Lesson Planning: Civil Rights

This lesson is 3 parts that run smoothly together, but can also be done separately as needed. I've done it a few times now, using several different combinations of the three parts. It was originally made for a 10th grade class but can be pretty much used for any level 9th and up, I think.

As a general introduction to the topic I start with a two pictures on the overhead. Rosa Parks on a bus and Martin Luther King, Jr. giving his speech at the march on Washington. I don't tell them anything about the pictures, just ask them to describe them. Where are they? how many people are there? Is it an active photo? etc... Usually they are able to recognize MLK, so then I tell them that both photos have to do with the Civil Rights Movement and ask them to compare and contrast them and think about what each might have had to do with Civil Rights. At the end I tell who each person is and just a brief description of where/what each picture is. This can take anywhere from 5 - 15 minutes, depending on how in detail you want to go.

the first major part of the lesson is a matching exercise of different Civil Rights terms - people and events (you can download the worksheet I made here). The reason this part is so condensed is because I originally had to fit everything in one 40 minute class period, so this was the most efficient way to cover as much as possible. I gave the class about 10 minutes to go through the worksheet in pairs and finish the matching. Then, when we went over the answers, I would add a little more detail to each answer. This can take anywhere between 15-20 minutes or more, depending mostly on how much time you give them to work on their own.

The second part is deals with the "I have a dream speech" by MLK which I have on the same worksheet as the matching. I've done this part differently a few times. The first time, we were running short on time, so I read the speech to the class, but I prefer to have the class read it out loud. Usually going around one section per person. Then as a class we discuss what is meant by "dream". We record a few ideas on the board and then I split them into groups (this just depends on the size of the class, but I prefer not to have anymore than 5 people in a group) and assign each group a different section of the speech. I give them about 10 - 15 minutes and have them "translate" the speech into simple English. When they finish, they write their newly translated versions on the board and we read the "new" speech together as a class and discuss if whether or not we agree.

The third part uses the song "A Dream" from the movie Freedom Writers. Never saw the movie, but the song is basically a modern rap version of the Speech, so it worked great! I typed out the lyrics for them, but left holes in it (the underlined words are the ones I took out), for them to fill in as they listened. I've done this lesson once by leading with the song, so we discussed what it could possibly be about, but that question is pretty irrelevant when they already know the topic is Civil Rights. So I give them another 5 minutes to look through the song lyrics and the actual speech to be able to compare and contrast. At the end we record what we've found on the board. This part lasts about 15-20 minutes by itself, or if combined with just the reading of the speech it can last about 25 minutes.

Since the three parts of this lesson don't all fit into one 40 minute lesson I usually break it up and do it over two or three, or I just do the speech and the song and assign the matching as homework! Feel free to take, tweak or borrow from any part of it!