{"id":1491,"date":"2021-02-13T20:44:33","date_gmt":"2021-02-13T20:44:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/?p=1491"},"modified":"2022-01-18T20:53:17","modified_gmt":"2022-01-18T20:53:17","slug":"teaching-black-history-with-a-passion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/teaching-black-history-with-a-passion\/","title":{"rendered":"Dakota Adeyemi: Teaching Black History With A Passion"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Dakota School makes learning fun and informative for elementary students<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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When COVID-19 forced the nationwide transition to online learning, schoolchildren found themselves at home trying to transition to the concept along with their parents. Ten-year-old Dakota Adeyemi was in a similar situation, but managed to keep herself busy by searching for Black history on the internet.<\/p>\n

After taking an interest in Black pioneers and their contributions to society, Dakota decided she wanted to make better use of her time by teaching others about positive Black history.<\/p>\n

She approached her mother, Georgia state Rep. Erica Thomas<\/a>, with an idea that would combine her expanding interest in Black history with her love for teaching and learning. And thus, a new passion project was born: Dakota School<\/em>.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI love history and I love Black history,\u201d said Dakota, who lives in Mableton, Georgia, with her mother, father and younger sister. \u201cEvery time I went to school I was excited to learn about Black history, but when history came around, there wasn\u2019t any. I knew there was something wrong, so I decided to start Dakota\u2019s School.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dakota School<\/em> is an online show created to make learning about Black history fun for children. Using singing and dancing, interactive lessons and videos, Dakota and her team focused on stepping away from traditional classroom models. Instead, they focused on activities that would make children more receptive to school, not less.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just went off the things she likes,\u201d Thomas said. \u201cShe likes crossword puzzles, word searches and coloring. So we just put all those things into the workbook. We do crosswords for each lesson so the kids can figure out some of the words they learned, and we did a word search for each one as well. We just did what \u2019Kota liked. If \u2019Kota likes it, it will probably work. She helps us come up with the lessons, and it works out. It\u2019s pretty much Dakota\u2019s school and if Dakota likes it, I think the other kids will, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dakota and her team film Dakota School<\/em> on Wednesdays, because it is the one day of the week she doesn\u2019t have classes. She says some Wednesdays are for filming and others are for learning and studying.<\/p>\n

However, it\u2019s clear that production days aren\u2019t the only times Dakota is working. Thomas says Dakota is very hands-on with the program and does a lot of the work that goes into it.<\/p>\n