Technology Lesson

History in perspective: Exploring Martin Luther King Jr.

Grade level: 5^th grade

This activity is designed to engage 5^th grade students in a research project that integrates a variety of technology and tools

Time Allotment: This lesson was originally based on a unit plan however, I have taken the lesson on Dr. King and have applied it to this assignment. This lesson would probably take a 40 minutes to an hour depending on how fast students work.  

AZCCRS: 5^th grade social studies

Performance Objectives:

The student will be able to:

1. Use the following to interpret and create historical data:

a. timelines – B.C.E. and B.C.; C.E. and A.D.

b. graphs, tables, charts, and maps

c. Create and understand how to use a Venn diagram for historical events (e.g. The Civil Rights Movement). Venn Diagram will be used to compare and contrast events about The Civil Rights Movement and the Black Lives Matter Movement.

2. Construct timelines of the historical era being studied (e.g., presidents, civil rights movement, key events and people).

Lesson Implementation

Mini lecture

“Martin Luther King was born on January 15th, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia. His father was a Baptist minister and his mother was a highly respected schoolteacher. His parents originally named him Michael, after his father. But later his father changed both of their names to Martin Luther, after the German religious reformer (Lambert 1993). As a child, Martin enjoyed singing, riding his bicycle, playing football and baseball, and reading. He spent many hours at his fathers’ church, listening to him preach, and singing in the choir. He was a very good student and he skipped grades in elementary school and in high school” (Adler 1986).

“Martin learned about discrimination first hand at a very young age. When he was five years old he often played baseball with the white sons of a nearby grocer. One day, when he went to ask the boys to play, their mother told him that her sons could not play with him ever again because he was black. Martin was deeply hurt (Adler 1986). When Martin was fourteen and in the eleventh grade, he entered a speaking contest in Dublin, Georgia, sponsored by the Negro Elks Society. His speech won first place. However, on the bus ride home, Martin was forced to give up his black section seat to a white person. He stood up for the ninety mile trip home” (Lambert 1993).

“Martin wanted to keep up the family tradition, so he decided to become a minister. He graduated from Morehouse College in 1948 and then went to Crozer Seminary to become a minister. It was at Crozer that Martin learned about Gandhi. Gandhi was an important leader in India. To get the British rulers of India to leave his country, Gandhi had the people protest non-violently. Martin was very impressed with Gandhi and he would later follow Gandhi's example of non-violent protests” (Sorensen 1994).

Show students a picture of Martin Luther King, Jr. explain that Dr. King worked for civil rights, the basic rights and freedoms of citizens.

Online Journal and Media

History in perspective: Students will watch the first section of the “I Have a Dream” speech given by Martin Luther King, Jr. After they watch this, they will log onto their computers and make a video journal discussing their initial thoughts and reactions to the speech. Students will also watch live footage of police brutality in Birmingham, Alabama. After the video students will discuss their thoughts and feelings in a video journal. In the journal students will answer the following questions “If you were asked to give a public speech in Washington, DC about what is needed today for a better America, what would you say? What is your “dream”? Compare the civil rights movement with the “black lives matter movement” today. Is there any similarities is there any differences?  How would you convince others to follow your dream?” Share as a class if time allows.

Tasks

After this students will start building a time-line. Students will reference important dates during the civil rights movement. Examples include: Martin Luther King Jr. Speech, Rosa Parks sitting in the front of the bus, Birmingham Alabama march, etc.

Students will start building a Venn Diagram comparing some similarities and differences between the civil rights movement (1954-1968) and what is happening in our world today e.g. “black lives matter” movement

 

Class Discussion

Once the timeline and presentation are completed, the class will meet together to share and discuss their thoughts and come to some conclusions about the civil rights movement. During the class discussion, each student will be encouraged to share any change in their personal ideas about the civil rights movement because of the findings presented.

Formative Assessment

Students will split up into groups of 3 and make a quick online Google slide presentation. They will use ideas and research from the internet to compare and contrast the civil rights movement to current events happening with “black lives matter” they will highlight key features of current events today and from the civil rights movement. Students will then use this information to make informed decisions on whether or not these movements are positive or negative. Or how they are effecting our world today.

