Learning for Justice: Green Trees faculty continue to build on resources from Learning for Justice (formerly known as Teaching Tolerance – you can learn more about their new name here!). Teachers are focused on helping children build positive self-identity and exposing them to a great diversity of people and experiences through materials including books, art, music, dolls, and manipulatives.

 

Green Light New Orleans: Our youngest Greenies are taught early-on about the importance of the many communities to which they belong – their families, Green Trees, “big” Newman, their neighborhoods, the greater New Orleans community – and the diversity that lies within these communities. Students in the 4s classes recently culminated time spent exploring community, kindness, and helping others with a community engagement project in partnership with Green Light New Orleans. Students painted rain barrels that will be distributed to New Orleans residents to help with water conservation and the negative effects of storm water. Learn more about the benefits of rain barrels and how to get one for your home here!

 

Residents Rock: After Mardi Gras, Green Trees students will be reaching out to another important group of community members: our elderly neighbors living in nursing homes. Students will participate in the “Residents Rock” campaign and paint decorative rocks to help nursing home residents remember they are loved and included in the community.

 

Books as Windows and Mirrors: Books offer our students both mirrors (stories that reflect their own culture and experiences) and windows (stories that offer views into someone else’s culture and experiences). Peruse a sampling of the books our Lower School students have been reading by clicking on the link below!

 

Positive Identity Development: Lower School students engage in a variety of activities to learn more about themselves and others. In classrooms throughout the Lower School, students are reading, discussing, and celebrating differences and commonalities in regards to many aspects of identity: race, ethnicity, gender, physical abilities, religion, beliefs, values, and family structures, to name a few.

 

Some examples:

Family and Cultural Traditions: Students have been enriched by families and students generously sharing their own important traditions, customs, and cultural celebrations with their classrooms.

 

Some examples:

 

Role Models and Civil Rights History: Teachers introduce students to important role models and integrate the ongoing struggle for social justice into their classrooms in age-appropriate ways throughout the Lower School.

 

Some examples:

Current Events: Lower School teachers provide spaces for students to engage in learning and conversation about important current events.

 

Some examples:

 

 

 

Student-Leadership: We are excited to announce that four eighth graders have been chosen to represent Newman in the Race, Justice, and Equity 8^th Grade Civic Ambassadors Program. This program, offered by the Close Up Foundation and the National Network of Schools in Partnership, is designed to bring together eighth graders from all over the country to connect their experiences and personal stories to ongoing conversations about race, justice, and equity in our society, develop the skills needed for active citizenship, and return back to their schools to share what they have learned as civic ambassadors to their school communities. We look forward to hearing more from these student-leaders in the months to come!

High Resolves: The Middle School continues to utilize DEI programming from High Resolves, led by Newman faculty and staff, during Enrichment Blocks. In the first semester, students participated in workshops exploring identity and culture. This semester, students will participate in workshops about unconscious bias, inclusivity, stereotypes, and the shared genetic history of humanity.

 

Black History Month: To celebrate Black History Month, students are learning about important people and events through Black History in Two Minute videos. Videos are introduced and shared in each Middle School assembly in February and advisory groups are also viewing the recordings and creating posters to hang in the hallways and share what they’ve learned with peers.

 

Black History Month has also been an inspiration for our Middle School Spanish classes. Students participated in a gallery walk featuring posters of influential Black Americans and engaged in a crossword puzzle in Spanish about African American inventors. They then chose a person who especially inspired them to research and present to the class (in Spanish, of course!). Students will also be learning about the Black experience outside of the U.S. in Latin America.

 

Anti-Defamation League: Middle School students are invited to participate in ADL’s Art and Poetry Contest (as inspiration, Lilly Gorman, a Newman student from last year’s eighth grade class, won the poetry contest for the entire region! You can read her poem here). The contest asks students to both reflect and challenge themselves with the important words of Congressman John Lewis, "Get in good trouble, necessary trouble." Students should submit artwork and poems work to the Middle School office by March 24, 2021. You can learn more about the contest here.

 

Community Engagement: Recognizing that being an inclusive community reaches beyond the walls of our School, Middle School students participated in efforts for our elderly neighbors and those in our city experiencing homelessness. In December, students participated in the “Residents Rock” campaign and donated hand-painting rocks and holiday ornaments to Chateau de Notre Dame and HomeLife in the Gardens. This month, seventh grader Sophia Gomez organized the Happy Feet sock drive for Ozanam Inn.

