Skip to Main Content
I Have A Dream

I Have A Dream

Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech will inspire students to ponder his words and create an acrostic poem.

Lesson Plan

Supplies Needed

Gather all the supplies needed to bring your craft ideas to life! From paints and markers to glue and scissors, our crafts section has everything to spark creativity and make every project truly special.

Steps

  • Step 1

    Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968) was a minister and social activist who led the civil rights movement in the United States from the mid 1950s until his assassination in 1968. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. During the massive March on Washington in 1963 to promote jobs and freedom he delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech. Have students read the speech or watch a video of it online. Ask them to discuss what has changed since then and what still needs to be done to realize King's dream.

  • Step 2

    Have students write an acrostic poem to reflect the theme and impact of the speech using the word DREAM. Then have them illustrate their poem.

  • Step 3

    Ask students to present their works to the class and discuss Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy.

Standards

SS: Time, Continuity, and Change: Analyze the causes and consequences of past events and developments, and place these in the context of the institutions, values and beliefs of the period in which they took place.

SS: Time, Continuity, and Change: Read, reconstruct, and interpret the past. Imagine the future. Place oneself in various times and spaces and reflect on change.

SS: Power, Authority, and Governance: Develop awareness of rights and responsibilities of people, in specific contexts.

Adaptations

Have students research other notable civil rights leaders past and present such as journalist Ida B. Wells who used investigative reporting to shed light on the horrors of the Jim Crow South in the late 19th and early 20th century, Claudette Colvin who refused to give up her seat at the front of a bus in Montgomery, Alabama in 1955, and Bryan Stevenson who founded the Equal Justice Initiative in 1989.

Encourage students to create a timeline of notable events in the civil rights era beginning in 1948 when President Harry Truman issued the order to end segregation, to the sit-ins in Greensboro, NC, in 1960, to present-day actions that address continued injustices.