Building Storehouses of KNOWLEDGE Through Field Experts

As a school, we are a community of learners who use reading, writing, listening, and speaking to deepen our content knowledge. On a regular basis, field experts from our greater community partner with teachers to educate our youth at Detroit Prep.  Together, we make lasting impressions on our student body no matter what the grade level.  The current 2023-2024 5th grade ELA Crews want to give a shout out to this year’s field experts  who have continued to help us become experts on the topics of our Expedition modules.

Module 1: Athlete Leaders of Social Change

Khali Sweeney, Director, Downtown Boxing Gym was our expert role model who helped us relate and make connections to historical athletes who have broken barriers over time.  Khali’s legacy directly inspired us because his game changing narrative taught us that we can achieve anything we set out to do just like him.

Module 2: Human Rights

Emily Beth Friedberg, United Auto Workers Union, UAW, integrated our lessons to promote social progress against the backdrop of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights & Esperanza Rising, the complex texts, embedded in this module’s unit of study.  Her activism on local, national, and international stages to protect workers’ rights raised our commitment to be upstanders and respect the rights of our human family on a daily basis.

Module 3: Inequalities in America

Mary Kamidoi, survivor of WWII Japanese internment camp captivated students, shareholders, parents, and caretakers through impressionable storytelling.  Mary’s adolescent experiences growing up in internment under FDR’s Executive Order 9066 led us to value the ways in which people work to make our world a better place. Her first hand account of what life was like before, during, and after internment opened the door for everyone to relate, compare, and draw conclusions about our responsibility to learn lessons from history.

To move Mary’s story forward,  we interviewed community experts who specialize in social change. Our Activist Assembly spotlighted how each individual works to improve the fabric and quality of life for others here in Detroit. Their willingness to make themselves available, drove students to celebrate their efforts  because they put others before themselves.

• JJ Velez, Director of Public Spaces, Gilbert Foundation. We challenge you to visit one park once a month. It’ll make you happy! https://gilbertfamilyfoundation.org/about-gilbert-family-foundation/

• Darraugh Collins, Site Director, Detroit, Food Rescue US. Does your food franchise have the capacity to become a donor? Do you have time to deliver food to feed the hungry? Are you interested in keeping food waste out of landfills and instead use it to solve food insecurity?, To learn more, go to: .https://foodrescue.us/site/food-rescue-us-detroit/https://foodrescue.us/site/food-rescue-us-detroit/ulti

• Dr. Maureen Connolly, pediatrician, & Director of Henry Ford Health System’s School Based and Community Health Program.She  advances the health and well being of her patients even in the most difficult situations because everyone deserves health care, protections, and social services that promote the best versions of ourselves. Visit and contribute: Do your Part:: they need/appreciate donations. https://www.henryford.com/services/lgbtq-health/transgender-health/services/primary-care

• Jonathan Demers, contract lawyer, City of Detroit If you live in the area, connect with churches, your local colleges, and municipalities to see how you can rehab blight in your neighborhood, take action against bad landlords, start a business, or secure a grant to preserve the integrity of your neighborhood. Jonathan, as an expert,  has been there, done that, did that and that’s why he is a great person for students to learn from https://detroitmi.gov/departments/law-department

• Get behind the efforts of Bekah Gourley, Detroit Affiliate Director, I Support the Girlshttps://isupportthegirls.org/affiliates/detroit/. She ends period poverty for young girls and women at our own school and surrounding neighborhoods. Have you ever thrown a “period party” at work, your church, or school before? We’d love to talk to you if you are interested in helping. https://isupportthegirls.org/affiliates/detroit/

• Faith Saenz and Alli Kelly,  Engagement Strategists, ACLU.  After their interview, we got little blue books that summarized the U.S.Constitution to extend our knowledge. Support the ACLU Fund for Michigan. Don’t  put off tomorrow what you can do today to promote change because “Our rights can’t wait.” https://www.aclumich.org/en/biographies/faith-saenz

Module 4: Natural Disasters

Greg Martin, Director of Disaster Relief at Work, actively helps people and communities recover from natural disasters. The call to action behind  this final module invites everyone to take precautions and prepare in advance. We are holding a bake sale to raise money for Greg’s mission. Last year, we raised a $1,000.00  for DRAW, his organization, and this year…. we intend to match that again! Do your part to help them too and donate if you can::  https://drawbuckets.org/

Learning to give back to our experts whether it be through our thoughts, actions, or deeds are all ways to prove up our duty to society and one another.  We at Detroit Prep can’t do it alone and as a 5th grade class, we appreciate linking our learning to the  outside world  because it takes a CREW to “provide a world class, equitable education that will give all students a foundation of academic excellence and character development while fostering a love of learning and passion for exploring and fulfilling their extraordinary potential as learners, leaders, and world changers.”

