Kathy Hein wore traditional Congo garb, had eight different African foods and pictures from Congo during Hillsboro’s 6th-grade marketplace in honor of Black History Month. Parents, teachers and other students were able to attend and enjoy all of the booths.
Hillsboro 6th grade students held a marketplace last week in honor of Black History Month. They had all kinds of booths including one celebrating Selena Williams and her tennis career and one celebrating Michael Jackson and his music career. Parents, teachers and other students were able to attend and enjoy all of the booths.
The Hillsboro Middle School 6th graders have been working hard to prepare for a marketplace to honor Black History Month which they were able to showcase last week on Wednesday, March 8.
“It started as a single Black History Month lesson with Mr. [Demetrius] Cox, and it grew into a full marketplace with 17 booths,” said teacher Tamara Cassidy.
After Cox, a teacher and coach at Hillsboro Middle High School, introduced the meaning behind Black History Month, students chose a black historical figure to research. During the month of February (Black History Month), they completed a full research presentation in reading class, and then in art they created the marketplace booths out of cardboard. Students worked in teams of three to four to display a cultural product based on one of their research subjects. Products included art, music, sports, monuments and food.
“Their end goal was to create an interactive booth that would represent the person whom they studied. Some students brought a specific food to represent the culture of the person they researched and represented, others had marketplace participants write famous quotes, performed dance, sang songs and showed athletic talent of people they researched,” said art teacher Dustin Dalke.
Some booths portrayed boundaries being pushed and placed participants into similar situations of unfairness and critical times from the Civil War through the civil rights movement. Historical figures represented at the marketplace included Alicia Keys, Harriet Tubman, Michael Jackson, Beyonce, Steph Curry, Sh’Carrie Richardson, Michael Jordan, Lonnie Johnson, Martin Luther King Jr., Misty Copeland, Claudette Colvin, Earl Lloyd, Ruby Bridges, Amanda Gorman, Stevie Wonder, Rosa Parks, Malcom X, Allyson Felix, George Washington Carver, Bessie Coleman, Maya Angelou, Morgan Freeman and Serena Williams.
“Mr. Dalke and Mrs. Whisenhunt were a huge support for students as they created their booths,” said Cassidy.
Dalke added, “I’ve gotta give Janet Whisenhunt the biggest kudos for being the biggest supporter of student learning. Janet far exceeds the duties of a media center facilitator. She brings out the best out of each student that steps into the WMC.”
On opening day the 6th graders hosted the entire 5th grade class in the marketplace.
“We also had parents, teachers and high school students take part in the action,” said Cassidy. “Overall the project was incredibly impressive. Everyone worked together to create something meaningful and beautiful. It was a huge success.”
