For October PD Day, a group of teachers and staff came together to look at how *teachers could support teachers* for planning around our first MLK Day of Service and for other DEI related projects through the year.  The larger committee looking into MLK Day decided that it would be better to adjoin activities with Black History Month and create a broader event, which we called Embrace the Dream (ETD). The group established a committee and moved forward with ideas generated at our October PD Day project to support teachers.

Watch for an email coming in January with all of the teacherly details you’ll need to find easy ways to participate in activities during this six-week event.  Other NMC communications and web resources will also be announced from other workgroups.

In addition to a forthcoming Google Calendar with all related events and details, here is a preview of what teachers have been doing to support the effort…

The Voices Project:

The Voices Project will bring awareness to lesser-known contributors, or Voices, to the arts, sciences, and occupations.  The exhibit consists of poster-sized busts, providing information about the contributor and their contributions.  Each poster will link to the entire collection by a QR Code.  Having broad representation of nearly all of our programs and areas, this exhibit will allow teachers in any program to participate. The posters will be placed in every building on our campuses and be ready for Martin Luther King Day (and Embrace the Dream) activities on January 17, 2022.  Suggested questions will accompany the exhibit and allow for immediate use in your course.

MLK and related documentaries:

We are also pleased to have access to Kanopy, an incredible video resource available to the NMC community.  There are a number of MLK-related videos available.  We are providing materials for three of them, which all provide an in-depth look at different aspects of King’s contributions to civil rights and American society.  These will be accompanied with ready-made activities to incorporate into your course for credit or extra credit.

NMC Service Opportunities:

MLK Day celebrations are typically “days of service”.  To commemorate this intention of King’s message, we have worked with community partners on a number of service opportunities during the ETD period through mid-February.  There are structured volunteer opportunities at Safe Harbor and Cherryland Humane Society coming during the month.  Watch for information on how to sign up coming soon!