Introduction
1. History
W.E.B. DuBois High School is a broadcast technology-based school grounded in the social justice principles of W.E.B. DuBois, located in the Marshall High School Complex. The school opened in fall of 2005 with approximately 120 students, all in grade 9.
The staff recognized a need to develop strong leadership among the student body. After a semester of attempts to develop leadership through a series of workshops, the planning team decided to offer a semseter-long class instead. Twenty-five students were recommended to participate in a leadership course that met Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1:26 pm to 3:16 pm. The intention was to create an opportunity for students to learn more about W.E.B. DuBois’ life (see Links for more information), social justice, oppression, self-responsibility and leadership while utilizing the school’s technology resources.
The staff predicted that this course would have a substantial impact on school culture, involve the local community, and empower the students to find their voices and take action on their own behalf. The results of the post-survey (see Assessment section for more detail) show that this prediction was accurate.
“I feel special because we got hand-picked as leaders.”
We saw tremendous growth in each student individually and in the way they functioned as a group. From the first few classes where interruptions and lack of respect when others were speaking was the norm to the end of the semester where students would actively listen to each other, we saw the power of including student voice in the classroom. We are proud of their personal courage and hard work to develop as students, leaders and people.
In closing, here is the letter that the students co-wrote and signed at the end of the semester, which demonstrates this growth better than anything we can say:
Dear Bennie, Jennifer and Ms. Bee:
We just wanna say thank you all for everything. There are things we learned about each other that we never knew. We have so much fun in this class. Once again, we would like to say thanks.
Always,(The Students)
Authors’ Note
It is important that the project is based on your school mission/vision, which should be woven throughout the coursework. Use an essential question and guiding questions along the way with students. We used the Essential Question “What are we fighting for?” and Guiding Questions “ What is your struggle?” “What will you stand up for?” “How will you use your voice?”
The motto for the course, created by Bennie Patterson of TALC, is “Our Struggle, Our Future, Our Education.” We separated the semester-long class into three segments around each segment of this motto and used the essential and guiding questions above to organize our goals and objectives.
Contact Information
If you have questions about the course or these materials, please contact:
Susan Ballje at
Bennie Patterson at
Jennifer Wilson at
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