I will never forget when Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday is because it is the same as my father's birthday. Also, as a teacher I always know when the next holiday is! :) As a classroom teacher, I would always have the students discuss the "I Have a Dream" speech and then create their own dreams. It was so interesting to see what the students came up with for their dreams. I enjoyed seeing the students get motivated to start a new year by declaring what their dreams for the future were. You can see a similar one below from clipartfest.com.
Besides viewing the "I Have a Dream" speech, I also made sure to read the book Martin's Big Words to my students. My favorite line from the book is "Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can." In our current times, it is a reminder that we need to come together and share love instead of hate.
In the past year, I learned about a great website called Newsela. Newslea features nonfiction text that can be read on different lexile levels. There are quizzes and and writing prompts to go with the articles as well. I also love that most of the articles can be translated into Spanish.
I have become a Newsela Certified Educator and I am doing a pilot program for them to improve. The program I am working with is about Civil Rights. The students in the library are going to read articles about Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr., and Thurgood Marshall. Then, the students will complete formative tasks written by Newsela that go along with the articles.
I highly recommend trying out Newsela some time soon. I am looking forward to using it to make my yearly lesson about civil rights more engaging for students. It is a great example of a tech tool that does not just replace regular text...it enhances the learning experience.
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