Summative Assessment

The Individual Report: Once everyone has had a chance to share their ideas about the Martin Luther King Jr. And the Civil Rights movement, students will have the opportunity to write a final report about Civil Rights. This report can be done in one of the following ways: Students can write a book using iAuthor, students can create a google slide presentation or students can use iMovie to generate a powerful movie. 

Students will create their own individual report that includes the following elements:

·       The report must be generated using some technology publishing tool (i.e. Word, PowerPoint, Prezi, iMovie, iAuthor, other as ok’d by the teacher)

·       The report must include a Venn diagram that accurately compares the civil rights movement (1954-1968) to some of the issues of racism we see in America today.  

·       The report must answer the following questions:

Who is Martin Luther King Jr. and why is he important?

 Why do you think the civil rights movement was an important piece of history? 

What do you think the civil rights movement was trying to accomplish?

What did you learn about civil rights and civil liberties?

Do you think there is a connection between the issues of race today and the issues of race during the civil rights movement? Why do you believe this? What evidence do you have to support this?

MATERIALS AND RESOURCES

Students will need several tools to research, gather, organize, and publish your findings. 

·       Research tools, such as a web browser (i.e. Internet Explorer) and an Internet Search Engine (i.e. Google) to gather information, images, sounds, video and perhaps other media to help you answer the research questions.

·       Writing and multimedia presenting tools, to share your team’s findings (i.e. tools for the PC like; MS-Word, Google slides and Movie Maker.

·       Organizing tools, (i.e. MS-Excel, Open Office Calc, or iWorks Numbers) to list and organize your information in a way that it is easy to find.

·       Multimedia tools, such as image, audio, and or video editing to help create new media or edit some of the media you’ve collected during your research.  You may even want to produce a movie of your Ancient Structure. (i.e. Adobe Photoshop, LView Pro, or Audacity).

·       Timeline Tool: http://timeline.knightlab.com/

·       Venn Diagram tool: http://www.educationworld.com/tools_templates/venn_diagram_templates.shtml

·       Timeline resources: http://projects.seattletimes.com/mlk/?utm_source=redirect&utm_medium=vanityURL&utm_campaign=redirect

·       http://projects.seattletimes.com/mlk/bio.html#timeline

·       Venn Diagram resources: http://projects.seattletimes.com/mlk/?utm_source=redirect&utm_medium=vanityURL&utm_campaign=redirect

·         http://blacklivesmatter.com/guiding-principles/

·       http://www.factmonster.com/spot/civilrightstimeline1.html

Media

                              

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I47Y6VHc3Ms

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFcCQDkVOjM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBPeCQzHu5w

https://nonprofitquarterly.org/wp-content/blogs.dir/56/files/2015/08/Unite-Here-BLM.jpg

https://d.ibtimes.co.uk/en/full/1531751/black-lives-matter-protest-london.jpg?w=400

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMedqlxbFfM

Bibliography

Lambert, K.K. (1993). Martin Luther King, Jr. :Civil Rights Leader. New York: Chelsea House Publishers.

Adler, D. (1986). Martin Luther King, Jr. :Free at Last. New York: Holiday House.

Sorensen, L. (1994). Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Vero Beach, FL: The Rourke Press, Inc.

                                          

                                          

                               

Criteria	Approaches	Meets	Exceeds
Read and construct simple timelines	The report included a timeline that was mostly accurate and included some of the important facts about the Civil Rights movement	The report included a timeline that was well constructed and included most of the facts about the Civil Rights movement.	The report included a timeline that was well constructed and included all of the facts about the Civil Rights movement.
Use knowledge, facts and concepts drawn from history to create a Venn Diagram about the civil rights movement	The students provided a good Venn diagram that identified similarities and differences between The Civil Rights movement and the Black Lives Matter movement.	The students provided a compelling Venn Diagram that accurately identified similarities and differences between The Civil Rights movement and the Black Lives Matter movement.	The students provided a detailed and accurate Venn Diagram that identified similarities and differences between The Civil Rights movement and the Black Lives Matter movement.
Compare and contrast different events happening in different eras of history.	The report provided some evidence on why the Civil Rights movement was important in influencing the “Black Lives Matter” movement of today.	The report provided plenty of evidence on why the Civil Rights movement was important in influencing the “Black Lives Matter” movement of today.	The report provided all of the evidence on why the Civil Rights movement was important in influencing the “Black Lives Matter” movement of today.

