Black History Month is an important opportunity to acknowledge and celebrate the genius and joy of Black historical figures – both living and from the past – who shape our world.

Black History Month is an important opportunity to acknowledge and celebrate the genius and joy of Black historical figures – both living and from the past – who shape our world. The OER Commons Team is looking to connect with educators interested in sharing lesson or unit plans that feature Black historical figures across different content areas, such as Charles Henry Turner (science), Francis Ellen Watkins Harper (poetry), and Lorenzo Dow Turner (linguistics).

To help both students and educators learn more about Black historical figures, OER Commons is curating resources that include both student-facing materials and teacher-facing supports. This might be a new resource that you have created or an existing resource that you have used.

This would even be a great opportunity for a cohort of educators to collaborate. If you are interested in support for organizing a cohort, please email Joanna Schimizzi (joanna@iskme.org).

If you are ready to submit new resource or share an existing resource, please use this Google Form to submit the resource.

For those who are creating a new resource, we have provided a template that you can “remix” on the OER Commons platform to include your details and essential elements such as learning outcomes and differentiation for diverse learners. Resource submissions will be vetted to avoid harmful bias and copyright terms and then shared in a collection that can be used, remixed, and shared in classrooms.

If you are interested in support, we are happy to set up Office Hours at your convenience. Please reach out to joanna@iskme.org.

The first round of submissions will be accepted through February 21st. Details about submitting your resource can be found in this Google Form. 

All accepted submissions in the first round will be entered into a drawing and five winners will be selected for a $50 gift card to a local Black-owned bookstore or business of their choice. 

A continuing round of submissions will be accepting throughout 2022, and additional curation projects will center different identity categories.

We hope you will join OER Commons in February and the whole year to celebrate the genius and joy of Black historical figures with high-quality OER. For questions, please reach out to Joanna Schimizzi – joanna@iskme.org