Black History Month...

February has once again rolled around, and it's time for Black History Month!! It's always an exciting time for the majority of my students because they enjoy hearing, reading, and talking about their heritage. I make sure to instill the value of all cultures into my classroom...we spent the whole month of September honoring Hispanics...we will spend the whole month of April honoring the Jews and learning about the Holocaust...and we have spent other months honoring Asians, Europeans, Native Americans, etc.

I chose 30 African Americans from the past and present, put all of their names in a cup, and today my students picked out a slip of paper from the cup. The students are going to research their chosen person and present their research to the class at the end of February. The students who drew popular names such as Martin Luther King, Jr., Thurgood Marshall, Malcolm X, Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, and Jesse Jackson were excited and felt "lucky" that they picked someone they already knew something about. However, I told my students who picked names that were unknown to them to make sure they didn't judge the person based on their name. The point of this research project is to learn facts about 30 different African Americans. I know if I let them choose on their own, a lot of the students would choose the famous rappers, musicians, and actors from today. I want my students to not only be well informed of their heritage, but to also be proud of what their people have done for them and take that with them to the future. I really believe that once my students research their chosen person, they will really be excited to present what they found to the class. I'm excited to see what they do in February...