Students Learn About Life of Martin Luther King Jr.

Students at Salt Brook Elementary School, Allen W. Roberts Elementary School and New Providence Middle School learned about the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. through classroom lessons last week. Here's a rundown of what some students learned:

Teachers read various literature selections of the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, which were taught cross-curricular and cross-grade levels to assist teachers in sharing King's life and legacy with the students, said Principal Jean Maier in an email.

"Teachers are also using these literature selections for springboard discussions to further teach lessons on stereotyping, appreciating differences, and recognizing how words can hurt (or heal)," Maier said in an email. "It is a perfect tie-in to our Character Education theme 'Do the D.A.P.' (DAP stands for Dignity and Pride)." 

Teachers and students are discussing how Martin Luther King Jr. demonstrated his dignity and pride, and relating it to how the students, staff, and members of our community do the D.A.P. in their everyday lives, Maier added.

Content skills are also being taught based around this theme in writing workships, Maier said in an email. Second graders learned how to write cohesive paragraphs on the topic "Who is My Hero?" while third graders learned all about time-lines in Social Studies and developing one on the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

"In music class, students are working on musical selections, Martin's Cry and Woke Up," Maier said in an email. "These selections not only teach important musical skills, but they also have led to springboard discussions on how the changes in our country may have taken a lot longer if Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. didn't have the courage to speak up and promote change." 

The students were asked to think about their "voice" and how they could speak out positively to help others, Maier added.

In an email, Principal Michael Barcadepone said students in various classes participated in different activities for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, which included:

• Reading Young Martin Luther King Jr.
• Discussing what a dream was
• Writing their own dreams for the world and displaying them
• Answering QAR (question, answer, response) about various biographies
• Writing five things that they could do to make Martin Luther King Jr. proud of them
• Analyzing similarities and differences between Martin Luther King and present day role models
• Making drawings and posters that later decorated rooms
• Viewing Martin's Big Words on Book Flix, a Scholastic Book Company website that integrates literature with interactive follow-up activities
• Creating mini-books about King's life

Principal Gina Hansen said students throughout the school participated in different activities surrounding Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

In Alicia Gregorio's 7th grade Social Studies class, students viewed a video that aired on MTV, which was part of a series called Biorhythm.

"That was a biographical series that depicts the life stories of famous people using music as the story-telling device rather than a narrator," Gregorio said in an email. "Biorhythm combines a montage of video clips and photographs with selections from every genre to create a powerful new take on biography and documentary-type programming."

Prior to viewing the video, Gregorio said the class discussed the definition of segregation, boycott and civil rights.

"The video is very moving and afterward, the students were able to reflect on it, which leads to a meaningful discussion," Gregorio said in an email.

In Andrea Miller-Hamilton's 8th grade class on Thursday and Friday, students had a lesson on King using his "What is your life's blueprint?" speech, beginning with an overview of who King was and why he is important to know about.

"Following that, we will read his speech aloud and then have a group discussion about what he is saying, what a life's blueprint is, and why such a thing would be necessary," Miller-Hamilton said in an email.

Students then worked in small groups to craft their own life blueprints, using both words and images, she said, which serves as an informal introduction to the class unit on memoir.