Celebrating Black History Month in the virtual classroom

As Black History Month comes to a close, we want to highlight some of the ways our students, AmeriCorps members and teachers celebrated in the virtual classroom!

Carver classrooms kicked off the month strong with Black Lives Matter Week of Action. On Monday, February 1, AmeriCorps members, teachers, staff and scholars changed their computer icons to famous Black historical icons and discussed why they chose that person. On February 2, scholars were given a writing prompt: “Black lives matter because . . .” Throughout the month, teachers posted videos, articles or books in the virtual classroom for scholars to check out during independent time.

What’s happening in your classroom?

“We’re watching a new documentary called Growing Up Milwaukee which follows the lives of three Black youth as they grow up in our city.” – Ariana Simmons, AmeriCorps member

“Scholars are learning about Black hidden figures in history, those whose names we don’t hear as often or learn about. My third and fourth graders also enjoy watching Kid President videos, and we are going to be reading his book!” -Paige Kelly, AmeriCorps member

“My fifth graders are writing research papers about someone significant in Black history and reading about influential Black Americans all month long during guided reading time.” – Tessa Aleman, AmeriCorps member

“To celebrate Black History Month, we have a series of additional learning opportunities for students to participate and learn about different aspects of Black History. For instance, we will be having a presentation on Black Superheroes that highlight topics of not only race, but cultural attitudes towards gender, sexuality and identity. From Storm to Black Panther, the increased popularity of Black representation is not a mere coincidence. And like what Dr. Love pointed out during our Equity Summit, one does not really know Black people, nor their community, only by their pain and suffering.

“These mini talks are an attempt to celebrate our students and each other and share other parts of their culture and their friends’ culture with one another. We don’t know if we have a future artist, writer or public speaker that will feed into the mainstream culture — we look forward to seeing every impact our students may be able to make, now and in the future.” -Kristen Leer, AmeriCorps member

Roosevelt Middle School of the Arts is hosting a Black History Month competition, encouraging students to submit videos of themselves performing (including reading their poetry, performing, sharing their artwork and more).

The City Year team serving at Casimir Pulaski High School is collaborating with their Assistant Principal to host the Pulaski Cinema, promoting Black History Month.