Schools Find New Ways To Celebrate Black History Month

Press release from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools:

2/12/2021

CMS schools are recognizing Black History Month in February with lessons, activities and events to spotlight important figures and milestone events in Black history. This year, Windsor Park Elementary is taking it a step further and focusing on how resilience is integrated into Black leaders' lives today.

"Having so many learners who come from such diverse backgrounds was one reason we chose to focus on being resilient," said Principal Shanna Rae. "This theme will also be applied to other cultures during other cultural celebrations, but for now, our focus is on our African American leaders and teaching our learners how resilient they were, are and will be."

The school's commitment to equity goes beyond one month. Students and staff practice "Justice Moments" throughout the school year. School administrators and staff meet to discuss equity, racism, profiling, economics and the black and brown experience, especially in education. During social-emotional learning, teachers incorporate Justice Moments in the classroom. Students lead the conversations while the teacher facilitates the discussion.

"This process has allowed teachers to teach beyond the textbook and give students the opportunities to gain new insight on how they can be change agents," said Rae.

On Feb. 25, the school will host a virtual family meeting celebrating Black resilience. Guest speakers include Ebony Thomas, a former educator and current senior vice president of human resources at Bank of America, and Carlenia Ivory, city council member and civil rights activist. They will speak about their life experiences. Other activities will include step dances and cooking a cultural dish.

Other schools like Southwest Middle surveyed students to find out the kind of celebrations they wanted during this month. Students were interested in learning more about Black historians and activists not commonly taught in the curriculum. They also wanted to conduct staff interviews to hear their perspectives about diversity.

"We wanted our students to be involved in the planning, especially in this virtual environment," said School Counselor, Eliza Dutcher. "We took our students' ideas and feedback and put them into action to let them know how their voice and diversity shows up in our building all the time."

Inspired by the United Way of the Carolinas' community equity challenge, Southwest students will participate in weekly challenges. These challenges, embedded in the social-emotional learning curriculum, encourage students to provide meaningful and relevant responses to prompts about Black History Month and current events in our country.

One of the challenges is to watch the inaugural poet, Amanda Groman, recite her poem The Hill We Climb. Students can use any creative medium to convey the theme of the inauguration poem. Another challenge is a virtual wax museum of historical Black figures. Students can dress up as a well-revered, celebrated or unknown figure from Black history by taking a selfie and submitting a brief write-up. The written piece would include the name, the importance of the person and a fun fact about them.

"Our daily social-emotional learning program has helped our students to be active participants in their learning through advocacy and inquiry," said Principal Merita Little. "It's been an important piece in their education throughout the year."

This press release was produced by the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools. The views expressed are the author's own.