February 7, 2023 · curriculum
It is suddenly February and BLM at School Week (February 6-10) is here! I am not in a classroom this year, so am sharing some of our past work below in case anyone is looking for a new angle, read aloud, activity, or any other reminder. One quote that has been sticking with me lately is from Walidah Imarisha as she masterfully explains Why Aren’t There More Black People in Oregon? She says, “I call it a living legacy not history because it walks with us everyday.” That seems like a perfect way to conceptualize Black History Month and how to center what we teach our students in the present and the future. Black History Month (from 2022) Black History Lesson: Sit-Ins (from 2021) Black Lives Matter at School (from 2021) Black History Month: Past Ideas & Thoughts (from 2020) Ideas for Black History Month and Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action (from 2019) Reflecting on Black Lives
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February 2, 2022 · curriculum
Two of the quarters my students designed Happy February (and Year of the Tiger!) This week is Black Lives Matter at School week (we interpret the “week” part loosely and will probably spend 2-3 weeks introducing BLM, going through the 13 principles, and crafting our own class statement). You can read some important reminders in our Black History Month past posts here . As always, try to focus on relating whatever you learn to the present so students can make the connection to their own lives and the current world we live in. And remember that Black history is American history. Here are two examples of stories that help students to make the connection to now: Maya Angelou will be first black woman on US quarter : this is the Newsela link, so if you sign up for a (free) account, you can access the article at different reading levels. We had students read this article and then design their
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January 18, 2022 · curriculum
Photo credit: https://www.childrensbookworld.com/book/9781629799391 Another 3rd grade teacher I know had a colleague forward her a link to an Art of Teaching post I wrote 4 years ago (a slightly modified version of this post on our blog ) about teaching MLK day! It was a nice surprise and funny coincidence, as well as a welcome reminder to use primary sources with my 3rd graders. This year, however, we went with a different approach as my co-teacher (who is new to me this school year!) had the brilliant idea of widening our focus to Dr. King’s legacy and movement and thinking about the people who came before and after him. I also always remind educators to tie Dr. King’s work back to today and future work. This is not a one lesson or one day reminder, it is something you should think about all year. Two obvious examples of this work continuing are Black Lives Matter at School Week and
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August 3, 2021 · curriculum
Photo credit: http://www.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/slideshow/the-civil-rights-movement/# This past February, we spent most of the month taking time to learn about, talk through, and create our own statement for Black Lives Matter at School Week . However, we wanted to address Black History Month and explicitly connect American history to our lives today. There are, of course, many ways to do this, but one way I’ve always loved teaching history to elementary school students (or really any students) is using primary sources and read-alouds. They can make the past tangible and far more real for students, as well as feeling “grown up” and authentic. I took inspiration from PBS History Detectives and modified one of the lessons they created for high schoolers or middle schoolers. We started by watching the 2nd video titled Integration Report. (It’s the one that is 2 minutes long. The 6
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July 19, 2021 · curriculum
In February, my co-teacher and I (along with our entire school) learned about Black Lives Matter’s 13 Guiding Principles as part of Black Lives Matter at School week . My co-teacher and I chose to spend more than a week as we felt that we needed more time to introduce the topic, teach each principle, and allow time for reflections, shares, and questions before creating our own class statement. After learning about all 13 principles, we came up with the above statement about what our class believes. All of the language in the statement comes directly from students, and we worked to make sure their beliefs and voices were being expressed. Every student signed the statement (including two virtual learners who sent me their signatures electronically) and it hung outside both of our classrooms (we had to be in two rooms with smaller groups this year due to COVID). We started thinking and
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