Martin Luther King Jr. Books

We read 2 different books about MLK.  The first was a simpler book that I knew some kids could read by themselves (and more could retell after they've heard it).  It lead to a talk about segregation, which of course these kids thought was crazy.  I used the water fountain down the hall as an example.  "Imagine you couldn't use it just because of the color of your eyes, hair, and skin."  

The next book we read was a little risky; Martin's Big Words. I like the book because the pictures are very rich, and it was very readable for nonfiction.  The kids were captivated, and one big discussion that came out of it was "How would you bring people together?"  I modified the prompt in the end because I felt this was a little more specific than the title on the page.  I had kids copy the sentence frame, "I would bring people together by..."  They really latched on to the idea of being happy together as the opposite of segregation, so I wanted to capitalize on that.

What was harder to deal with was that this book reveals that King was assassinated.  I debated skipping that part.  In the end, the moment felt like I sort of needed to read it as is.  For one thing, I have one student who can read every word, so if I try changing the words she points it out.  Second, if I tried to skip a page, I worried some could tell.  But most importantly, I decided I needed to address it because I heard one child tell a couple kids that MLK had been shot.

I decided that it was better that I tell them and give them a framework for coping than brushing it under the rug.

So there was a moment when the kids looked shocked, and teary.  But the next page in the book does go on to say that his message lives on today, and that segregation laws in this country have ended.  While I realize we still have a long way to go in terms of civil rights, and I chose my words carefully not to just say everything is perfect now, they seemed okay.

We also had a great talk about civil rights; deeper than I would have expected.  One child said that in other countries, there is still segregation.  I told him this is true (and he looked surprised; apparently he was guessing, haha).  I told them that in some countries girls are not allowed to go to school.  And I told them that the reason we learn about Martin Luther King Jr. is to remember how unacceptable it is to segregate people.  And that "maybe some day one of you kids will be the one to use your words, not hurting people but persuading them, in one of those countries that they need to stop segregation."  They got very excited about this idea and lots of them said "I'm going to do that!"

 

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