Students from Roosevelt’s International Academy, which includes many students who are newcomers to the United States from Central America, kicked off Teach Central America Week 2022 with a visit from An Open Book Foundation, Shout Mouse Press, and Santos, one of the contributing authors of Voces Sin Fronteras: Our Stories, Our Truth.

The three D.C. Area Educators for Social Justice working groups convened a joint meeting to prepare to teach about Central America this school year, especially during the October 3–9 Teach Central America Week. Educators began with a trip to the National Museum of the American Latino’s first exhibit, ¡Presente! A Latino History of the United States.

On August 24, 2022 Teaching for Change’s Teach Central America program specialist Jonathan Peraza Campos and Vanessa Williams, D.C. Area Educators for Social Justice’s program manager, co-facilitated a professional development for D.C. public schools entitled “Central American Literature in the Classroom.”

On Saturday, August 20, more than 100 educators from across the D.C. area convened at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library for the inaugural DCAESJ Social Justice Curriculum Fair.

“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.

Teaching for Change partnered with Filmfest DC: The Washington, DC International Film Festival for an eleventh year to spread the word about the international film festival and to bring filmmakers for some of the films into D.C. classrooms in April 2022.

The middle/high school People’s History working group came together for their May meeting on Saturday, May 14, 2022. Alison Rice led the group in an activity reflecting on the words of James Baldwin in A Talk To Teachers.

By Kimberly Ellis

As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. famously stated, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” This demand for a better world is doggedly pursued by students in Beth Barkley’s Human Rights and Social Justice class at Cardozo Education Campus (DCPS).

By Bridget Fuller

On March 29th, the Elementary working group gathered to connect and discuss Women’s History Month and how gender and racial biases are confronted in our schools.

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.

Teaching for Change is partnering with Filmfest DC: The Washington, D.C. International Film Festival (April 21 - May 1) for an eleventh year to spread the word about the international film festival and to bring films and filmmakers for several films into D.C. virtual classrooms.