Martin Luther King Jr had a dream for all America. I think that 57 years later we should be much closer to that dream becoming reality.

I want to ensure at the very least that dream of Dr. King’s America still has a voice in our government.

As a teacher I had a many daily lessons, blueprints if you will, of what the day was to have in store. Over the course of the years no blueprint or lesson was ever the same. If you found success you repeated the action. Tweaking a little bit each and every time and by the end of the first day, or year, you might have a winner. One in particular comes to mind today.

It was simple yet effective. First read the opening to the Declaration of Independence.

We hold these truths to be self evident,

than all (men) are created equal.

Declaration of Independence 1776

Discuss with your neighbors. Or think about that for two counts.

Discuss as a whole group.

Ask, so what do you think so far?

Keep a Graphic Organizer on board.

Flash up on the screen:

Four score and seven years ago

Ask: How much is a score? pause for response/discussion.

Ask: How much then would be four score? pause for response/discussion.

Ask: Alright put it all together. How much is 4 score and 7?

87 by the Way. Tom Waddle

Flash this image on screen. Cover it.

Did you recognize that man?

Uncover. Intro Honest Abe honestly.

Do you know what was going on when he was President?

pause, response, discuss

In 1863 he gave a pretty famous address in a small town in Pennsylvania. About that small town in Pennsylvania and what had happened there pretty recently.

If no one knows ask for a another way to say proclaim? Quick synonym lesson. Maybe go into other devices.

Pause, if no one volunteers, have them talk in small groups. Pass out a copy of Gettysburg Address. Keep interacting with Students.

Pull up Gettysburg Address on screen. Then, read out loud with conviction.

Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all (men) are created equal.

87 years later we are at war with ourselves. Use your normal voice read the rest of the address to the class.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

Remind class to mark text as you read and they follow along. Have fun with last paragraph.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate — we can not consecrate — we can not hallow — this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

that this nation, shall have a new birth of freedom,

and that government of the people, by the people, for the people,

Shall not perish from the earth

Abraham Lincoln
Gettysburg Pennsylvania
Four score and seven years after the signing of the declaration
Abraham Lincoln Online dot Org

74 years after ratifying the American Constitution the fight for freedom was now dividing our nation in half among many fronts. Morally, ethically, racially, economically, et al. The Civil War was a war that divided homes, families, towns, cities, and our country. It still stands as the deadliest War in our Nations history. Hopefully, to never be beaten.

More math. What year is it?

2020 Subtract that by 1963. Anyone know why I selected 1963?

Does anyone know the name Martin Luther King Jr? Pause for response/discussion.

Pass out a copy of the I Have a Dream Speech or put on screen.

Mark Text/Discuss with your neighbor, in small groups, and whole groups.

Time permitting watch his speech in it’s entirety. Or in a time crunch just from 12:30 mark. If full viewing not possible assign as homework to be watched and paper signed by someone older than them. Mom, dad, brother, sister, cousin. Irregardless mark the text as you watch and listen.

Always a good lesson, review, of what it is we are trying to do here and who we were, who we are, and where we want to go as a society.

I do want to carry on the dream of Dr. King.

You’re homework. Think about what you just read, watched, or listened to. Where are we know in America as Americans to living out a pretty nice dream 57 years after all that.

Bring questions, anecdotes, a word, or something to add the conversation. We won’t have much time. But at least you woulda thought about it.

I really want to help move this country forward to where my children and yours are given equal opportunity to succeed in life. Irregardless of all that other stuff the people in charge are saying I think the dream is still alive.

work together

stand up together

struggle together

live together

love together

That’s the part that I really like.

The dream is still being fought and legislated for.

Ken