To celebrate this amazing man, ATP and I created a lesson integrating primary sources and the text Martin's Big Words.
We started with reading the book My Brother Martin by Christine King Farris. This sweet book details MLK's childhood and tells about a time white friends in his neighborhood suddenly decided not to play with him.
Then we shared images from The Library of Congress. We also shared a shortened clip of the "I Have a Dream Speech." Students had a copy of the text to follow along with and added their own thinking and questions as we watched.
After discussion, we read Martin's Big Words. The students each selected one quote from the book to analyze and reflect on. [By the way, if you want to hear the text of the book, check out this video. The quality isn't great, but it is the full text and images.]
These reflections will become part of a display in our wing with a timeline of important African American figures. It's a great way to talk not only about this time period, but how we can continue living out the 'big words' of MLK.
I really enjoyed teaching this powerful lesson on a important topic. What are you doing to keep the dream alive?
