On the Downtown Campus, the 6th-grade English classrooms have been filled with pioneering explorers, musicians, athletes, politicians, and scientists as students celebrate Black History Month with a mini-biography project!

Students selected Black Americans from the past or present who made important contributions to history and culture. They then cast a wide research net as they consulted online encyclopedias, watched historic videos, read chapter books, tuned in to podcast interviews, and pored over picture books. Next, they synthesized the information and made some hard choices as they winnowed their research down to just two powerful, informative sentences. The project will continue next week, as students publicly workshop each other’s sentences and share their polished pieces as part of a giant Black History Month timeline. 

This project is just one of many ways students on the Downtown Campus are spotlighting and celebrating the achievements of Black Americans.