Inquiry Lesson

Greta Niethammer (Slauson Middle School)

Essential Questions:​ What was MLK Jr.’s vision for America? How can we make his vision come
true at Slauson, at home, in our communities, in the world?

MLK Jr. Inquiry Lesson

I. Framing the Lesson

● Lesson Rational/Purpose Statement.​ The central purpose of this lesson is to encourage
students to think about how they can make a difference based on Martin Luther King Jr.’s
dream for America.
● Conceptual/Skill Focus/Big Idea.​ Students will hone their analyzation skills while reading
a section of MLK Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech. They will investigate the passage for
clues to create a list of ideas about MLK Jr.’s vision for America. By the end of this lesson,
students will have a better understanding of what MLK Jr. stood for and how to emulate
that in their own lives in meaningful ways.
● Lesson Objectives.
○ Students will reflect on how they help (or have helped) others.
○ Students will write about how they help others.
○ Students will annotate a passage from “I Have a Dream”.
○ Students will identify ideas from MLK Jr.’s speech that he wants America to adopt.
○ Students will list components of MLK Jr.’s vision.
○ Students will define “vision” as it pertains to plans/hopes for the future using
context clues or hints.
○ Students will brainstorm ways to help make MLK Jr.’s vision come true at Slauson
Middle School.
■ Students will collaborate with their peers.
● Michigan Standards (both subject and Common Core).
○ CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.6.1​ Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the
text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
○ CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.6.2​ Determine a central idea of a text and how it is
conveyed through particular details; provide a summary of the text distinct from
personal opinions or judgments.
○ CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.6.3​ Write narratives to develop real or imagined
experiences or events using effective technique, relevant descriptive details, and
well-structured event sequences.
○ CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.6.1​ Engage effectively in a range of collaborative
discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on
grade 6 topics, texts, and issues, building on others' ideas and expressing their own
clearly.
 ○ CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.6.4​ Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and
multiple-meaning words and phrases based on grade 6 reading and content,
choosing flexibly from a range of strategies.
● Lesson Materials.
○ Google Slides Presentation
○ Whiteboard/Dry-Erase Markers
○ Posters
○ Markers
○ Lined paper

II. Engage (10 minutes)

● Objectives
○ Students will reflect on how they help (or have helped) others.
○ Students will write about how they help others.
● Students will engage in a 5-minute quick-write answering Dr. King’s question: What are
you doing for others? (a.k.a. What specific things do you do that improve the lives of
others? Do you always recycle? Do you share food with your friends at lunch? Do you help
your brother advance to the next video game level by giving him pointers? Just general
things you do that are kind and that help improve others’ lives).
● Students will see a Youtube video about MLK Jr.
○ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xXZhXTFWnE&t=94s
■ This is a video from Kid President (Robby Novak). He was about 11 years
old when he filmed this, so I think showing this to a 6th-grade class full of
11/12-year-olds will be effective.
○ This will be a general refresher for students about who MLK Jr. was, what he stood
for, why we celebrate him, etc.

III. Explore/Enable/Explain (20 minutes)

● Objectives
○ Students will annotate a passage from “I Have a Dream”.
○ Students will identify ideas from MLK Jr.’s speech that he wants America to adopt.
○ Students will list components of MLK Jr.’s vision.
○ Students will define “vision” as it pertains to plans/hopes for the future using
context clues or hints.
● I will explain to students that the next part of this lesson is answering the question: What
was MLK Jr.’s vision for America?
○ I will ask the class: what do I mean when I say “vision”? If I’m not talking about his
eyesight, what could I possibly mean when I say his vision…
● Once students have a clear understanding of vision (and a student-generated definition is
written on the whiteboard for them to refer back to), we will move on to analyzing and
annotating the following passage from MLK Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech.
 ○ “I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and
tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning
of its creed, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created
equal.” I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, sons of former
slaves and the sons of former slaveowners will be able to sit down together at the
table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a
state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression,
will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. I have a dream that my
four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the
color of their skin but by the content of their character.”
● I will read this passage aloud to the class once without pause so they can get comfortable
with the language/vocabulary. I might stop and ask students what certain words mean as
we read along, or I may briefly define them so students have a clearer picture of what
MLK Jr. meant.
● I will then tell students that together we will read through this passage again and
annotate it together to identify components of MLK Jr.’s vision for America. This will be
an effective exercise because it models how to annotate text to discover meaning.
■ Potential components of his vision
● Equality
● Brotherhood/Unity/Connectedness
● Freedom
● Justice
● No judgment
○ What does each of these words mean? Students will attempt to
come up with definitions for these words. If they are
struggling to do so, I will give them sentence examples to try
and define based on the context.
■ Equality - every person is treated the same
■ Unity - every person is joined together
■ Freedom - acting, thinking, and speaking in a way that
represents who we are
■ Justice - fairness for everyone
■ No judgment - not criticizing others
○ MLK Jr.’s vision was for every person to be equal and united
with each other, to experience freedom and justice, and to not
be judged by others.
IV. Enact/Evaluate (20 minutes)
● Objectives
○ Students will brainstorm ways to help make MLK Jr.’s vision come true at Slauson
Middle School.
■ Students will collaborate with their peers.
● After students have a firm understanding of MLK Jr.’s vision for America, including
definitions for each component of his vision that they come up with, we will move on to
the brainstorming activity of the day. Each table clump will be a group, and they will need
to come up with at least one way to fulfill every component of MLK Jr.’s vision.
○ For example, if students come up with “Be Kind to Others” as a component of his
vision, they will need to write about a situation that exemplifies that idea, i.e.
giving others compliments, sharing food, standing up to someone’s bully, and so
forth.
○ Depending on the vision components they come up with, I may assign each table a
different setting for this project. For instance, table groups may need to decide how
they can make MLK Jr.’s vision come true at Slauson, at home, in their
communities, in the world. This will more likely be a possibility during the
afternoon classes.
○ OR depending on the list we come up with, each table group might be assigned a
component of his vision to make a list for. For instance, one table may need to
create a poster for the question “How can we be fair to everyone?” while another
needs to do so for the question “How can we be kind to others?”.
○ It may be more intuitive for students to create a poster that explains what not to do
rather than what to do. For example, students may prefer to create a list for how to
be kind to one another with the following examples: do not pick on someone for
their clothes, do not laugh at someone behind their backs, do not gossip about
people.
● Students will brainstorm this for about 5-10 minutes before beginning to design their
posters. They will need to share the responsibility of writing down their ideas and
decorating their posters. The actual design of the poster will take about 10-15 minutes.

V. Extend
● The most effective way to extend this lesson to homework is to challenge students to try
and fulfill MLK Jr.’s vision at home tonight or at school tomorrow by acting in ways
similar to what they wrote on their posters. For example, students can show kindness to
others by offering them compliments.

VI. Differentiation
● This lesson has been differentiated to suit a multitude of learners. A Youtube video is
shared with the class to engage visual learners, interpersonal and intrapersonal activities
 are included, and linguistic learners will have a chance to create definitions for words
based on context clues.
● Activities will be modeled to assist ELL students and cognitively impaired students.
Activities will be short and varied in nature to enable students with ADHD and other
hyperactive disorders to remain engaged with the lessons.
● Visual aids such as tables and text passages will be projected onto the whiteboard to
engage visual learners.
● An individual writing exercise will begin the lesson to engage the intrapersonal learners
whereas a group brainstorm/project at the end of the class period will engage with
interpersonal learners.
● Students will need to define multiple vocabulary words based on their prior knowledge
and experience with them. If they struggle with this, I will provide example sentences
they can use to construct meaning based on context.