THIS WEEK'S LESSON ACTIVITIES

INSTRUCTOR: Barbara Reuben-Powell CLASS LEVEL: Advanced

Topic: Close Read
Martin Luther King Jr. Day
Excerpted and adapted from the following sources:
Banville, Sean. Martin Luther King Day. 2008. Retrieved from http://www.eslholidaylessons.com/01/martin_luther_king_day.html
Weekly Reader Corporation. A Great Leader. 2009. Retrieved from https://www.readworks.org/passages/great-leader
Tiersky, Ethel, and Martin Tiersky. The U.S.A. Customs and Institutions. (4th Ed). The Africa-Americans (7), The Civil Rights Movement (pg. 75) 2002. Longman, Prentice Hall Regents, Pearson Education.
Summary: This unit has been developed to guide instructors and newly immigrant students in learning some of the reasons why Martin Luther King’s birthday is commemorated as a U.S. national holiday. Ideally, this lesson should be taught the week before MLK Jr. Day. The passage presents a synopsis of how Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday became a national holiday. It briefly mentions other ways in which Dr. King is honored and of Dr. King’s non-violent strategies in the Civil Rights Movement. The activities and actions described below follow a carefully developed set of steps to enable students to increase their awareness and understanding of Dr. King’s leadership and achievements worthy of his country’s honor of a national holiday. Through a series of text dependent tasks, questions and actions students are coached in the development of college and career ready skills identified in the Common Core State Standards.
Lexile Measure: 1030L
RESOURCE MATERIALS: Video and photo gallery links; Sample timeline template; Multiple choice test; Lyrics of Happy Birthday song by Stevie Wonder.
Lesson Objectives:
The students will:
1) Identify evidence from the text to validate answers to “wh” questions such as who/what/when/why?
2) Determine and confirm the main idea of the article with text evidence
3) Use context clues to determine meaning of unfamiliar words
4) Trace the sequence of events and create a timeline using information from the text
CCR Standards Aligned to this Lesson:
LK1.1&1.1 merge; LK.2&1.2 merge; L.4.2&5.2 merge; RFK.4 &1.4 merge; RF.2.4&5.4 merge; RF.4.4 & 5.4; R.H.9-10.1; RI.1.1&R.L.1; RI5.1; R.H.9-10.1; SLK.2; SLK.6; SL.3.2; SL.3.6; SL.5.5; W.3.4; W.1.3; 4.NBT2; 2.OA.1.
Reading: (to include text dependent questions and reading strategies as needed, such as vocabulary, grammar, spelling, phonics, sentence structure along with writing and listening/speaking activities throughout the unit)
Vocabulary (boldface in the text): holiday, actual, recognizes, achievements, leadership, campaign, nonviolent, strategies, black Americans, sit-ins, freedom rides, busloads, northern liberals, integration, facilities, protest marches, signs, racial discrimination, white Americans, Civil Rights Movements, equal society, commemorate assassinated, signed, observed, popular, aware, six million, petition, Congress, honored, memorial, quotations, carved, anchoring.
Grammar Points: Verb tenses- present/past/adjectives/nouns; Sequencing (First, second/.before, after, then/beginning, middle, end)
Sentence Structure: compound sentences, use of parenthesis to include word definitions (context clues),
Text Dependent Questions / Overarching understanding for students
Based on the information in lines 1-7, when is the actual holiday celebrating Martin Luther King’s birthday? / This question focusses the students’ attention on the day of the holiday, Martin Luther King Day – third Monday in January – also the main idea of the article.
When was the holiday signed into U.S. law, and by whom? / The law was signed into law in 1983 by President Ronald Reagan
According to the article (L5-14), Martin Luther King’s leadership was to achieve what goal? / This question highlights MLK’s main goal – to achieve equal rights for black Americans.
Identify and define four non-violent strategies that Martin Luther King employed in his campaign (L5-14). / Definition clues are sometimes presented in parenthesis next to the word they define. This type of context clues is especially useful to ESL students in helping to build their vocabulary and sharpen understanding.
Boycotts - large number of people refusing to buy certain service or products
Sit-ins - groups of people sitting peacefully at lunch counters or in restaurants that refused to serve them Freedom rides- busloads of northern liberals coming to the South to force integration of public facilities
Protest marches - large groups of people walking in the streets carrying signs that states their goals
By what name was the campaign using a combination of non-violent strategies to achieve equality and end racial discrimination was known? / The Civil Rights Movement. This draws the students attention to the term and sets the stage for a related follow up activity.
What was the effect of the non-violent strategies (L11)? / New laws that ended racial discrimination – directing the students’ attention to the successful outcome of non-violence.
What evidence from the article indicates that Martin Luther King is held in very high esteem by his country? / ·  Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is only one of four holidays to commemorate a person.
·  More than 730 American Cities have streets names after him.
·  There is a memorial statue to him on the National Mall where some presidents are honored
How many years after his death was Martin Luther King, Jr. honored with a national holiday to commemorate his birthday? / Mathematical skill: This question is meant to help students practice subtraction. Answer: 15. (Subtract 1983 from 1968)
How many people signed the petition for Congress to create the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday? Write your answer as a number. / Mathematical: To confirm students’ knowledge and ability to express numerals in both words and numbers. Answer is 6,000,000 located in lines 30-32.
Who wrote and recorded a song that helped to increase awareness of the campaign to honor Martin Luther King with a holiday? / Stevie Wonder, a musician and singer. In pointing to the song, this question sets the stage for examination of the lyrics.
Differentiate between the meaning of the word “signs” as used in line 13 and the meaning of the word “signed” used in line 23. / Prompting students to identify parts of speech by examining the contextual uses of a word, and identify tense where appropriate.
