Primary Type: Lesson Plan
Status: Published
This is a resource from CPALMS (www.cpalms.org) where all educators go for bright ideas!
Resource ID#: 40138
I Have a Dream Today!
Through multiple readings, students explore the craft of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr's "I Have a Dream" speech. Each reading leads students to more
detailed analysis of the text by examining vocabulary, figurative language, author's purpose, inferences, and tone. Using the knowledge gleaned from
these readings, students answer extended response questions requiring textual support.
Subject(s): English Language Arts
Grade Level(s): 9, 10
Intended Audience: Educators
Suggested Technology: Document Camera,
Computer for Presenter, Interactive Whiteboard, LCD
Projector, Speakers/Headphones, Computer Media
Player
Instructional Time: 6 Hour(s)
Resource supports reading in content area: Yes
Freely Available: Yes
Keywords: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., I Have a Dream, Informational Text, speeches, civil rights, Black History
Month, Tone, Metaphors, Author's Purpose
Instructional Design Framework(s): Direct Instruction, Writing to Learn
Resource Collection: CPALMS Lesson Plan Development Initiative
LESSON CONTENT
Lesson Plan Template: General Lesson Plan
Learning Objectives: What should students know and be able to do as a result of this lesson?
Using Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr's speech "I Have a Dream," students will determine Dr. King's central message, summarize the text, draw inferences, and analyze
how he develops his ideas through the use of figurative language, quotes from other sources, repetition, and other rhetorical devices.
Using specific text references to support their ideas, students will analyze the construction and impact of Dr. King's speech.
Prior Knowledge: What prior knowledge should students have for this lesson?
Students should know something about the civil rights movement. In the very least, they should know that Dr. King gave this speech 100 years after slavery was
abolished, yet African-Americans were still denied their civil rights. They should know about segregation (perhaps even Jim Crow laws), Rosa Parks (perhaps also
the Montgomery Bus Boycott), the Civil Rights Act, and understand the main goals of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.
This video is also being used as a "hook" for the unit, but gives much of this background: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efs-CP6HJlA
Students need to know that Dr. King will use the word "Negro" and that this term was the acceptable, politically correct term at the time.
Students should also know something about Dr. King. Basic information about his involvement in the Civil Rights movement up until this point would be helpful.
Video biography about Dr. King: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ank52Zi_S0
Students need to know what metaphors are and what tone is, and the different types of tone that writers and/or public speakers use.
It would also be helpful for students to know how to write a paragraph that includes an introduction, textual evidence, and a conclusion. In the absence of this
knowledge, the teacher could provide exemplars for students to follow.
Guiding Questions: What are the guiding questions for this lesson?
What is the central idea / message of this speech?
What makes an effective speech?
In particular, how did Dr. King make this speech effective?
Why is this speech so well known even today?
page 1 of 4 How can we be persuasive (persuade others to agree with us and/or to act)?
What issues did Dr. King address are still relevant today?
Teaching Phase: How will the teacher present the concept or skill to students?
The "Hook" and Activation of Prior Knowledge
1. In small groups, students brainstorm everything they know about the Civil Rights movement on a whiteboard or piece of paper.
2. The teacher collects information on butcher paper or an interactive whiteboard.
3. If students have ActivExpressions or similar devices, they could text in their answers and they would be automatically collected on the interactive whiteboard.
4. To cement this understanding and generate interest, this video includes information about the Civil Rights movement: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efsCP6HJlA and this one provides more information about Dr. King himself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ank52Zi_S0
5. As mentioned above, students should at least know that Dr. King gave this speech 100 years after slavery, yet African-Americans were still denied their civil rights.
They should know about segregation (perhaps even Jim Crow laws), Rosa Parks (perhaps also the Montgomery Bus Boycott), and understand that the main goals of
the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom was to protest inequality in hiring and to encourage the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Introducing the Concept or Skill
1. Using theI Have a Dream first reading for CPalms.doc the teacher should read only the first section of the speech.
2. Before going on to the next section, students answer the question(s) on the handout.
3. Once everyone in their group is finished answering the question(s), each person in the group should share their answer with the group (even if they are all the
same). Students can modify their answers as needed.
4. The teacher circulates during this time, assisting students and giving feedback. (Formative Assessment)
5. It is recommended that after the first page the students move on to guided practice. If, however, students are struggling, the teacher may choose to continue with
this modeling for a few more sections.
NOTE: The teacher may choose to return to this modeling phase of the lesson at the beginning of the second reading and again at the beginning of the third reading,
as described below in "guided practice."
Guided Practice: What activities or exercises will the students complete with teacher guidance?
Introducing the activity This activity is a continuation of the previous activity. Student Actions during the activity
1. Using the handout "I Have a Dream First Reading," students read subsequent sections of the speech as a group - silently or aloud - one section at a time.
2. Before going on to the next section, students answer the question(s) on the handout.
3. Once everyone in their group is finished answering the question(s), each person in the group should share their answer with the group (even if they are all the
same). Students can modify their answers as needed.
NOTE: The teacher may choose to return to this guided practice phase of the lesson at the beginning of the second reading and again at the beginning of the third
reading, as described below.
Teacher Actions during the activity
1. The teacher circulates during this time, giving feedback to students. (Formative Assessment) Answers Dream first reading.doc
Independent Practice: What activities or exercises will students complete to reinforce the concepts and skills developed in the
lesson?
Introducing the activity 1. After students have finished their first reading, they can move on to their second reading and third reading according to teacher
directions.
