ELA 9-10 I Have a Dream

ELA 9-10 I Have a Dream. Through this lesson, students will analyze I Have A Dream speech by Martin Luther King Jr for the purpose, text structure, langauge features, and knowledge domains.

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Standards & Objectives

Essential and guiding questions: 

Prior Knowledge:

  • Who is Martin Luther King Jr.? What do you know about him?

Comprehension:

  • What is the central idea of King’s speech? Support your answer with evidence from the text.
  • What three outside historical documents does King explicitly refer to in his speech?
  • Create a T-chart listing the injustices King mentions on the left side and the facets of his dream on the right side.

Analytical:

  • Explain King's analogy between a financial transaction and the idea of justice.

Interpretive:

  • Why does King keep repeating “I Have a Dream” throughout his speech?

Significance:

  • Find another example of repetition in the speech. What is the significance of his repeating this word or phrase? 

Activity/Task Variations

Blooms taxonomy level: 
Applying
Differentiation suggestions: 
  • Instruction for this lesson needs scaffolding with additional differentiation to develop the reading strategies and background knowledge necessary for students to successfully achieve the learning targets. This support comes with additional time, instructional support, aligning appropriate assessments, diagnosing each student and adjusting accordingly, and by closely monitoring individual student progress with the help of special education and ELL educators.
  • The most effective support will be in vocabulary. Students and teacher can identify the tier two vocabulary words and determine their meaning in the context of the text. There are also multiple allusions and extended metaphors for which struggling learners will need additional support or explanation to grasp the meaning. 
Originator: 
Tennessee Department of Education