Goals & Objectives
Goal: Students will analyze primary documents containing the words of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. in order to gain a better understanding of their movements.
Objective: Students will support one of the civil rights leaders more so than the other and explain their reasoning.
Objective: Students will support one of the civil rights leaders more so than the other and explain their reasoning.
California State Content and Common Core Standards
11.10.4. Examine the roles of civil rights advocates (e.g., A. Philip Randolph, Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, Thurgood Marshall, James Farmer, Rosa Parks), including the significance of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s "Letter from Birmingham Jail" and "I Have a Dream" speech.
11.10.5. Discuss the diffusion of the civil rights movement of African Americans from the churches of the rural South and the urban North, including the resistance to racial desegregation in Little Rock and Birmingham, and how the advances influenced the agendas, strategies, and effectiveness of the quests of American Indians, Asian Americans, and Hispanic Americans for civil rights and equal opportunities.
CC Reading- 2. Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary that makes clear the relationships among the key details and ideas.
CC Writing- 1b. Develop claim(s) and counterclaims fairly and thoroughly, supplying the most relevant data and evidence for each while pointing out the strengths and limitations of both claim(s) and counterclaims in a discipline-appropriate form that anticipates the audience’s knowledge level, concerns, values, and possible biases.
11.10.5. Discuss the diffusion of the civil rights movement of African Americans from the churches of the rural South and the urban North, including the resistance to racial desegregation in Little Rock and Birmingham, and how the advances influenced the agendas, strategies, and effectiveness of the quests of American Indians, Asian Americans, and Hispanic Americans for civil rights and equal opportunities.
CC Reading- 2. Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary that makes clear the relationships among the key details and ideas.
CC Writing- 1b. Develop claim(s) and counterclaims fairly and thoroughly, supplying the most relevant data and evidence for each while pointing out the strengths and limitations of both claim(s) and counterclaims in a discipline-appropriate form that anticipates the audience’s knowledge level, concerns, values, and possible biases.
Lesson Introduction
The teacher will begin by showing the students a video of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream Speech.” After, the students will engage in a class discussion about how they felt about the speech as well as what they thought it meant before being given their assignment.
Vocabulary
The focus of this lesson will be on two key individuals of the Civil Rights Movement:
1) Martin Luther King Jr.
2) Malcolm X
1) Martin Luther King Jr.
2) Malcolm X
Content Delivery
Students will be given primary documents, particularly focusing on the speeches or letters of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. Students will then be selected at random to represent either the teachings of Martin Luther King Jr. or Malcolm X. The teacher will give a brief biography of each leader, so the students have some sort of background information about the notorious civil rights leaders. The teacher and the students as a class will analyze Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech before analyzing the rest of the primary documents themselves.
Student Engagement
Students will work in pairs to analyze the documents, with one person representing the teachings of Martin Luther King Jr. and the other representing the teachings of Malcolm X. After analyzing the primary documents, students will be instructed to write a 500 word speech that must represent the main teaching of which ever civil rights figure they were assigned. Their speech must try and convince the “crowd” they are in front of to follow their practice in order to help improve civil rights for all. Once their speech is written, the pairs of students will present them to the class, with the class voting on which speech they felt was more convincing/which leader would they follow.
Lesson Closure
After students turn in their speeches, the teacher will call on students randomly to share one thing they learned from this assignment as well as which leader they thought was more effective.
Assessment
Formative- As the students are analyzing the primary documents and writing their speeches, the teacher will be walking around to make sure they comprehend the main points of the primary documents. If not, the teacher will ask questions to help scaffold students in the right direction.
Summative- The speeches will be graded for content and grammar
Summative- The speeches will be graded for content and grammar
Accommodations for English Learners, Striving Readers and Students with Special Needs
The teacher will provide an analysis of some of the primary documents for English Learners, Striving Readers and Students with Specials Needs. The teacher will also hand students a copy of the directions as well as an example of how the speech is expected to look.