Teachers at Saint Columbkille have been busy this February celebrating Black History Month with their students. Throughout the school year, classrooms incorporate the sharing of African American culture and history as part of the daily curriculum. This foundational knowledge allows for diving deeper into the exploration of black history during the month of February.
Head of School, Ms. Kowieski, shares that each morning this month during the all-school prayer and pledge, she or Ms. Rumely, Assistant Head of School, have read a brief biography of someone who has had an impact on our history or current culture. Some of the figures include Harriet Tubman, Medgar Evers, Maya Angelou and James Baldwin. These biographies were written by eighth grade students in social studies class, where each one researched an individual and wrote a brief biography.
Ms. Zani, early childhood and elementary music teacher, has integrated Black History Month into her lessons. They covered many artists, including Scott Joplin, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong.
“I teach two young girls named Ella who were over the moon to learn about the Queen of Jazz,” says Ms. Zani. “And my older students compared Maya Angelou's Caged Bird to Tupac Shakur's The Rose That Grew From Concrete.”
In Grade 3, Ms. Flanagan describes the many class discussions throughout the year regarding race, ethnicity, culture, socioeconomic status and gender. When asked if students should only learn about black history during February, it sparked a discussion about the need for black history to be celebrated every day because black history is American history.
“My class has absolutely loved learning about different influential black individuals and their legacies,” says Grade 3 teacher Ms. Flanagan. “I have really been able to see my students develop into critical thinkers and advocates.”
During an English/Language Arts class, the students learned about Kamala Harris, and inquired about why it has taken so long for women to become vice president, and then why a woman had not become president yet. Students showed their critical thinking by reflecting back on history to when women were not allowed to attend school or vote. This questioning pushed students to think about the intersectionality of race and gender and how it has impacted our history and our society today.
In Grade 4, every student was given a famous black American to research. The students made timelines of their person's life, drew maps of places that were important to them, and then wrote an essay about why they were important. It aligned nicely with the class’ informational writing unit. They are currently working on presenting all of that information in decorative shoe boxes with items to represent their assigned person inside to share with their classmates and the school.
Grade 4 teacher, Ms. Kunkle, chose and assigned people based on their interests. The list ranged from Barack Obama and Serena Williams, to Phillis Wheatley and Katherine Johnson, etc. She looked for an array of people, such as politicians, Civil Rights leaders, inventors, athletes, artists.
Ms. Jackson, Loyola Academy Spanish teacher, shares that students are learning the difference between the words “Hispanic” and “Latinx OR Latino/a”, as well as what it means to identify as "Afro-Latinx” or “Afro-Hispanic”. Students will then select and research an historical figure from a list of options, including Carmelo Anthony, Christina Milian, Rosario Dawson, Roberto Alomar, Gwen Ifill and Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez.
Then, in small groups, students present their figures using posters that include their biographical information, achievements, quotes, interesting facts, and flags of heritage. In the larger group, they share an interesting fact they learned or something that surprised them while they were doing their own research, or as they heard their peers present their figures.