Anna Moeser Martin Luther King Jr. Lesson Plan I. Purpose The purpose of this lesson is to have students know basic facts about Martin Luther King Jr. and his contributions to American history. Students will also create a word splash that will demonstrate their understanding of Martin Luther King Jr. SOL 3.11- Civics The student will explain the importance of the basic principles that form the foundation of a republican form of government by a) describing the individual rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; and equality under the law; b) identifying the contributions of George Washington; Thomas Jefferson; Abraham Lincoln; Rosa Parks; Thurgood Marshall; Martin Luther King, Jr.; and Cesar Chavez; c) recognizing that Veterans Day and Memorial Day honor people who have served to protect the country s freedoms, d) describing how people can serve the community, state, and nation. II. Objectives The student will be able to know that Martin Luther King Jr. was an African American minister who fought for Civil Rights. The student will be able to know that Martin Luther King Jr. was a Civil Rights activist who wanted equality for all people The students will be able to create a word splash and write 3 words that are associated with Martin Luther King with 100% accuracy.
III. Procedure A. Introduction The teacher will start by reviewing the different Famous Americans they have learned so far in the unit The teacher will begin by saying today we will be learning about Martin Luther King Jr. The teacher will ask students to come to the carpet to read a book about Martin Luther King Jr. The teacher will read A picture book about Martin Luther King Jr. Teacher will go over fact sheet students will need to answer at the end of the lesson the teacher will review these questions so they can think about them during the lesson Teacher will review and introduce vocabulary: segregation & protest The teacher will stop periodically throughout the book to ask questions such as Did Martin Luther King protest in a violent way How would you feel if you couldn t be friends with people of different color? B. Development After the book the teacher will ask students to create a word splash of Martin Luther King Jr. The teacher will ask students to think of different things they learned about Martin Luther King Jr. in the book The teacher will ask students to write words that pertain to Martin Luther King Jr. The teacher will remind students to think of different places he went, different ideas he had, facts about him that they could add to their word splash If they have extra time students can also draw symbols that represent him
After about 3 minutes of have students work independently, the students and teacher will come together as a class. Together as a class, we will make a whole word splash using examples from the students work Different Learning styles: auditory: discussing class word splash together visually: creating their own word splash in front of them Differentiation: C. Summary words will vary based on ideas amount of words will vary The teacher will ask students to fill out a same worksheet about the facts students need to know about Martin Luther King. The worksheet has blank spaces for students to fill in the facts they learned about Martin Luther King Jr. The teacher will ask students to fill in the blanks with different fact sentences. The teacher will ask students to read allowed the sentences and go over it as a class. IV. Materials worksheet paper for word splash clipboards if completing word splash on carpet book: A Picture Book of Martin Luther King Jr. V. Evaluation Part A: Students will be able to fill in all of the blanks in the worksheet given correctly with 100% accuracy
Students will be able to complete a word splash that has at least 3 words that have to do with Martin Luther King Jr. VI. Evaluation Part B: The lesson went very smoothly. My original plan didn t have me introducing vocabulary words but I decided to add that to my lesson plan when I realized the students needed to understand the context of the words. I think asking questions throughout the book also allowed students to input what they thought and felt about the historical con - text of Marin Luther King Jr. and his ideas. I also had walked into their class Language Arts class before I did my social studies lesson and saw they were learning about bi - ographies and what that entails. When I finished reading this book I asked the students what type of book it was. One students gave me the synopsis of the book and I said right the book was about Martin Luther King Jr. and his fight for equal rights but what TYPE of book is this. I was happy to hear the answer biography from a student. The word splash was very successful. I circulated around the room to make sure students had at least 3 words and saw that some students had more. I loved circulating the room to see the different ideas all students had. Some had only one word, some statements such as had I have a dream and I even saw one student have a sentence, black and white people can work together which I loved. My teacher wanted me to also complete a quick worksheet that they had to do for Martin Luther King Jr. One of the sentences was about him leading peaceful marches. I had several students leave this blank sentence on their worksheet. I also saw some students who wrote parades. I saw that pretty much only one student, Cole, had marches. I asked one student Maddox to read what he put and he said parades. I told him that was close, but I was looking for a different word and called on Cole who said marches. I had to clarify to the students that parades are more for celebrating something where as marches are more for walking for a cause or a belief. I would agree with my teacher about time. Reading the book, going over the worksheet and doing the wordsplash took about 30 minutes. That wasn t too bad except that she also wanted me to do a short lesson on Rosa Parks and because I focused on
Martin Luther King Jr. too long I wasn t able to get to her. Overall all students were able to create a wordsplash and all had different ideas which I loved. I think this lesson went very smoothly and hope to continue it in other grades. I could collect all of the Word Splashes to see if they students met the objective. Matin Luther King Jr. Word Splash Rubric 3 2 1 splash that contains 3 words all 3 words have to do with Martin Luther King Jr. Student s Grade: Possible Points: 6 splash that contains 2 words 2 words have to do with Martin Luther King Jr. splash that contains 1 word 1 word has to do with Marin Luther King Jr.