Signs, in line 13, used as a noun, are the posters that protestors carry on which their messages are displayed. Signed, in line 23, used as a verb indicates the action of Pres. Reagan in writing his name on the document making into law the national holiday in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr.
In addition to the American honors, Dr. King also received an international prize. What was it, did he receive this award and why? / The Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 for Dr, King’s use of non-violence to fight against inequality and discrimination in America. This information is located in the Mega Facts sidebar. This question is checking the students skimming and scanning skills.
Writing
Writing Prompt 1: Throughout the article and in the Mega Facts sidebar, dates are used to indicate the sequence of events leading up to the observation of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day as a national holiday. Make a list of these significant dates in chronological order. Then, use that list to create a graphic timeline of MLK’s life that includes his achievements and the eventual observation of his birthday as a national holiday in all 50 states.
Lines 1-5: Introduces the topic of the national holiday on the third Monday of January. Mega Facts sidebar provides date of birth details
Lines 6-18: Describes non-violent strategies Dr. King used in the Civil Rights Movement. Mega Facts gives examples of activities.
Lines 19-24: Explains how great an honor it is to be commemorated by a national holiday and enactment of the law in 1983.
Lines 25-32: Explains the slow acceptance of the holiday among states. Full observation by all 50 states did not occur until the year 2000.
Lines 33-37: Identifies other ways (over 730 cities with street named for him and memorial on the Mall) in which Dr. King is honored in the U.S. Mega Fact sidebar mentions important facts about MLK, not related to the holiday including: the Nobel Peace Prize he received in 1964, the March on Washington, his “I have a Dream speech, the date of his assassination and where King is buried.
How I will scaffold my lessons to reach all of my students' levels:
Ø  Whole group reading. Teacher will read article, then direct students in take turns reading the article paragraph by paragraph.
Ø  Guide students in discussing of the concept of a holiday to recognize a person for their work, and the significance of MLK’s work and leadership
Ø  Teacher will show students photos of Martin Luther King, Jr. projected on whiteboards: MLK aloud, with colleagues, participating in different events – taken from History.com photo galleries and videos. http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/martin-luther-king-jr/pictures.
Ø  Teachers will engage students in vocabulary exercise by 21st Century computer technology to project highlighted words on the white board. Ask students to suggest meanings based on the context as well as clues provided in text.
Ø  Teacher will guide students in pronunciation
Ø  Students will work in pairs to complete cloze exercise with the vocabulary just discussed.
Ø  Individually, students will complete crossword puzzle for homework – to reinforce new words.
Ø  Teacher will prompt students to identify and practice different tenses in the article. Play verb jeopardy game.
How I will assess my students' mastery of the lessons:
Evaluation of students’ oral and written responses to in-class questions; review students’ homework in group; have individual students read homework in class; review vocabulary using cloze exercise – project on board and ask students to volunteer to fill in answers; cooperative pairs activities. Individual student responses to questioning; engaging students in Q&A that requires evidence from the text; correcting grammar, pronunciation and verb-tense usage. Observation of student-student collaboration; multiple choice test.
My reflections of the lessons (what worked, what didn't, what I might change for next time):
Assess students ability to give correct answers to questioning, to identify evidence from the text, to trace the sequence of events leading to the determination of the day as a holiday. Evaluate the effectiveness of photos and videos to motivate responses from students.
Suggested Five Day Plan:
Day One: Teacher and students read article (teacher once, students take turns per paragraph); discuss concept of honoring a person with a holiday, the campaign for the holiday; view videos and photos; identify and discuss vocabulary. Do cloze exercise in class. Assign homework: Crossword to reinforce vocabulary. Duration: 3 hours.
Day Two: Review last lesson. Review homework. Project crossword on board and call on students to go to board and fill in words. Have students re-read article (taking turns per paragraph). Teacher guides discussion about MLK’s achievements; asks questions about equality and racial discrimination – what were the issues at stake, how was the Civil Rights campaigns successful; what were the new laws enacted? Discuss the use of verb tenses in the article. Have students identify different tenses in class. Assign homework: Identify and define four non-violent strategies that Martin Luther King employed in his campaign (L5-14). Differentiate between the meaning of the word “signs” as used in line 13 and the meaning of the word “signed” used in line 23 – Vocabulary and tense. Duration: 3 hours
Day Three: Brief review of previous lesson and homework. Have students stand at front of classroom ad read their answers to the class. Discuss the concept of nonviolence and the strategies used by MLK. Have students talk about other nonviolent strategies they may know about. For example: picket lines of striking workers. Guide discussion of the term Civil Rights Movement and what it means. Write these on the board, Have students write them down in their notebook. Discuss MLK’s leadership. Have students watch video. Duration: 3 hours
Day Four: Review homework. Introduce Mega Facts (not previously read in class). Read Mega Facts. Have students read Mega Facts. Introduce the concept of sequencing – the order in which events happens. Project and teach sequencing words. timelines. Show example of a timeline. Assign homework: Students should use article and Mega Facts to create a timeline of MLK’s life. Duration: 1.5 hours
Day Five: Brief review lesson. Scan students’ timelines and project them on screen for everyone to see. Identify any differences in the timelines. Have students explain. Multiple choice test. Sing-a-long: Distribute lyrics of Happy Birthday Song. Have students read lyrics. Play music video. Have student sing along. Duration: 3 hours

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