Project 1: African American Awareness Assemblies

African American Awareness Project

This project was designed to develop a sense of cultural pride and awareness during Black History Month.  The event was designed to give celebrate the accomplishments of African American students and past accomplishments of pioneers.

Overview & Rationale

As an administrator it is important to help construct and support events that celebrate the rich culture of all students.  The African-American Awareness assembly was important because it allowed African-American students to engage in the diverse offering of culture, history, and artistic expression found in the Black community.  The demographics of Hawthorne High School are predominately Hispanic and Latino, but African-American students make up close to ten percent of the student population.  There are many events that celebrate Latin-American culture but there were no events dedicated to the smaller minority of African-American students.  I felt that it was important for the school to recognize the culture and accomplishments of the school’s second-largest culture during the month of the February, which is nationally known as African-American History Month.

My role was to assist in the development of an event that celebrated the culture of the African-American students on my campus.  I attended a few collaborative planning meetings where I assisted by sharing ideas, creating an agenda, planning activities and creating an ambiance for the event.  I also followed up with students to make sure that the event served their needs, and supervised students throughout the event to ensure that they were attentive.

The event successfully celebrated African-American culture as our invited guests (community stakeholders) spoke to students about the effectiveness of hard work and sacrifice.  As a group, stakeholders decided that the assembly would be more effective if we split participating students into subgroups.  So we decided to have two different assemblies, one for male students and an additional assembly for female students.  We figured that each group required a different tone and message.  At the close of each assembly, teacher participated in an awards ceremony which celebrated students who have made tremendous progress academically over the course the school year.  After both assemblies, teachers and administrators were able to share food and conversations with all participating students.

Reflection

I learned that putting an event together requires collaboration and teamwork.  In addition, you must be able to work with a myriad of personalities in order to reach a common goal.  I felt that the highlight of the event was the awards ceremony that concluded it.  Each teacher chose a phenomenal African-American student that exemplified diligence and responsibility, which qualified the chosen student for an award.   I learned that a little bit of acknowledgement goes a long way for students who may not commonly hear that they are doing something positive.

Supporting Documents:

African American Awareness Assembly Flyer

CPSEL’s Addressed:

CPSEL Standard 1

Facilitating the development, articulation, implementation, and stewardship of a vision of learning that is shared and supported by the school community.

• 1.2 Plan and implement activities around the vision

CPSEL Standard 2

Advocating, nurturing, and sustaining a school culture and instructional program conducive to student learning and staff professional growth.

• 2.1 Develop school culture and ensure equity

CPSEL Standard 4

Collaborating with families and community members, responding to diverse community interests and needs, and mobilizing community resources.

• 4.1 Collaborate to incorporate the perspective of families and community members
• 4.2 Establish and manage linkage between the site and the larger community context