 

 

Student-Leadership: In December, six students participated in the Student Diversity Leadership Conference (SDLC) offered by the National Association of Independent Schools. SDLC is a multiracial, multicultural gathering of upper school student leaders from across the U.S. and abroad that focuses on self-reflecting, forming allies, and building community. Students developed cross-cultural communication skills, designed effective strategies for social justice practice through dialogue and the arts, and learned the foundations of allyship and networking principles.

 

This month, three ninth grade students begin the Race, Justice, and Equity Empower Youth Voices Program, a series of workshops developed by the Close Up Foundation and the National Network of Schools in Partnership. The program is designed to help students come together to consider the changes they would like to see in our society, develop empathy for the perspectives of other, and build the skills and confidence to empower other young people to create change. Our ninth graders will join students from across the nation to deliberate about the barriers to equity in our systems of education, health, and justice, hear from policy and advocacy experts about the work that is needed to make change real, and consider methods of activating members of their communities to take action.

 

Black History Month: Launched on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and continuing throughout the month of February, Upper School students, faculty, and staff are gathering each week for a film and discussion series unpacking different parts of Black life and experience in America. Students are engaging in meaningful conversations connecting current and historical events to their lives at Newman, all while enjoying delicious dinners from local Black-owned restaurants. You can learn more about the films and restaurants here!

 

Taking inspiration from their Middle School peers, Upper School students are also showcasing major historical events and introducing less well-known experiences involving Black Americans through Black History in Two Minute videos during class meetings each Friday in February.

 

Courageous Community Conversations: The latest in our conversation series was facilitated by Upper School Spanish teachers and focused on hurricanes Eta and Iota and the extensive damage, devastation, and trauma caused to the people and countries of Honduras, Nicaragua, and Guatemala. Students and teachers discussed political and social crises in past decades, including expanding poverty and community stress, and unpacked the empathy and connection New Orleanians have with others experiencing this type of devastation and the importance of opening our eyes and hearing the voices of those telling their stories.

 

Anti-Defamation League: Also like their Middle School peers, Upper School students are participating in ADL’s Art and Poetry Contest. Considering the words of the immortal John Lewis, "Get in good trouble, necessary trouble," students are reflecting on what good and necessary trouble they would get into to fight systemic racism, hate, and prejudices of all kinds and how this “necessary trouble” will be used to help our community.

 

OurStoryNOLA: A number of students are participating in a local initiative OurStoryNOLA, created by former and current history teachers, examining the history and inequity of schools in New Orleans – and how young people today can be agents of change. The initiative takes inspiration from the work of Newman alum Walter Stern ’97, author of Long before Ruby’s Walk: New Orleans Schools, Race, and Thinking beyond Backlash.

Community Engagement: In a year when many of our community partners are not able to accept volunteers, our students have jumped at the opportunity to engage at every chance. Many students have volunteered to plant trees with SOUL (Sustaining Our Urban Landscape) NOLA, an organization working for a resilient and environmentally equitable New Orleans by reforesting our urban landscape. Others volunteered to help voters get to the polls through Roll to the Polls NOLA and Ride New Orleans. In lieu of our annual veterans’ appreciation cookout at the Volunteers of America transitional home for veterans, students created care packages with socks, face masks, toiletries, sweet treats, and thank you cards. And among their many plans, Upper School students are especially looking forward to SBP opening back up to volunteers for the rebuilding projects we have scheduled this spring! Each of these opportunities reminds students of their connection to the greater community to which they belong.

 

 

Affinity Groups: Faculty and staff racial and ethnic Affinity Groups, which began over the summer, picked back up with monthly gatherings in January. These gatherings provide an opportunity for sharing and exploring life and experiences within spaces defined by membership in a specific identity group. They are designed for participants to connect and renew relationships, explore and celebrate identities, share successes and challenges, and encourage and support one another in an atmosphere of trust and safety.

 

People of Color Conference: In December, a delegation of 19 faculty and staff members and a board member attended the People of Color Conference (PoCC) offered by National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS). The mission of the conference is to provide a safe space for leadership, professional development, and networking for people of color and allies of all backgrounds in independent schools. This year’s theme was New Decade, New Destinies: Challenging Self, Changing Systems, and Choosing Justice.

 

Racial Literacy and Anti-Racism Professional Development: Community and Inclusion liaisons along with School administration are participating in ongoing training throughout the year offered by the Independent Schools Association of the Southwest (ISAS) and Pollyanna, Inc. The group is exploring racial literacy, anti-racist frameworks, mindsets, and actions, microaggressions and microaffirmations, and building community and alliances.

 

High Resolves Training and Workshops: Faculty and staff continue their year-long training program with High Resolves. Parents also had the opportunity to participate in identity workshops in February. We encourage parents to sign up for next month’s workshop on microaggressions. Learn more and sign up here.