ANDREA RUNNELS
One of the things I loved about my former school was how African American History Month was celebrated! One of the annual traditions is a door decorating contest. Each grade level gets a different category. 5th grade had authors and poets for several years. I always choose someone who isn’t as widely-known as a valuable teaching tool. And some classes have these beautiful, perfectly decorated doors that the TEACHER did. Well, I believe this contest should be kid-approved and kid-friendly! So I never officially won whatever popcorn party prize they had but my students gained something far more valuable-knowledge!
Doors of Years Past
In 2015-2016 topics for the African American History Month door decorating contest were shuffled and our grade level had inventors/scientists. We had previously studied George Washington Carver in Social Studies so I wanted to make sure we found someone new. I had recently used a great Readers’ Theatre with famous African American scientists that included some interesting female scientists and astronauts. I would share, but I have no idea where it came from! I’m sad to say I had never heard of any of them and the kids said the same thing. That is precisely why I used it that script!
So I thought it would be perfect to decorate our door in honor of one of the female astronauts. I knew the door was due the next day so I just threw a Hail Mary out to my best-behaved class at that moment in time. I said, “I want to do female astronauts for our door so if y’all (I’m from Atlanta) want to research some and come up with ideas, that would be great.”
Ok, 98.75% of the time the response would be crickets, right? So I went ahead and covered the door with butcher paper and some purple duck tape because it’s pretty and matched my classroom décor as prep. I figured I would be spending my time frantically researching someone while they worked on some kind of old school busy work the next day.
I was beyond thrilled that a pair of kiddos had looked up some info at home/in homeroom that morning!!! We combine different classes together for our rotations so they aren’t in my homeroom. They came to class with a list. SO PROUD!! I let them take charge. We all decided on Mae. C Jemison, the first African American woman in space. I hadn’t heard of her before and I am so glad I did this activity and let the kids take the lead! There are so many untold stories of famous female African American pioneers. I can’t wait to see Hidden Figures!
My two leaders were amazing. They assigned people tasks and whipped up something awesome quickly. They also handled some attitude problems from some of their classmates like pros! They made sure everything was spelled right, too. Here is a quick peek of the kiddos in action planning their Mae. C. Jemison door decorations for African American History Month.
The final product looked wonderful and ours didn’t win that contest of course!! Ours was creative and original and gave students a chance to take ownership of their learning and some teaching! What is super cool is the addition of some hashtags! That is something I have been using in class as a summary strategy. Yay, they listened:)!! It is so hard for teachers to give up control but the end result can be an invaluable experience! Don’t be afraid to take risks in your classroom when you know it’s in the best interest of your students!
Also, sit down and reflect on how teachers can learn just as much from our students as they do from us. Mae C. Jemison is a very inspiring woman. She has been quoted with some truly profound statements. I have several pinned here: Civil Rights Pinterest Board
I am grateful to have made Mae’s acquaintance last year. And I thank former students Anissa A. and Keishawn H. for the introduction and Andre J. for his hard work!!
Pop in to my Facebook group Social Studies Salute and share how you celebrate African American History Month! I look forward to hearing your creative ideas!
