Goals and Dreams

An oldie but a goodie, in my opinion. Back in case you missed it! It's January, and our annual celebration of the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is today. Martin Luther King Day has not always been a national holiday, and during all the years when school districts were sorting through whether they would observe by having school or by not having school, Dr. King's family has always reminded us to "Make it a day ON, not a day OFF."

So what are you doing in your classroom to commemorate the life of this American legend? In case you are still looking around for a few ideas to add to your lesson plan, here are some you might like. The Martin Luther King unit has always been my favorite one to teach because it reaches my students at their core. I love watching them search deep inside of themselves for who they are and what they stand for, and then find a way to share that with all of us. Isn't that just what Dr. King did: reach deep inside himself to find what really mattered and then try to share it with the world?

Of course, my fourth graders know about the "I Have a Dream" speech long before they reach their year with me, but not many are aware that Dr. King carefully chose the Lincoln Memorial as the place to deliver that speech and why. The second line of this speech begins, "Five score years ago...", referring to the Gettysburg address, which of course begins, "Four score and seven years ago...", referring to the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

Wait.... What's going on here...could there be some connection across time and history between people who tried to make things better for all of us? Of course there was. Here's the sequence I present to my students:

1. Read the Declaration of Independence together. (You can even do a CLOSE READ of it if you must!)
2. Discuss how the Declaration was kind of like a letter from the Founding Fathers to England that "This is how it's going to be around here from now on."
3. Read the Gettysburg Address together. I use a beautifully illustrated picture book for that reading by Abraham Lincoln, of course, but with illustrations by Michael McCurdy.
4. Discuss how the Gettysburg Address was really a letter from Lincoln to the Founding Fathers on how it was going 87 years after the signing of the Declaration.
5. Next we get to the famous Dream speech. There are so many illustrated versions of this speech. Wasn't this speech meant to be a letter informing President Lincoln that we as a people had not really come as far along as his vision  for us?  That's precisely why it was delivered right in front of the Lincoln Memorial on August 28, 1963.

For children (and many of their teachers!) who were not here when the Civil Rights Movement was happening, when Dr. King made his speeches, or when he was assassinated, I have found this sequence to be a pretty effective way of placing King Day in its proper historical perspective.

To add personal meaning to each child, I challenge my students to write a letter to Dr. King, telling him how we're doing today as the beneficiaries of his dream. How is that vision working for each of us?

My complete lesson plan, which adds a craftivity, poetry, literature and video resources, along with student samples and a rubric which makes grading a snap, is available by clicking here:

New for 2022: For a grounded approach to the "I Have a Dream" lesson, try this new resource which ties influential learnings to practical action in order to reach those dreams!

 

You might also like this free download to keep the love flowing through Acts of Kindness the rest of the year:

Who will make the difference to finally bring peace to all of us? Those sweet children sitting in all of our classrooms right now! The dream lives as long as people believe in it and believe that their actions will make a difference!

Artwork at the top of this page by Maya, one of my sweet students, keeping the dream alive!

If I can do anything else to help make your job easier this year, please let me know in the comments below! If I use your idea for a new blog post, you will win a TpT $10 gift card. If I create a new resource for Rainbow City Learning based on your idea, you will win a free copy of that resource to use in your classroom! (Note: all comments are reviewed before appearing on my blog. It may take a few hours for your comment to appear! Thanks for your patience!)

For more teaching ideas for this month, be sure  to check out the other blogs of Teacher Talk! 

For more great January teaching ideas, be sure to check out these Teacher Talk bloggers! 

If you would also like to be a part of Teacher Talk, we are a group of teacher bloggers who share posts that are heavy on the ideas with just a little selling of our educational materials at TeachersPayTeachers.com.  For more information about joining The Best of Teacher Entrepreneurs Marketing Cooperative, go to https://bit.ly/3o7D1Dv.  Feel free to email me at retta.london@gmail.com if you have any questions. 

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Inaugurations Past and Present

I have watched several inaugural addresses with my students. We would have lunch together in the classroom and turn on the tv at noon.  We would find inspiration and much to discuss when the speech was over. Each of us had a favorite part to highlight. Presidents have traditionally shared their vision for our country's future while outlining the goals they hope to accomplish during their term of service. Watching and listening during all the inaugural activities provided a window to history being made in real time, and motivation for being better students of government and history going forward. For help and inspiration with presenting primary documents to your students, visit The Our Documents Initiative. It is a goldmine for teachers!

