we thought about our favorite place and associated a color with it. We then added feeling words, more colors, and sensory experiences connected to the place.
Fourth Graders Discuss ‘Don’t Touch My Hair’
Fourth Grade students at Milton Gottesman Jewish Day School read and discuss Don’t Touch My Hair.
Teaching Consent: Centering Empathy, Diversity, and Loving Engagement in Early Childhood
Using the Black Lives Matter guiding principles and the book Don't Touch My Hair to discuss consent with young children.
Peace of Mind and Arts Education During the Black Lives Matter Year of Purpose
Students and staff from Lafayette ES gathered virtually for a special “Wellness Wednesday” during the Black Lives Matter at School Week featuring an introduction to the Black Lives Matter Movement 13 guiding principles and a lesson on the history of Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing.
Children’s Rights Lawyer and Author Visits First Graders
Dr. Shani King, children’s rights lawyer, professor, and children’s book author, joined first grade students at Garrison ES for a virtual read-aloud of his new book, Have I Ever Told You Black Lives Matter.
Teaching, Loving, and Believing Black Girls Workshop
By Lila Chafe
Almost one hundred participants attended Dr. Shari Berga’s workshop, co-facilitated by Akailah Jenkins McIntyre, titled “Teaching, Loving, and Believing Black Girls.” Both facilitators are part of the Wells Collective, a collaborative of diversity practitioners that focus their work on empowering women.
Ida B. Wells Education Project at the Black Lives Matter at School Curriculum Fair
From Maryland to Missouri, Oregon, New York, North Carolina to the District of Columbia; over 100 attendees joined Peta Lindsay, Charla Johnson, and Cyrus Hampton, leaders of the Ida B. Wells Education Project, in a panel discussion via Zoom on “Joy in Resistance: Teaching about Oppression with Hope and Inspiration” as part of the Teaching for Change and Howard University’s 2021 Black Lives Matter at School Curriculum Fair.
High School Students Explore #LastWords
After exploring their connection to the Black Lives Matter movement in previous activities, my 11th and 12th grade students at Thurgood Marshall Academy worked through the #LastWords lesson.
Teaching How Black Lives Matter in History with "Mumbet’s Declaration of Independence"
Watkins Elementary School 4th grade teacher Monique Sullivan used Mumbet’s Declaration of Independence as a way to explore who is centered in history and what stories are left out.
Second Graders Study Activism
Second graders in Katie Soffer and Kina Gee’s classroom at Inspired Teaching Demonstration PCS learned about activism as part of the Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action.
Connecting to the 13 Principles of the Black Lives Matter Movement in Fifth Grade
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.
This is America: Representing Social Issues Through the Arts
Teacher Yolanda Whitted led her eighth grade English students at DC International School through a visual rhetoric exercise where they analyzed Childish Gambino's "This is America" music video. This was a lesson during the DC Area Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action in February, 2020.
Community Meeting to Start the Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action
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.