Assumptions and Prejudices - Learning About Dr. King (free copywork download)
Monday, January 14, 2013 at 5:00AM
I never grew up with an appreciation for Dr. King. I wasn't taught about him in school, and really never even knew much about him until I moved to Atlanta in 1996. Isn't that a shame?
The area of southwest Florida where I was born and raised was not very diverse. Ok. It wasn't diverse AT ALL.
As I went to college I began to encounter more people different than me, but when it came down to it, I functioned and lived with people who looked just like me.
When I was 24 my life and perspective broadened, and I am so thankful it did.
I began a teaching job in a 100% African American school in Atlanta.
This was no ordinary school, either.
It was fashioned after the schools started by Dr. Marva Collins. It was a strict, rigorous environment, with wonderful parental involvement and student success. It has consistently been one of the highest performing schools in our state.
(I bet when I said 100% African American you didn't quite expect that description of the school, did you?)
This is how prejudices and assumptions still run deep, even among people who claim they don't have a prejudiced bone in their body. It is my hope and prayer that we can abolish this in our children's generation.
I learned quickly how much Dr. King meant to so many people.
I heard 100 Kindergarten students recite the ENTIRE I Have a Dream Speech.
I became friends with a teacher who remembered sitting in the back of the bus riding to downtown Atlanta, and not being able to use the same bathrooms as whites.
I watched a classroom of children dramatize Rosa Parks being unwilling to move to the back of the bus. I will never forget the little girl that played Rosa... I can still see her fiery attitude as she planted herself in the front and would not move.
I was changed in many ways during my time teaching in that elementary school.
I thank GOD for the opportunity I had to be "the minority".
Most of all, I learned that we are not that far removed from racism. It is just a generation away, and that is truly sobering.
I believe it is our duty and responsibility to teach our children about Dr. King.
Ways we will learn about Martin Luther King, Jr. this week:
- Visit the MLK historic site/birth home in Atlanta. The kids can earn a Junior Ranger badge here, too. (We will be visitng Tuesday. I have never been and am very excited.)
- Read Who Was Martin Luther King, Jr.? (available for instant Kindle download)
- Watch this documentary on Netflix
- Watch the I Have A Dream speech on YouTube
- Use other resources from the Martin Luther King, Jr. Pinterest board I have created.
I have also created a free copywork download of some of my favorite quotes from Dr. King.
It is geared toward your learners that are working on beautiful cursive.
Enjoy!
Download the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. quotes and copywork.
Included are five quotes which I hope will be meaningful to your student.
Will you be studying Dr. King in your homeschool any time soon?
Reader Comments (19)
These resources are great! I downloaded the kindle book and I'm printing off the copy work. The school that you taught at sounds fabulous, I wish there were more out there like that. Thanks for doing the legwork for me :)
Thanks for this Mary! I added the movie to my queue on Netflix and will use the copywork for my daughter. Awesome job, as always!
I think about this often. We were raised in such a different world from our children. Thank God that our kids are being raised differently.
Also, thanks for posting this a week before Martin Luther King Day so I have time to look it over! I am great about knowing all the holidays/dates for my library programs and remembering to do something with them and HORRIBLE at doing something about different historical dates/holidays with my own kids!
Wow! What an opportunity as a teacher! Thank you for sharing your experiences.
I love your ideas. I was raised skipping school to march in protests (Washington, D.C.) long before Dr. King day was a holiday. I grew up in a very diverse area where I was the minority. Still, I am ashamed to admit that I thought ~ 100% African American school ~ That inner city experience must have been hard for you. Then I read your next lines. How wonderful it would be if none of us saw color.
Blessings, Dawn
Great post, Mary. I have a few activities planned, including watching the speech on YouTube and I borrowed a book from the library. I found a booklet on Enchanted Learning too.
What a uniquely wonderful experience. We listened to the I Have a Dream speech every year as I had it on a cassette, until the cassette player died. I will have to seek it out again. Thanks for the reminder.
THis is wonderful. THank you.
Thanks for these great ideas, Mary! I'm printing the copywork now for my boys. My middle son is reading the Who Was book as I type and we will watch the you tube videos during lunch time this week! You have made is super easy for me to incorporate learning about this great man in our homeschool this week!
Thanks for these!
Excellent, Mary! We will be "stealing" a few of your ideas listed above. I want our children to know who he was and how he helped changed things in America for the better! Hitting the library tomorrow to find a couple of good books.
Awesome post! I didn't think about using you tube to watch MLK Jr's speech! Will add that to my plans. we are waiting for two books from Amazon and we'll be good to go!
Thanks for this post! After I read this, we decided to drop some of our regularly scheduled assignments to focus on this. We started the kindle version of the book today, did the copy work, and hope to visit the museum this weekend as we also live in the Atlanta area.
Hmmmm...... I guess I've just always assumed every town has a street named MLK and every city has a street named after Caesar Chavez. That seems to be the trend in Texas at least. And it's always numbered streets they rename so I get very very lost when I can't find 1st st.
Of course I get lost no matter what, so renaming the streets wouldn't change it.
We're covering MLK in a couple of months when we reach him in US history. I suck at doing things seasonally, it throws me off in my head for some reason.
Excellent post! I totally agree that we still have so much prejudice in our culture. It's a shame.
Thank you so much! I found this last night as I was preparing for our Martin Luther King Jr. unit which was to begin today! I printed your sheets and downloaded the free Kindle book (which my kids LOVED!) so the timing on this was perfect...thank you for being willing to share!
Thank you for sharing!
Wow!! I'm also a homeschooling mom living in Atlanta and racial reconciliation has always been huge on my heart!! Thanks for all these awesome resources!
Great resources, Mary! We were going to go to the MLK Museum on our road trip, but I recall them not being open every day and it just didn't work out.
We are going to read about him, do some activities from some books that I have and looks like I will be going to Netflix too! Last year we read a book, watched the speech on YouTube and did a notebooking page.