Teacher Author — News — D.C. Area Educators for Social Justice

Come and Join Us!: 4th Graders Trouble the “Holiday Season”

By Vanessa Williams
Within three minutes of entering Georgetown Day School, I noticed prospective students and their families were visiting the campus for the day. Then I ran into local historian and scholar Pat Scallen — who’s an advisor for Teach Central America and has penned lessons and stories for it — and I was warmly welcomed by Julia Tomasko, current teacher and alum of the school. While she might not have literally uttered “Come and join us” when we made our way up to her classroom, the spirit of that phrase was palpable and at the center of this school visit that day.

"We Are Here": High Schoolers Write and Review the LGBTQ+ Books They Want to Read

By Tiferet Ani

This Fall I taught an LGBTQ+ Studies elective for high school students. It was being piloted for the first time. Students and teachers collaborated to develop the course outline and unit projects.

Teaching StoriesMykella PalmerFebruary 8, 2022MD, Teacher Author, High School

Teaching Disability Awareness in the Virtual Classroom

By Laura Mufson

Virtual school has forced many educators to rethink how to engage students with social activism from behind a computer screen. I discovered that reading books aloud to my 4th-grade students during the virtual class was one of the times where I had the highest engagement and excitement from my students.

Teaching StoriesMykella PalmerMay 25, 2021Teacher Author

Amplifying Native Voices: Challenging Thanksgiving Curriculum Through Bilingual Read-Alouds

The library at Claremont Immersion, a bilingual Spanish-English elementary school in Arlington, Virginia, hosted two special literature events this November to celebrate Indigenous cultures and languages with the school community.

Other StoriesMykella PalmerApril 7, 2021Teacher Author

D.C. Statehood Viewpoints: A Classroom Simulation

By Amy Trenkle, 8th Grade US History Teacher, Washington, DC
Every year, during our unit on the New Nation, I teach about the founding of Washington, DC and have a basic discussion around the arguments for and against Statehood. Last year, I purposefully set out to teach my students the complexities of the perspectives surrounding DC Statehood.

Teaching StoriesMykella PalmerMarch 23, 2021Teacher Author

Third Graders Learn about Restorative Justice and Loving Engagement Through the Civil Rights Movement

Third graders at Concord Hill School learned about the principles of Restorative Justice and Loving Engagement by studying the role of young people in the Civil Rights Movement.

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.

Early Childhood Art Inspired by Cyrus Kabiru's Afrofuturist C-Stunners

Early childhood students at School Within School @ Goding explore Black joy through the Afrofuturist art of Cyrus Kabiru, who creates glasses (he calls c-stunners) out of discarded materials.

Centering the Intergenerational Black Lives Matter Guiding Principle in a Kindergarten Classroom

Kindergarten students study the Black Lives Matter Principle “intergenerational” during the Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action, developing a deep understanding of the principles by reading and discussing multiple books.

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.

Teaching StoriesMykella PalmerApril 28, 2020High School, DC, Teacher Author, Distance Learning

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?

Teaching StoriesMykella PalmerMarch 18, 2020Early Childhood, Teacher Author, DC, Climate, Ashley Chu

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.

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.

Talking to Young Children About Disabilities

Last May, Teaching for Change’s D.C. Area Educator’s for Social Justice, hosted a session for early childhood educators on teaching about disability. There was a variety of educators and specialists in attendance including therapists and teachers of inclusive and self-contained classrooms. Read more >>

Anti-BiasMykella PalmerOctober 8, 2019SY19, Teacher Author, Professional Development, NMAAHC, Makai Kellogg, Smithsonian

Questioning Cinderella: Why Kindness and Magic Are Not Enough

By Ashley Chu.

One of the earliest stories children hear is the familiar tale of Cinderella. While there are hundreds of Cinderella narratives from dozens of cultures, the most common one in American households is the version that traces its origins to French author Charles Perrault’s 1967 Histoires ou contes du temps passé, Cendrillonin… Read more >>

Other StoriesMykella PalmerApril 2, 2019SY19, Ashley Chu, Teacher Author, DC, Early Childhood, Children's Books

Transforming Misconception: A Misunderstanding as Realization

Revisiting the incident, I learned never to doubt the abilities of my students to communicate meaningful information. Jack is sometimes inattentive in class, playful, and has some speech challenges, so I developed a misconception about him.

Teaching StoriesMykella PalmerApril 2, 2019Stories from Our Classrooms, SY19, Teacher Author

Books Spark Discussion of Hair in a 5th Grade Classroom

In my 5th grade ELA class at Munda Verde Bilingual PCS, each day during the Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action, a family member from our class came in and described what Black Lives Matter means to them. With gallery walks and dialogues, students became experts on the 13 guiding principles of the Black Lives Matter Movement.

The Stories I Carry

I knew exactly where to find it. It has been in the same place for years, top shelf sitting with the other influential books of my life. I reached for it, remembering that the cover is no longer attached to the well loved book. I blew the dust off and began to reminisce about the life changing moment when I first sat down with it.

Teaching StoriesMykella PalmerMarch 26, 2019Stories from Our Classrooms, SY19, Teacher Author, DC, High School, DCPS

A Week of Poetry for Black Lives

While we try to make decisions that elevate our students of color all year long, the focus on Black Lives Matter Week of Action at School presents a unique opportunity to concentrate our efforts in order to create the best “soil” to help our students grow.