Write Your Own I Have a Dream Speech
Subjects: Language Arts, Social Studies
Grade Levels: K-2, 3-5, 6-8, 9-12
Objectives
Students will:
- listen to King's famous "I Have a Dream" speech; and,
- use a fill-in-the-blanks worksheet to express their dreams for the world in a format similar to King's speech.
Keywords
dream, Martin Luther King, speech
Materials Needed
- recording of King's "I Have a Dream" speech: History Channel Speeches (scroll down to Aug. 28, 1063); King Speech Audio; MLK Audio Clip
- text version of the speech (optional)
- "I Have a Dream Too!" work sheet
Procedure
- Explain to students that they are going to learn about Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream of the future and think about their own dreams.
- Play a recorded version of Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech so students can get a sense of King's delivery and of the excitement the speech generated.
- Discuss with students King's dream for the country, and ask why people might consider the speech great. Ask students to think about their own dreams for the future.
- Have students complete the ThinkQuest "I Have a Dream Too!" work sheet. [See Note in Materials Needed section above.]
Assessment
Students present their speeches to their classmates. Ask each student to privately grade his or her peers' speeches with a rating of 3 (good work), 4 (very good job), or 5 (superb effort). Average the peer scores to come up with each student's final grade.
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