                                          

                                           

Pre-Teaching Reflection

Assessing Prior Knowledge

So for the Lesson Preparation Reflection Blog post, I am writing about how students will gain more knowledge and what prior knowledge they have regarding this subject. Students need to know that racism is an ongoing problem even in the United States today. Students will get to experience real life racism by participating in an activity before the lesson is launched. During a recess or lunch period students will be given a green sticker or a blue sticker. Tell students that you can only hang out with other students who have similar stickers. After their lunch period is over, ask students how they felt being discriminated against. This information will be used to help students and myself come to a deeper understanding of racism and discrimination. The content of this lesson will be taught at this grade level because, students are coming into more mature situations. They will have to deal with real world circumstances. Students need to be aware that racism exists. This lesson will be taught during the spring so students can have the opportunity to participate in activities inside and outside of the classroom.

Designing Instruction

Students have diverse minds. They think creatively and pick up information very quickly. Students are smart, they are diverse, they understand things on a deeper level. I am using real world experiences and different-uncomfortable circumstances to help shape a student’s mind. These methods really open up a student’s eyes to the realm of racism and discrimination. I believe real world examples or real world experiences are the best teachers in life.

ITS NETS Standards

My lesson is diverse it is creative and it inspire students to be aware that racism exists and it’s a very real problem in the USA. It is creative because, it utilizes multiple forms of technology, it incorporates real world experiences and it makes student more aware of racism. Students will have the opportunity to use technology to: create a timeline, use a Venn Diagram, create a good slide or write a book using iauthor or even make a video using imovie. Also, I have included tons of media and tons of examples that can help students construct a great presentation. Students will be modeling digital age work and learning by creating timelines, using Venn Diagrams, using google technology to create slides, a report, etc. Students will be modeling digital responsibility by going onto teacher approved websites, they will always be able to accurately cite their sources and they will respect copyrights and abide by technology laws. All students will be given access to technology and resources. In my classroom I will make sure and address each and every need my students have including diverse and unique situations. When creating their projects, I will be monitoring students to make sure they are not engaging in inappropriate social interactions online. I will be scanning the room for inappropriate uses of technology and remove the student from our project if the student is not engaging in “safe” internet behavior.

In what learning environments would the technology resource I presented be appropriate?

Safety and Ethics would be appropriate in every learning environment. Whether it’s in a resource room or a classroom setting, students and teachers should know about Internet etiquette.

In what learning environments would the technology resource I presented NOT be appropriate?

The topic I talked about was safe, ethical and legal use of technology. I think the topic I presented would be appropriate for every school or classroom environment. It is important that students know the harmful affects and consequences of plagiarizing, sharing inappropriate information and cyber bullying. Every classroom should be made aware of how to be safe, smart and ethical on the Internet.

How might it be modified to be appropriate?

Safety and Ethics can’t be modified to be appropriate. However, you could make a presentation about safety and ethics and modify it by making it a fun and interesting discussion. If you present safety and ethics make sure students know that you are being serious however, make it fun and enjoyable.

What do you now know that needs to be considered when using technology in the classroom?

I now know that there are unsafe sites that students can have access to while using the Internet. I now know that plagiarism is an ongoing problem in the classroom. I now know that students have access to all kinds of social media on the Internet and that cyber bullying or inappropriate posts/pictures can surface at any time from any of my students in the classroom.

As a teacher it is my responsibility to consider all these scenarios and educate my students on the harmful affects or consequences of plagiarizing or sharing inappropriate  information on the Internet. I need to make sure my students understand it is not ok to bully someone online or share personal information to strangers.