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Shifting the Curriculum to What Matters Most to Students During COVID-19
When the pandemic closed the doors of global studies teacher Gregory Landrigan’s middle school classroom at Sacred Heart School in D.C., he decided to shelve the lessons he’d planned for the rest of the year. “What do you want to learn?” he asked the students. “What matters to you most?” With the answers to these questions, he invited students to explore a topic of interest to them through an independent study.
Reflecting on Government Response to Hurricane Katrina and COVID-19: A Distance Learning Assignment
U.S. history high school teacher Jessica Rucker at E.L. Haynes shares a lesson she has used with her students during the pandemic for their asynchronous learning.
D.C. Area Emergency Distance Learning Stories
Here is a growing list of D.C. metro area teaching stories from during this time of emergency online learning due to COVID-19.
Educators for Equity Book Club Meets Online with Author Cornelius Minor
The second series of the D.C. Educators for Equity book club began in early January of this year. Classroom educators, librarians, media specialists, and school coordinators gathered at Tubman Elementary (DCPS) school to explore Cornelius Minor’s We Got This: Equity, Access, and the Quest To Be Who Our Students Need Us to Be.
Honoring Black Women with Poetry
Ms. Corliss, a special education teacher at Jefferson Middle School Academy (DCPS), led a Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action lesson aligned to the guiding principle, “Black Women.”
Teaching Environmental Justice in Early Childhood
Students are leading the charge in combating this climate crisis, with groups like Zero Hour and U.S. Youth Climate Strike standing up for their futures and advocating for changes in climate policy. But what about our youngest learners? How can we encourage young children to become the future leaders in the fight for climate justice?
Learning about Afro-Latinos During the Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action
In Spanish 1 at Thurgood Marshall Academy, students learned about several Afrolatinos during the Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action.
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.
Langdon ES Fifth Graders Learn About Go-Go
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?
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.
Learning about the Go-Go Pocket Beat vs Bounce Beat at Moten ES
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.
Anacostia HS Drumline Learns About Go-Go
Go-go musician Sweet Cherie, keyboardist and singer for the all-female Bela Dona Band, joined the music class at Anacostia HS as part of the 2020 Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action. A highlight of the visit was when Sweet Cherie led the room in Junkyard Band’s go-go classic, “Sardines.” One of the drummers joined her in the circle and midway through the song added a bounce beat to the rhythm.
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.
Beers ES Second Graders Learn About Go-Go
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.
Students Inspired to Uncover and Teach the True History About Washington, D.C.
Twelfth-grade students in Bill Stevens’s social studies class at IDEA Public Charter School spent months conducting in-depth research and preparing multi-modal presentations that unpacked and delved into important topics in D.C. history that often do not get highlighted in the school curriculum.
2020 Social Justice Printmaking Teacher Workshop
Teacher artist Alex Huttinger led the 2nd annual Social Justice Printmaking Workshop, hosted by D.C. Area Educators for Social Jusitce at Halcyon Arts Lab for the Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action.
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.
Hair Representation in Children’s Literature
D.C. Area Educators for Social Justice, Communities for Just Schools Fund, and the Early Childhood Initiative at the National Museum of African American History and Culture offered a workshop on hair representation in children’s books on November 2, 2019.