The D.C. Teaching for Black Lives study group, made up of 14 educators from Brent Elementary (ECE–5), meets once a month. According to Jon Berg, the study group’s coordinator, they started the group “to help educators reflect on their practice and to identify resources that center our Black students in our classrooms — with an emphasis on what is taught and how classrooms are set up to help students engage in civic life.”

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…

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.

D.C. Area educators for Social Justice co-hosted our second annual story lounge with EmpowerEd DC. Educators shared their stories as teachers and how their experiences as students drove them to education, and DCAESJ program manager Vanessa Williams shared a composite poem with golden lines and messages from storytellers that night.

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.

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. 

Using the Pan-African colors as their palette, students transformed blank canvases into stunning recreations of the Sankofa bird, Black power fist, or their own original creations

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.

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.

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).

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.

On Saturday, January 21, 2023 Teaching for Change hosted a virtual curriculum fair featuring workshops, a keynote speaker, and time for educators to learn more about the Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action, taking place February 6-February 10, 2023.

A Week of Action. A Year of Purpose. A Lifetime Commitment. And all of this can start with just a few hours of planning. On Saturday, January 7th, all DCAESJ working groups joined together and invited fellow D.C. area educators to share advice, build on resources, begin planning their BLM at School Week of Action, and continue to participate in the Year of Purpose.

On Saturday, January 21, hundreds of educators gathered virtually to connect, collaborate, and prepare for the 2023 National Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action (February 6–10) and Year of Purpose.

“The Color Line…Teach it! Reconstructing the South…Teach it! Teaching SNCC…Teach it! What we don’t learn about the Prison Industrial Complex…Teach it! The Black Panther Party…Teach it! Who Gets to Vote? Teach it! Those were the chants heard at the African American Civil War Memorial in DC on Saturday, June 11 for the #TeachTruth event hosted nationally by the Zinn Education Project, African American Policy Forum, and Black Lives Matter at 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.

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.

The fifth annual Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action wrapped up recently and educators in the D.C. area and beyond participated in powerful ways.