MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.
Lessons beyond the I Have a dream speech
We chose images of King that show him as a dimensional human, with his children, and as a child not just an orator.
It’s January again, the month in which we celebrate, honor, and teach about Martin Luther King, Jr. This post is a list of resources compiled mainly from Zinn Education Project and Learning for Justice. We will add to this!
First, the DO’S and DONT’S of Celebrating Martin Luther King Day.
from Coretta Scott King herself in 1993,
“The holiday must be substantive as well as symbolic. It must be more than a day of celebration . . . Let this holiday be a day of reflection, a day of teaching nonviolent philosophy and strategy, a day of getting involved in nonviolent action for social and economic progress.
Martin Luther King and the Power of Non-Violence - lesson plan for grades 3-8 from PBS
A list of resources about Martin Luther King’s life and work that go beyond the “I Have a Dream” speech from Learning for Justice..
This resource from Zinn about King’s speech against the Vietnam war includes a free lesson activity (you need to sign up to download the pdf but it’s worth it!)
Martin Luther King and the Power of Words lesson plan by Center for Civic Education
“How the Civil Rights Movement Embodied a Time of Change” - Lesson Plan from PBS
“What is Discrimination? - Fair or Unfair” - Lesson Plan from PBS
The Martin Luther King Research and Education Institute - the official database and research institute dedicated to Martin Luther King, Jr.
Watch Legacy of Service video and lesson plan by New York Times excerpted here: “Have students research ideas in the spirit of service here (broken link), and then design a day of service for themselves and their classmates, or for their family members, and present these ideas to their class. They can also find resources in our lesson plan Making a Difference: Ideas for Giving, Service Learning and Social Action.” New York Times
What Martin Luther King Day is meant to celebrate : service.