Mission in Practice: All Together Holding on to the Dream!

By HELENE DEBELAK
Director of Curriculum
Founder-in-Residence

Each morning at Birchwood, students begin the day freshly inspired as teachers read stories of people – extraordinary and ordinary – whose lives shine in the light of virtue.

Among the powerful storylines is that of African Americans in United States history. These examples of hope, faith, wisdom, and strength uplift us to understand ourselves as human beings. The great capacity of the human spirit can be seen in the lives of those who experience human suffering.

Intentionally, each year around Martin Luther King Jr. Day, teachers tap the stories of those who took a stand for civil rights in the 20th century by holding firmly to the self-evident truth of equality, thus providing a beacon of hope for all people.

The following are examples:

In the weeks leading up to MLK Day, Early Childhood teachers read stories accompanied by activities from the “Learning to Get Along” series, e.g. “Accept and Value Each Person,” “Understand and Care,” “Reach Out and Give.” 

The first graders learned about peaceful solutions by reading short biographies of Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., and Rosa Parks. After reading “Peace Week in Miss Fox’s Class” by Eileen Spinelli, they discussed ways they could peacefully solve problems that they encounter at school. 

In the second grade, after reading a biography of King and watching excerpts from his March on Washington speech, students created word clouds with colorful streamers that show “dreams” the students have for their community (e.g. everyone feel loved, feed the homeless).

In the third grade homeroom the class read and discussed the books, “I Am Ruby, the Autobiography of Ruby Bridges” and the historical fiction book “Freedom on the Menu,” a story told through the eyes of a little girl who witnesses firsthand the Greensboro sit-ins. 

The fifth graders are researching African Americans who made significant contributions to American history, be it in civil rights, social, political, scientific, or other ways. They will each pick a biography with the end product of a brochure to accompany the Dr. Otis Moss Jr. Equality Museum Board that travels from classroom to classroom. 

An example from books they select each year is “With the Might of Angels” by Andrea Davis Pinkney, which portrays a girl's journey while desegregating her town's school system in 1950s Virginia. 

The 7th graders have been watching “We Are the Dream: The Kids of the Oakland MLK Oratorical Fest.” It is a 2020 film that follows children of many cultures as they prepare for this annual speech competition, in its 40th year. 

Students in the eighth grade commemorated MLK’s “I Have a Dream” speech – each selecting a section and orally presenting the portion’s greatness based upon the rich imagery, rhetorical style, moral propositions and enduring truths.

 
At Birchwood this focus on Black history is integrated yearlong throughout every grade level and subject, and it incorporates the stories of people of diverse cultures. This has been our practice for 40 years. We have joined the aspiration of John Hope Franklin, the first African American president of the American Historical Association, to weave the story of African Americans into the fabric of our American history and, in like manner, we incorporate the many cultures represented in our school.

 
In social studies, the contributions of African Americans are alongside others in the pantheon of great Clevelanders and the heroes of Ohio history. Fourth graders make connections with the past through stories such as that of John Parker, the famous former slave turned conductor on the Underground Railroad. 

This year, in third and fourth grade math, teachers are combining Black History Month with mathematics by presenting the life of Raye Montague, the "Navy's Hidden Figure." She was a contemporary of those now-famous NASA women mathematicians from the famed movie; and she endured the same racism and misogyny that they suffered. 

However, she persevered in her own way and went on to pioneer the use of computer design in ship building, becoming the first person to actually use a computer program to design a submarine. 

In the sixth through eighth grades, the topics for the National History Day competition include: Civil Rights Protest Songs, the 1967 Cleveland Summit, William and Ellen Craft, the Oberlin-Wellington Rescue, John Mackey and NFL free agency, the Euclid Beach riots, Henrietta Lacks, Freedom Summer of 1964, Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis, and Robert Hillary King. 


In our reading classrooms, African-American literature is part of a systematic plan through the grades: a rich array of biography, poetry, and historical fiction units expand to contextual and thematic studies, and include stories about the everyday life of children and young adults of many diverse backgrounds. 

Books are by celebrated and award-winning authors such as Kwame Alexander, Jason Reynolds, Mary Hoffman, Rita Williams-Garcia, Virginia Hamilton, and Mildred Taylor. Poetry by authors such as Gwendolyn Brooks, Langston Hughes, Nikki Giovanni, Nikki Grimes, and Maya Angelou are alongside great poets from many cultures represented in our yearly poetry shows. 

In the Ben Franklin Initiative, eighth grade students analyze films about “great people doing great things.” The selections include those that highlight racial issues: “42,” the story of Jackie Robinson; “Amazing Grace,” about William Wilberforce and the end of the slave trade in Great Britain; and “Hidden Figures,” about the contributions of African Americans in space exploration. 

Other titles include “Race,” “RedTails,” “Glory Road,” and “Rabbit-Proof Fence.” Under Mr. Debelak’s guidance, students study the stories people live by, how those stories are shaped, and how they can change.

 
The school had the privilege in February of welcoming our Black History Month speaker, vice president and chief impact and equity officer with Rock Entertainment Group, the parent company of the Cleveland Cavaliers, Keving Clayton. He is also board chairman of the Urban League of Greater Cleveland. 

Clayton believes that giving back and supporting people who need a hand is his purpose and calling. While Clayton clearly is a go-getter, he is fueled by the concept of being a go-giver and servant leader.
 
We are all together holding on to the dream!
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