My favorite inaugural address of all time is John F. Kennedy's speech from January of 1961. I was way too much of a little elementary school fangirl at the time, devoting my entire sketchbook for art around different poses of our fresh and young President. (Thoughts for another post. What makes kids connect with current events?) Of course, we all remember, "...ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country." Every time I revisit this amazing speech, cobbled from John Kennedy's notes, and reworked through the whole writing process (!) by Ted Sorenson (speech writer) and John Kennedy together, I find new amazing and prophetic nuggets. Just a few chin droppers and mind bogglers to follow:

Alaska and Hawaii became states in 1959, toppling my reign (according to my grandfather) as "the prettiest little girl in 48 states". Since Grandpa hadn't visited Alaska or Hawaii yet, we both had to concede that there might be a prettier little girl in one of the new states. He doubted it, but still... Anyway, back to Kennedy's speech...

"To those new states whom we welcome to the ranks of the free, we pledge our word that one form of colonial control shall not have passed away merely to be replaced by a far more iron tyranny. We shall not always expect to find them supporting our view. But we shall always hope to find them strongly supporting their own freedom--and to remember that, in the past, those who foolishly sought power by riding the back of the tiger ended up inside." I may have a t-shirt imprinted with that last part. 

"If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich." 

"Let both sides seek to invoke the wonders of science instead of its terrors. Together let us explore the stars, conquer the deserts, eradicate disease, tap the ocean depths, and encourage the arts and commerce."

Just my faves from this year's dive into the text. I like to revisit. Every single Presidential Inaugural Speech has nuggets to mine, discuss, and inspire going forward. Who could forget President Trump's words about American Carnage, yet do you also recall that he said, "We are one nation – and their pain is our pain. Their dreams are our dreams; and their success will be our success. We share one heart, one home, and one glorious destiny. The oath of office I take today is an oath of allegiance to all Americans."? Steve Bannon and Stephen Miller have taken credit as the authors of this Inaugural Address. 

A fun activity to try with your kids is to select some Inaugural speeches and to mine them for nuggets worthy of analysis and discussion. Session six of this ten session unit will help you to do that, and also to predict, view, and later to analyze President's Biden's speech. 

The Inauguration this year will be very different from those in the past. No outdoor crowds, no night filled with balls for the new President and First Lady to dance at. So many changes. To remember how Americans typically celebrate an Inauguration, and to compare/contrast the very unusual one for President Biden, you may want to use this resource:

Wishing you a happy Inauguration Week with many opportunities for learning and healing ahead!

For more teaching inspiration for January/February, check out the amazing Teacher Talk blogs below. If you would also like to be a part of Teacher Talk, we are a group of teacher bloggers who share posts that are heavy on the ideas with just a little selling of our educational materials at TeachersPayTeachers.com.  For more information about joining The Best of Teacher Entrepreneurs Marketing Cooperative, go to https://bit.ly/3o7D1Dv.  Feel free to email me at retta.london@gmail.com if you have any questions. 

If you are so kind as to comment on my post, please know that all comments are monitored and will be posted when approved. (You may not see your comment right away after you post!)

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Connect Kids to the Real World with PBL

Teachers, do you ever read or listen to the news and ask yourself, "What if?" "How can I explain this to or discuss this with my students?" "How can I help my students to make a real difference in the world around them?" What if we could use some PBL (Project Based Learning) to  connect our students to the real world and current events unfolding in the news? What if we could take class time to develop these units without missing a beat in our attention to the standards we must meet?

Project Based Learning (PBL) is the answer to "What if?"!

For fourth through sixth graders, I always love to begin a new PBL unit with literature connections. I love to give kids a great story to hook their thoughts on as they begin to brainstorm ways they can begin their own PBL experience. Searching your library or online bookstore will turn up lots of connected literature perfect for your own grade level and kids.

If you are new to PBL, I thought these ideas from one of the PD trainings that I have taught on PBL might be helpful. This one was on organizing a PBL based fundraiser to help with Hurricane Relief. Reaching out to people who have been caught up on a natural disaster is one way that kids in your room right now can tie their PBL to real life. If you are already familiar with PBL, I hope that some of the curricular connections might be helpful.

Here's a link to a post about a PBL based project that my Rainbow City students did for many years to help families in need in our community.

For a fun conversation about STEM/STEAM/PBL, be sure to tune in to Episode 17 of We Teach So Hard!

For tons of ready to use PBL task starters, check out Rainbow City Learning's STEM/STEAM projects!

And...for more ideas to keep your class moving through December, visit these great Teacher Talk blogs! Let me know by email if you'd like to join up and blog along with us each month! 

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