And Still I Rise
Dear Families,
This week, we had our annual Black History Month assembly. It afforded us a chance to look forward and back as we considered important achievements made by Black Americans and, at the same time, reflected on the the many ways in which we are all connected.
The eighth grade class reps opened the assembly with a reading by Matthew Whitaker on the subject of why Black History Month is important. This segued into a reading of Maya Angelou‘s moving poem “And Still I Rise.” After viewing an excerpt from Ken Burns‘ documentary Jazz, we were treated to a rousing performance of Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers‘ “Moanin‘” by the Middle School Jazz Band. This was followed by a video of the fifth grade music classes performing the music and singing the civil rights era protest song “Which Side Are You On?” Victor, Sarah and David’s advisory then followed up on an activity that they had prepared for the other advisory groups last week and shared the fruits of their research on a number of important African-American figures that included Mae Jemison, Thurgood Marshall, George Washington Carver, Malcolm X, Shirley Chisolm, Dr. Charles Drew, Mary McLeod Bethune and W.E.B. DuBois. In a similar vein, Margaret, Sherezada and Sharyn’s advisory produced a video of other influential people of color set to the music of Stevie Wonder’s “Black Man.” Our assembly concluded with the singing of “Lift Every Voice and Sing” led by the Middle School Chorus. All in all it was a thought provoking and engaging student-run affair.
On a related note, our students have been busy this week talking to others about their learning experience at LREI. On Monday, a group of students met with author Laurie Halse Anderson for a book discussion about her most recent book. For more information about this meeting, click here to read Middle School librarian Jennifer Hubert Swan’s blog. On Wednesday, members of the Robotics Team traveled to the offices of Google to talk about their involvement in the FIRST Lego League. We hope to have video of both of these discussion available on the website soon.
And so we rise . . .
Be well,
Mark