The Martin Luther King, Jr. School serves over five hundred K-8 students, nearly 100% Black or Latino. It is located in Roxbury according to the BPS school site map, and in Dorchester by postal address; Boston’s neighborhoods have ambiguous boundaries!
Images, words, and events in the life of Dr. King fill the school’s hallways. I was invited to visit by third grade teacher Bernadine Lormilus-Henry, who joined the staff this year because, “I love and admire Dr. King for his work as a civil rights activist. I am honored to work in a school named after him, striving to keep his dream alive each day….”
I was drawn to Laura Brenner‘s fourth grade classroom by the laughter and movement inside, where students were paired up to play a memory game. Next door, Maryalice Jennings‘ fourth graders were writing a new chapter for a book they had just read. Across the hall Nehemie Cesar‘s grade 3 students were sitting at desks, sprawled on the rug, or meeting with her to get assistance with their math assignment. Jean Simpson was helping her second graders write goals for themselves.
I loved watching Theater Arts teacher Maurice Parent working with his K1 students – using music and movement to show feelings, dramatically changing his own voice for different activities, and modeling everything he asked them to do. His enthusiasm and delight in the children’s responses was contagious!
During science class, seventh grade students were getting an orientation to their upcoming overnight adventure on Thompson Island, while 8th graders were reading John Steinbeck‘s The Pearl in ELA. Paula Sylvestre was teaching her students how to greet one another in French, and John Field had organized a relay race in the gym. Art teacher Ivonne Otero-Donovan supervised sixth grade students working on large posters about the King’s core values to be displayed throughout the school. She loves “the energy and curiosity that our students possess, and the collegial environment in our school community… it’s a great place to be!”
Every classroom door at the King has a sign featuring a college or university that is personally important to that teacher – a simple way to keep the dream of higher education alive for students. What does YOUR school do that’s worth sharing?
Amika Kemmler-Ernst, Ed.D.
amika45@gmail.com