I Have A Dream: Analyzing Speeches

Explicit instruction/Teacher modeling

• Go over the I Have a Dream worksheet with your students.
• Explain each dream to your students in detail with an example.
• An example for the first dream could be explaining to your students that even though the United States was based on the creed of equality, African Americans were not treated equally, as they were not allowed to sit in the same buses as other races..

Guided practice/Interactive modeling

• Show your students the Martin Luther King Biography by Biography Channel.
• Ask your students to take notes on the video. Have them write at least ten facts from the video.
• Instruct them to share what they wrote with a partner.
• Direct your students to share one idea that they wrote with the class.

Independent working time

• Ask your students to complete the Martin Luther King, Jr. crossword using their video notes.
• Go over the crossword as a class.

• Enrichment: Explain the concept of racism and inequality to your students. Explain to your students that there are still groups of people who face discrimination and inequality. Ask your students to research two groups that face these either locally or globally. Ask your students to write a four paragraph essay about the type of discrimination and inequality that the two groups face and why. Ask your students to use at least two books to find information for their essays.
• Support: Ask your students to answer the 5 W questions about Martin Luther King. A few examples of W questions could include: Who was MLK Jr.? What did he do? Why did he fight for equality and justice?

• Ask your students to complete the Martin Luther King, Jr. worksheet.

• Ask your students to complete the second page of the I Have a Dream worksheet.
• Ask your students to share their dreams with the class.