Unit Topic Big idea(s) Essential Questions

Unit 5: 1950s to Current Events MLK v Malcolm X How did MLK and Malcolm X differ? Which had the more effective tactics? How do their speeches illustrate their differences in beliefs? How did your view of Civil Rights affect how you viewed MLK or Malcolm X?

Standard(s)/ Benchmark(s)

--Describe the significance of Martin Luther King, Jr.s Letter from a Birmingham Jail and his I Have a Dream Speech - Describe the social and political turmoil of 1968; include the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Opener: (3 minutes) Picture VTS: On the board were two wordles. The wordless had the most common words used by MLK and Malcolm X in two of their speeches. I asked students to take a marker and write one of the words that stuck out to them the most. We then went over the words as a class and discussed the differences between the tone and meaning of the most common used words on each wordle. *see attached powerpoint Mini Lesson (10 minutes): Brief background information on MLK and Malcolm X and their views on Civil Rights. I modeled how I wanted the chart to appear for the students on the board before we began taking notes by drawing an example of what their paper should look like. However, they could also take notes in the traditional style if they chose to *In the future, I shorten this to brief background information and instead focus the rest of the time on the speeches and comparing perception of the two men. This is because most of the information gathered in the beginning is seen in the lesson. By getting rid of this, it lends itself to more of an inquiry lesson that I think better serves student understanding of the view of MLK and Malcolm X by allowing them to find their views based on their words

Work Session- 40 minutes Speech Analysis - Split two halves of the class: One has MLK speech, one has Malcolm X Speech -*see attached file page 7-12 for speech and worksheet -Dr. McDuffy took half of the class and I took the other half. We parallel taught the two speeches. - In each small group, we first went over the background and context of each speech. Next we gave them a few minutes to just read over the speech.

- Once everyone read the speech through, we popcorn read the first paragraph. - We then completed the requirements of the worksheet. The worksheet was structured to discuss three different topics or viewpoints of MLK and Malcolm X: blacks and whites together, living in and being American, and goals for blacks in America. Students then coded the speech based on where they found evidence of each of these themes. For example, underline when he talks about Blacks and whites together. We then talked about how this evidence implied or supported how each man viewed the topic. - Following the first paragraph, we gave students time to finish the rest of the paragraphs on their own. Following this, we went over the chart in our small group by calling on different students to discuss their responses - following this we had each student find a partner from the other group. They then explained the views and annotations to their partner who took notes on the other side. Perspective*This part of the lesson actually came about from a comment one of my students mentioned in
class. I had originally planned discussion and written response around the different views of MLK and Malcolm X, whos views students identified with, who they would have supported and why. However, while I was summarizing the chart, one student said Malcolm X was a thug. I asked him why he thought that. I then asked him how the way we learn about Malcolm X created that view. From there, I asked them how they would view Malcolm X if they supported his views, and this activity was created. I was then able to refine it and make it more organized for my second class, which is what I filmed. - I quickly went over the two basic philosophies of MLK and Malcolm X. I explained that their differences in Civil Rights came from different views about separation vs. integration. I explained that they were representatives of different schools of thought and were continuations of leaders like WEB Dubois and Booker T. Washington (I then briefly explained the different philosophies of each one). - I led into this activity by asking if they thought how a person viewed the struggle for equal rights would influence how they viewed both MLK and Malcolm X. - Following this, I pulled up a blank PowerPoint slide on the board with a line down the middle. I then wrote Malcolm X at the top. I asked students to call out how they would describe Malcolm X if they supported his view on Civil Rights. I then asked what words they would use to describe him if they did not support his view. We then did the same thing for MLK. During this segment I also made sure to ask them who they thought would have more nationwide appeal and credibility. I then asked them why they thought that. I then transitioned to talk about how their views of Civil Rights influenced their views of each other and I showed the following clip.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwKIUMbi9Jk After each man spoke. I asked the class for example How Malcolm X viewed MLK? How do you know that? and why does he have that view?
Closer- 2 minutes Picture VTS: Write a new word to describe each man on the sticky * we did not have time for this picture part of the closer Sticky 2: If you were alive during the time of these two men, who would you have supported and why?