Black History Month

This month, staff and students have celebrated Black History Month in their own way. Check out what has been going on: 

In Mr. Collins’s class, students were presented with an image for their Daily Writing Task, a 5-minute exercise at the beginning of class. The photograph was of “Drummer Boy Jackson” who was an escaped slave in Louisiana who made his way behind Union lines and then volunteered for service in the Union army.

Students were not given this background until after the writing time was over and we heard three student responses.  

The prompt used for AP Seminar students was: “What is the Argument?”  

Students in 9^th Honors Literature were asked to write an original poem inspired by the images.  

Here are two samples of student work:   

In this picture, one can see on the left a boy wearing some tattered clothes which are likely the result of poor living conditions. On the right, however, the boy is wearing new and better clothes and by the looks of it, is a drummer boy from the time period of the Civil War. The argument this picture is making then is that those who may have been living under poor conditions such as slavery during the Civil War period could turn their lives around by becoming drummer boys or fighters for the Union and help advance the Union effort to win the war and abolish slavery. 
             Jeffrey Zhou (AP Seminar, Grade 10)  

I went from empty hands to drums 

Ripped to new clothes 

I went from nothing to a lot 

I had everything 

But a smile 

             Rukaiya Balagamwala (9^th Honors Lit, Grade 9)    

In Ms. Willis’ social studies class, students enthusiastically participated in a scavenger hunt. All students and staff are welcome to stop by her room and learn about these important historical, cultural, and political figures. 

Mr. Schultz wore his Apple Black Unity watchband with the Black Unity watch face.