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WOODBRIDGE, VA.The plastic sign displayed prominently on DeAna Forbes classroom door is especially fitting this week. In big bold letters: Warning! History Teacher Zone. Your understanding of the past may be corrected at anytime.

Its early in this sleepy suburb 45minutes outside Washington, D.C., and the sun is still rising over Freedom High School as students jog inside from late-arriving buses, backpacks half-hung over shoulders with winter coats swinging. They push through crowded hallways and hurry to firstperiod.

Forbes, 28, who teaches U.S. history and social studies, is one of many teachers across the country participating in the annual Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action, held this year February 610. As her students settle in to watch avideo about the history of Black fraternities and sororities, Forbes prepares an interactivelesson.

The work of telling Black stories, celebrating diversity and inclusivity, and making sure that [students] understand that their lives do matter, is important, Forbes says. It naturally fits in the context ofhistory.

The Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action traces its roots to aBlack Lives Matter organizing campaign at John Muir Elementary in Seattle in 2016 and when, later that school year, educators in Philadelphia organized aweek of teaching surrounding the principles of Black Lives Matter. Teachers in Rochester also held aday of action in 2017. Then, in 2018, it exploded, with educators in more than 20 cities participating in the Week of Action, and it has remained popular sincethen.

Black Lives Matter at School is an act of resistance, says Awo Okaikor Aryee-Price, amember of the inaugural steering committee for Black Lives Matter at School. Its arefusal to accept the ways that we are perpetually dehumanized. Its astatement that we exist, that we are here, and that we are going to fightback.

During the week, teachers often share curriculum and host both virtual and in-person events. This year, events included afair about historically Black colleges and universities, an abolitionist poetry workshop, and an Imagination Lab Listening Project for students, teachers, parents and school staff to envision safe schools andfutures.

The week also centers around key movement demands, including ending zero tolerance policies, ending policing in schools and funding counselors instead, reducing the pushout of Black teachers, promoting restorative justice approaches to discipline, and mandating Black history and ethnic studiescourses.

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Go ahead and share with us, out loud, some things that youve learned so far about the Divine Nine, Forbes instructs, referring to her lesson on historically Black fraternities and sororities. She picks astudent sitting toward the back of theroom.

Theyre there to create social change for future generations, the student says eagerly, glancing up from the jotted-down notes in front ofhim.

Forbes classroom is decorated with artwork made by her studentsthose assigned to her classes, and others whove poked their heads in during free periods or after-school club activities. Earlier in the week, Forbes organized aschoolwide paint-and-sip as part of the Week of Action, in which students detailed on small canvases colorful interpretations of the Black power salute, ornate impressions of the Black Lives Matter slogan, and atraditional Sankofa symbol (from the Akan people of Ghana) meaning go back and getit.

This day, other teachers at Freedom High join in midway through the class to support Forbes lesson, answering questions about Delta Sigma Theta, Alpha Kappa Alpha and Zeta Phi Beta, all three of which were founded on the nearby Howard University campus by Black students in the early 1900s to promote public service, community, and politicalaction.

But the Week of Action is about more than classroom lessons. Earlier in the week, teachers throughout D.C. and the surrounding counties in Maryland and Virginia met at Creole on 14th, apopular brunch and happy hour spot in the busy, racially diverse neighborhood of Columbia Heights to call each other to action. Vanessa Williams, 31, who works as program manager for Teaching for Changes D.C. Area Educators for Social Justice, organized an unapologetically Black educator story lounge event with Empower Ed to offer teachers amicrophone to share personal narratives to highlight the importance of liberatory teachingpractices.

Oftentimes, were not present at the table when these decisions are being discussed about policy, legislation, et cetera, shared Gabrielle Dubose, an educator at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts and aspeaker at the story lounge. They need to hear fromteachers.

The theme of silence and resistance was mentioned repeatedly throughout thenight.

Its harder to do this work on an island or in asilo, Williams says. Its so important to center educators voicesgiving Black educators space where there are no stakes. This is not astaff meeting. Its an opportunity for people to relate to one another and find thatcommunity.

Events like the story lounge, and lessons like Forbes, are exactly what Aryee-Price had hoped for. Revolution stemming from class lessons, spilling out through the hallways and into the streets is exactly what Black Lives Matter Week of Action isabout.

This goes beyond just the week, says Aryee-Price. Its alifetime ofpractice.

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