I Have a Dream second reading for CPalms.doc
Answers Dream second reading.doc
I Have a Dream third reading for CPalms.doc
Answers Dream third reading.doc
NOTE: Students may want to gloss over second and third readings instead of reading carefully. To prevent this, the teacher may need to read the first few sections to
the class and have them answer the questions and discuss as a class (modeling phase) before eventually releasing students to complete subsequent sections more
independently. The teacher may also require students to read aloud in their groups in order to monitor that students are truly reading the selection the second and
third times. Also, the questions on subsequent readings are more complex than previous readings; again, the teacher may choose to model the first few sections each
time to help students to know how to answer the more complex questions.
Expected Student Products and/or Performance: Students answer all questions on all three handouts
Closure: How will the teacher assist students in organizing the knowledge gained in the lesson?
Students watch the video of Dr. King's speech.
Video of Dr. King's speech: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smEqnnklfYs
Teacher leads a discussion of how Dr. King's voice, pacing, etc. add to the impact of the speech
Teacher may choose to share some paragraphs written by students to help add closure to the lesson. Class discussion of the paragraphs may also be warranted.
Teacher revisits the guiding questions to bring this topic to a close
Summative Assessment
1. Students will write two paragraphs, one each on two different topics that require synthesis of multiple aspects of the speech. (Rubric is included with topic list). I
Have a Dream Essay Questions (2).doc
2. Students will also complete a short multiple-choice quiz based on comprehension. Answers are provided in the attached document. I Have a Dream Multiple Choice
Questions.doc
Formative Assessment
Assessment Activity Steps
1. Each time students read the text of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr's "I Have a Dream," they will answer questions designed to elicit responses about the text.
2. Students will first attempt to answer the questions individually.
3. Students will then share answers in a small group and modify their answers if they wish.
Teacher will provide feedback by circulating during the independent and group portions as well as eliciting responses from students during class discussion.
Feedback to Students
Teacher will provide feedback by circulating during the independent and group portions, as well as eliciting responses from students during class discussion.
page 2 of 4 During individual practice, the teacher can circulate and guide students towards text-based answers as needed. Students can use the feedback to help them answer
the questions about the next section of text.
During group discussion, the teacher can correct misunderstandings, ask for more detail if answers are too vague, or point out what makes good answers so
outstanding, etc.
Alternatively, papers can be collected and returned the next day with verbal or written feedback. The teacher may also choose to collect and read papers but give
common feedback to the entire class the next day.
ACCOMMODATIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS
Accommodations:
Students could be pre-taught vocabulary.
Students who struggle with writing or who take a long time to write could be given only one extended response question instead of two.
Students could be placed in Kagan pairs or groups to assist struggling readers. (To do this, students are seated in groups of four. The entire class is divided into
"high readers,";"low readers," "high medium," and "low medium" by either test scores or previous achievement in class. Each group has one high reader sitting
next to / paired with a low medium reader and a low reader sitting next to / paired with a high medium reader. The pairs could work together or the entire group
could work as a whole.)
When beginning each new handout (each subsequent reading), the teacher could go back and model page one and have students engage in guided practice for
page two before working independently. This makes sense because each subsequent reading demands more careful reading and asks more complex questions.
Instead of moving right from guided practice to independent practice, students could complete page two in groups and page three in pairs, leaving only page four to
complete independently.
Students could be allowed to share answers with their partner before handing in independent practice.
Extensions:
Advanced students could be directed to underline/highlight sections of the text where they would like to comment beyond the questions that are already being
posed. (This may be most effective on the last reading, when all teacher questions have already been presented to students.)
Advanced students could be asked to create multiple choice questions for possible inclusion on the final assessment based on the first two (or even all three)
readings of the text.
Advanced students could also be asked to write more text dependent questions that could be included on future versions of the readings.
Students could also be asked to compare this speech to Nelson Mandela's "Glory and Hope" speech or King's "Letter from a Birmingham Jail."
Suggested Technology: Document Camera, Computer for Presenter, Interactive Whiteboard, LCD Projector, Speakers/Headphones, Computer Media Player
Special Materials Needed:
A projector to show the video clips would be helpful.
Students could answer any of the questions on individual whiteboards before writing on their handouts, allowing the teacher to see their answers from far away
and provide useful feedback. This would also allow students to get feedback on their answers before committing to them on paper. If individual whiteboards are not
available, students can just write on their handouts.
If students have not had much experience with defending their opinion using text-based evidence, the teacher may want to create some exemplars to show to
students. The teacher may even want to use a different topic than the ones that are given to students. For example, the topic: "Dr. King chose to begin his speech
by talking about Abraham Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation. How effective was this choice?" could be used for an exemplar since it was not given to
students.
Further Recommendations: Teachers may want to copy each reading on a different color of paper so that it's easier to organize and manage different versions
of the assignment, which look very similar.
Additional Information/Instructions
By Author/Submitter
This lesson plan could easily take more than 6 hours to complete dependent upon the level of students.
SOURCE AND ACCESS INFORMATION
Contributed by: Margaret Little
Name of Author/Source: Margaret Little
District/Organization of Contributor(s): Sarasota
Is this Resource freely Available? Yes
Access Privileges: Public
License: CPALMS License - no distribution - non commercial
Related Standards
Name
LAFS.910.RI.1.1:
Description
Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences
drawn from the text.
page 3 of 4 LAFS.910.RI.1.2:
LAFS.910.RI.2.5:
Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges
and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text.
Analyze in detail how an author’s ideas or claims are developed and refined by particular sentences, paragraphs, or
larger portions of a text (e.g., a section or chapter).
page 4 of 4