Factoring Life Long Lessons in Social Justice

The adults of tomorrow continue to be shaped by past and present social justice warriors. If you’re a 2023-2024 5th grader at DP you’ve already gotten the chance to consider before the ‘24 Summer Olympics the factors that contribute to the success of professional athletes as leaders of social change. In our Expedition Module called “Athlete Leaders of Social Change” we read about a good number of professional athletes who have been leaders of social change. Students began their studies by learning about Jackie Robinson through Promises to Keep: How Jackie Robinson Changed America, written by Jackie’s daughter, Sharon. We gathered factors that led to Jackie Robinson’s success in leading social change and then developed an opinion on which factor (or factors) were most important in his success.

Students finished the Expedition by reading about other athletes who were leaders of social change, beginning with University of Michigan’s very own Jim Abbott. Our scholars researched, compared, and contrasted the factors that contributed to the success of the athletes they studied with those of Jackie Robinson. Students then worked in groups to become Experts in one athlete and created a biography page along with a portrait for their athlete, which they then turned into a book for future classes.

A key take away from this module was that our field study provided us the opportunity to grow in appreciation and admiration for Khali Sweeney who founded Downtown Boxing Gym on Vernor Hwy in Detroit.  Khali Sweeney, is a social justice warrior.  He’s someone who has a solid track record of uplifting and inspiring his after school students and local community.   As our 5th grade students studied historical athletes we also were able to see first hand how Khali’s boxing gym has become a safe, transformative place that’s meant to develop a greater good not just for the students he serves, but for their families, and our greater community here in Detroit.  

Khali would say that boxing was used as an “icebreaker” to shape his urban community. Our DP 5th graders are impressionable and came away from their field study at the gym with solid examples of how Khali Sweeny used visionary leadership to learn from his mistakes which students admired. They also were able to identify how important discipline is as a factor in the field to create change on such a scale as the Downtown Boxing Gym.  We want to keep giving shout outs to DBG and support their cause because there’s a waiting list of 2,000 students who long to be led and supported by their after school programming. Students from Detroit can’t afford to be on waiting lists. We can’t afford not to continue to support our city’s youth.

Explore like we did what social change looks, sounds, and feels like at the Downtown Boxing Gym and consider contributing if you can at @dbgdetroit.org

SUPPORT DRAW

Have you ever known anyone who has suffered from a natural disaster? How did it affect them and the places where it happened? Here in the midwest, and specifically the Greater Detroit area, we might only hear about the devastating effects of tsunamis, earthquakes, or volcanic eruptions that frequently happen around the world. Tornadoes, flooding, and wildfires are more commonplace to us, but all specifically called 5th graders to action as shown in their Expedition study of natural disasters.

The use of multimedia research and predetermined text sets gave students the opportunity to write opinion essays and record podcasts about the repercussions of natural disasters. As students cited the evidence, they convincingly legitimized the need to be prepared for natural disasters and were able to draw conclusions around the fact that it’s best to gradually prepare items for your family’s emergency preparedness kit, so that you won’t be stuck out of luck when they do strike.

Thematically, students were exposed to a whole slew of genres to gain and make connections over points of view around this subject matter. Eventually, we found DRAW or Disaster Relief At Work in the field to support.  Located in Pontiac, MI., this non for profit nationwide agency supplies ultimate survival buckets to those who have suffered the repercussions of natural disasters. 

Through our service project, we raised over a thousand dollars selling baked goods for their disaster relief efforts.  Help us to continue our Celebration of Learning by donating your time and talent or money to their cause because no one should ever have to survive a natural disaster alone.  Go to: 

https://drawbuckets.org/ to extend our work to support DRAW’s worthy cause.

We Are Crew!

At the beginning of the school year, 5th Grade Redbud and Maple Crews explored the concept of identity as our first unit of study. We categorized what makes up an individual and found that people in general had a history of not being accepted or stereotyped. Many had to take a risk to preserve their right to express their thoughts and feelings freely. This was transparent from the start. The topic of identity saw us sharing aspects about what made us special no matter who we are.  As one quarter led to the next, a cluster of our/my students proudly formed and launched Detroit Prep’s GSA Club. This movement occurred right out of the box -the beginning of the year- :)  Talk about an action oriented group of youngsters-WOW WOW WOW!!!

The leadership of this club eventually rested under the tutelage of Ms. Aly our social worker and it was here that students across our Upper School acquired a safe space to talk about their identities.  In the end and in conjunction with National Pride Month, our school’s 5th grade GSA founders spearheaded to own, plan, and execute Detroit Prep’s Pride Week Celebration on June 9th of 2022-2023. DP’s wider community came together to celebrate equitable treatment of our core being no matter who we are. We Are Crew. 5th graders know it and are proud of it.

Crews’ 5th grade study of identity, diversity, justice, and action ran its course because of intentional planning from our administration, specialists, lead teachers, and parent support. The motto “ We are Crew” is recognized, practiced, and deliberate throughout our CREW term planners.  In turn, the daily initiatives of Morning & Closing Crew opened the door for Redbuds and Maples to teach others a valuable lesson: Set the bar high when it comes to addressing, accepting, respecting, and most of all celebrating the rights we hold for one another. And if you don’t believe me, just keep watching our school’s collective group of students in the years to come!