Reading Enrichment Unit

Title of Unit
Curriculum Area
Developed By

Civil Rights Unit

Grade Level

11th & 12th

U.S. History II

Time Frame

3 class periods (90

minutes each)

Livia Daniel

Identify Desired Results (Stage 1)

Content Standards
SSUSH22 The student will identify dimensions of the Civil Rights Movement,
1945-1970.
d. Describe the significance of Martin Luther King, Jr.s Letter from a Birmingham Jail and
his I Have a Dream Speech.

Understandings

Essential Questions

Overarching Understanding

Overarching

Students will understand..

1) The significance of Martin Luther King, Jr.s
actions, writings, and speeches.

Related Misconceptions

1)Martin Luther King was the only Civil Rights

leader during the Civil Rights Movement.

Topical

1) How did the Civil 1) What impact

Rights Movement
did Martin
impact America?
Luther King,
Jr.s Letter from
2) How did Martin
a Birmingham
Luther King, Jr.
Jail and his I
impact the Civil
Have a Dream
Rights
Speech have
Movement?
on the Civil
Rights
Movement?

Knowledge

Skills

Students will know

Students will be able to

1) Students will understand the goals,

resistance, and impact of the Civil Rights
Movement.

1) Students will be able to evaluate the

effectiveness of the Civil Rights
Movement.

2) Students will understand the impact of Martin 2) Students will be able to analyze
Martin Luther King, Jr.s Letter from a
Luther King, Jr.s Letter from a Birmingham
Birmingham Jail and his I Have a
Jail and his I Have a Dream Speech.
Dream Speech.
3) Students will be able to post their
thoughts using Padlet.
4) Students will be able to evaluate the
effectiveness of Martin Luther King,
Jr.s writings and speech.

Assessment Evidence (Stage 2)

Performance Task Description
Goal

Students will read and analyze Martin Luther King, Jr.s Letter from
a Birmingham Jail and his I Have a Dream Speech.

Role

Students will be active readers and listeners and analyze Martin

Luther King, Jr.s writings and speeches.

Audience

11th and 12th grade students

Situation

Students will be in the media center for this lesson.

Students will answer guided discussion questions on Martin Luther

Product/Performance King, Jr.s Letter from a Birmingham Jail and his I Have a Dream
Speech with a partner and produce a padlet post individually.
SSUSH22 The student will identify dimensions of the Civil
Rights Movement, 1945-1970.
Standards

d. Describe the significance of Martin Luther King, Jr.s Letter from a

Birmingham Jail and his I Have a Dream Speech.

Other Evidence
We will have a whole group discussion before and after students have read and answered
the guided reading questions.

Learning Plan (Stage 3)

Where are your students headed?

Where have they been? How will you
make sure the students know where
they are going?

Students already have been introduced and had a lesson on

the Civil Rights Movement and the Brown v. BOE court
decision. They are headed towards a greater understanding
of MLK, Jr.s role and impact during the Civil Rights Movement
and on. Students will know where they are going becausee
they are used to breaking down the standard and their
learning targets with their classroom teacher. I am told they
do this everyday. Students also will have a detailed agenda
on the board in the media center so they can see the days
agenda each day.

How will you hook students at the

beginning of the unit?

We will first read Martin Luther King Jr.s Letter from a

Birmingham Jail together to preview the text. We will also
watch and listen to his I Have a Dream Speech. After this, we
will watch a youtube video of President Obama and others
commenting on the 50th anniversary of the March on
Washington, bringing it into current events and discuss the
video and their thoughts/reflections on how/if his speech
translates into todays issues.

What events will help students

experience and explore the big idea
and questions in the unit? How will
you equip them with needed skills and
knowledge?

Students will be given MLK, Jr.s letter and speech. The

students will be partnered together to read and answer the
guided questions. These questions are interactive with the
texts. They will be instructed to highlight, underline, and be
given cues along with the questions. This will help students
who are struggling with the text. We will also review (they
should already know this) what a primary source is and how
to successfully read primary source documents prior to them
being partnered together. Their classroom teacher also has
provided the students with notes on the Civil Rights
Movements that the students can refer back to if needed.

How will you cause students to reflect

and rethink? How will you guide them
in rehearsing, revising, and refining
their work?

The media specialist will model aloud the first two questions
so students can see how to answer the questions and see the
expectations. The guided questions will lead students to
discuss with their partners their understandings and opinions
of the texts provided. The media specialist will circulate the
room to assist as needed.

How will you help students to exhibit

and self-evaluate their growing skills,
knowledge, and understanding
throughout the unit?

Through their partner work and guided reading questions

students will be led to self-evaluate and discuss their
opinions on the two texts. They will exhibit their knowledge
through their individual Padlet posting.

How will you tailor and otherwise

personalize the learning plan to
optimize the engagement and
effectiveness of ALL students, without
compromising the goals of the unit?

The discussion question students must answer is the

following, Do you believe Martin Luther King, Jr.s goals for
the Civil Rights Movement were successful? How have his
goals for society impacted your life today? Answer the
questions and provide supportive information/evidence from
the readings. The goal of this unit is for students to develop
their own independent ideas and opinions of the meaning of
MLK, Jr.s writing/speech. The goal is also to make them
reflect on the successfulness of the Civil Rights Movement.
Therefore, the purpose of these lessons is for each student to
come away with a greater understanding of MLK, Jr.s role in
the Civil Rights Movement and also the effectiveness of the
movement.

How will you organize and sequence

the learning activities to optimize the
engagement and achievement of ALL
students?

These segments will be broken down into smaller lessons so

the students will not be overwhelmed by the assignment.
They will also be placed into partners by their classroom
teacher beforehand since she will know best who works well
together and who does not. The lesson will progress as
follows:
Day 1
1) Hook/Activator: Review prior knowledge of Civil Rights
Movement and review standards and learning target.
2) Read the texts together as a whole group and watch the
video clips of the March on Washington and the 50th
Anniversary Commemorative Speech given by President
Obama to connect the speech to todays society.
Day 2
3) Partner up- the media specialist will model the first two
questions with the students to show what is expected.
4) Students will work in partners on guided reading.
5) Whole group discussion/review of their findings and
opinions
Day 3
6) Media specialist will show students how to create a Padlet
account and discuss the discussion questions students
need answer and expectations for discussion question
answer.
7) Individual work on computers; students answering
discussion question and providing evidence to support
their opinion; media specialist will assist as needed.

From: Wiggins, Grant and J. Mc Tighe. (1998). Understanding by Design, Association for Supervision and
Curriculum Development ISBN # 0-87120-313-8 (ppk)