Case Study - Peggy Dunn

Learning Centers: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Peggy Savage Dunn

Second Grade

Central Elementary School

Okemos, Michigan

In Okemos we have taken the Core Democratic Values and agreed to put the emphasis on different concepts at each grade. For second grade the stressed values are Equality and Diversity. Examining the life and beliefs of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is a meaningful way to introduce Equality, what it is and what it takes in our lives to achieve equality. In my classroom we spend several weeks learning about Dr. King and his life in many different ways. I try to give experience in many Early Childhood Domains in order to appeal to the different learning styles of children. One of the venues I use for learning about Dr. King is the Learning Centers which we do on Wednesdays and Fridays.

The four Centers include:

Peacemaking: this teacher directed center begins with reading and discussing the book Peace Begins with You by Katherine Scholes. Discussions center on what the book has to do with the life and teachings of Dr. King and what individuals can do to make peace in their world. At the end of the book and discussion we learned the last verse of the song, "Let there be peace on earth".

Young Martin and Me: this teacher directed center includes a quick and cursory reading of the book Young Martin Luther King: I Have a Dream which is part of the Troll First-Start Biography series(no author given). Following the book the children complete a worksheet comparing facts about Martin Luther King when he was a child, including his interests and activities, with each child's own history, interests and activities up to this point.

Primary Sources: this computer center makes use of two sources of audio and/or video recordings of excerpts of several of Dr. King's most famous speeches including "I Have a Dream", "Let Freedom Ring" and "Promised Land". One computer uses four sites on the Encarta 98 CD. The other computer uses the Internet site address of http://www.sherylfranklin.com/holidays/mlking.html which has slightly longer excerpts of the speeches. All the children take turns listening to the Encarta sources. Children with parental permission to use the Internet also listen to the speeches on the Internet.

Martin Luther King filmstrip: the fourth center has an automated Dukane filmstrip projector with a screen and earphones for five children. They listen to and watch the twenty-minute National Geographic filmstrip People Behind Our Holidays: Martin Luther King, Jr.

Each center takes approximately twenty minutes and the students rotate through two centers a day for two days, thus going to all four centers. The children are quite familiar with the format of how Centers are handled, having done them all year. However, when I introduced the Centers this week I added a new dimension. I told them that, since I have curly hair, I had decided I only want to work with children with curly hair. Furthermore, I informed them that because she has brown eyes our MSU intern, Ms. Dorow, wanted to work only with people who were like her.

An insightful and fascinating discussion took place following these surprising new guidelines, with all children ready to give their opinions about whether this would be a fair way of handling Centers. One student said that she had both curly hair and brown eyes so she thought that the rules were fair. One child expressed the feeling that she wouldn't enjoy the Centers without her friends being there too and others agreed. Finally a student suggested that we should go back to the old rules and I confessed that I didn't really think the new rules were fair and equal either. I asked them to think about how they felt when I gave the new rules as they took part in the Martin Luther King Centers this week but that everyone would be able to do all the Centers, as usual.

Center Objectives: The student will be able to:

1. recognize the importance of a leader who emerged to help encourage African-American people to struggle for the freedoms to which they were entitled.

2. recognize Martin Luther King as a great leader who worked to get equal rights for all people.

3. understand Martin Luther King JR's hope that all people could live together peacefully.

4. understand how Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke out for civil rights and led non-violent protests and marches demanding fair laws for all people.

5. understand Rev. King's dream of a world free of hate, prejudice and violence.

6. understand that Rev. King was once a child just like these children.

7. learn and experience the value of Equality.

Thanks for helping with our Centers this week, Bob! The kids are so excited to work with you and I'll have to be sure to let the other half of the class work with you next Friday so they all get a chance. You are doing one of our four centers this week about Martin Luther King Jr. The children need to bring their MLK booklets and a pencil out to the table in the hallway. Read the book Young Martin Luther King. You can make this a somewhat cursory reading with as little discussion as they'll allow you (they love to discuss!). Then they turn to the second-to-the-last page in their booklets. Read the top of the page together. Then they need to fill out the page comparing MLK to themselves. Go through one question at a time. Agree on what should be written for Martin and allow each child to tell what they'll be putting in the grid for themselves. Continue through the worksheet, filling it out as completely as possible. We have about 20 minutes for the first group. I'll send out someone to tell you when it is time to switch. Then another group will come out and you do the same thing again with them. I'll send someone out when the second group should end and that's it! Wasn't that fun?