AfroFuturism Challenge Kit
Join hundreds of students to explore African Heritage Month and beyond!
Empower your students with a deeper understanding of Black history and culture, fostering pride, inclusivity, and a sense of belonging in every classroom.
Applications Due October 4, 2024
Why AfroFuturism?
Every year around the world and in our classrooms we observe African Heritage Month also known as Black History Month. During the month of February we too often only talk about the past, and often historical stories rooted in trauma. Some folks also celebrate Black Futures Month, shifting the narrative into how to celebrate our present and invest in Black futures. It’s important to remember, and for many to experience, that African and Black history is about more than just slavery and tough times.
This Challenge Kit is our first to explicitly use art as a way of exploring designing African Heritage Month. Students will leverage Afrofuturism, this is a creative genre found in books, music, art, and more to imagine the future while centering Black culture and heritage. A great example of Afrofuturism that many students would know is Black Panther.
Students’ guiding challenge is: How might we make African Heritage Month and beyond meaningful to our school community?
Why a Challenge Kit?
Young people deserve to have a say in the world around them; to engage with real-world problems that don’t have answers in the back of a textbook. Challenge Kits are the building blocks for many remarkable possibilities—there are no right answers or predicted outcomes. It’s the curiosity and creativity of students and staff like you that bring challenges to life in impactful ways.
What you’ll experience:
- Professional Learning in Real-World Problem Solving: (Mandatory for those new to I-Think) Join the I-Think Real-World Problem Solving Institute, in person in Downtown Toronto. The Institute is taught by I-Think Mentors, educators who started their journey just like you are.
- Orientation: You will get your Challenge Kit and have time to get familiar with the materials and the experience you’ll facilitate in the classroom.
- Facilitating the Challenge Kit: A Teacher Coach is here to support you throughout. You can reach out at any time.
- Spending Black History Month Together: The I-Think Team will be visiting schools during February and beyond to see the launch of the incredible student thinking.
What’s in the Challenge Kit?
- A Letter (that you can customize) from your school leader to the students issuing the challenge
- Slides that you can customize to guide your students through the experience.
- Activity Plans with resources to engage students in deep thinking and artistic exploration.
- Virtual Student Celebration of student thinking!
You’re saying yes to?
- Attending the Real-World Problem Solving Institute, if you’re new to I-Think, in person
- Attending the Orientation
- Using the Challenge Kit for students to design your school’s Black History Month and Beyond
- Inviting us to your school to see student thinking.
- Filling out pre and post survey
Cost: $1,000 per teacher
Whats Included:?
- A 6-week, step-by-step Real-World Problem Solving Journey supported by classroom-ready materials you can download and use as is, or customize.
- Support to launch the challenge, including a customizable letter from your school leader, and a virtual launch event hosted by I-Think.
- Virtual speaker series or videos and activities to foster empathy and deepen students’ understanding of the challenge themes.
- A certificate of engagement for you and your students, who will become eligible for I-Think’s RJS Scholarship, after participating in the experience.
- Students will engage in the Real-World Problem Solving Journey throughout October – December. Professional learning will be provided before, mentorship and support will be provided throughout and you’ll be invited to celebration afterward.
The Journey!
*The AfroFuturism Challenge is about celebrating Black students through thoughtful exploration. Due to the depth of this work we want to make sure we are working with educators, classrooms and student groups that are prepared and have support (in school and/or outside of it) to take on this exploration. In the application form, we are going to ask you about the type of work you, your classroom, and your school has taken on/done that has prepared you for this Challenge Kit.
This could be lived experience, anti-Black racism learning, field trips, meaningful engagement with community, and more.
Applications due October 4, 2024
