"I Have a Dream"

It is my understanding that public schools have a choice regarding Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. They can either take the day off in memory of him, or they are required to spend the day discussing Dr. King and his civil rights efforts. My school opted for the day off, but my class spent some time on Friday talking about who Martin Luther King, Jr. was, what he did, and why we remember him 50 years after the fact. See if you can pick out the things I focused on by reading the following essays.

Some of the best essays are here in their complete form. Lest you think I am a horrible teacher, please understand that I was focusing on the content, not the grammar or spelling. We had just about 30 minutes to talk and write at the same time, so there was no editing done.(I have tried to type them exactly as written by my students, providing translations in parenthasis.)

Martin Luther King, Jr. was a smart non-vilonet minster. Also he was a civil rights leader. And he was mistred (mistreated) because of his bleaves (beliefs). He was assassinated by James Eral Ray. I really like him because he worked for PEACE! I really like him just for who he is. ~Jack

I agry with him we should have peace on earth. and I agry we should be treted equally. I do not like the other people that roend (ruined) his house. he dide (died) because of that. I do not just like him because his birthday lets us have no school. I like him for who he is. ~Jessica

I really look up to Martin luther king because He changed the world to make the earth a better place. He is one of my biggest heros. One time I even had a dream about him. Martin luther King wanted to work for peace. He was awarded the nobel peace prize. That is why I love martin luther King. ~Garrett

I like how he wanted ALL people to be treated equally. Now that he did that I can play with my friend Ariana. She is black, I feel bad for Martin Luther king that he died. He was shot in the head by James Earl Ray. He was thrown in jail without any light just because he maid a speech. His speech was called I HAVE A DREAM. They all mistreaded him. They all threw rocks at his house. They set his house on fire. Martin Luther king did not believe in violent. He only worked for peace. He always treated people nicely. He never did violence. He was a minister and lived in Alabama. That is why I like Martin Luther King. ~Sierra

He was a great man and he worked for peace. Whene he made that speech I felt great. His house was destroed and that was horrible. Soon he was assassinated by James Earl Ray. I'll never forget him because he was a great man. All in all, He was a man of the peace that why he's a hero. ~Jesse

I agrey that racisom is a stuped resen to hate echother. I think Marten Luther King was a god man, and I think that it dosint mater if you are black, white, or tan you should still be nice to other people. I think peopel should be treated equwele. I think that going to difirint schools becausa of your coler is stuped. I agrey with every ting King said. ~Jacob

I agree with Martin Luther King Jr. because all humans should be treeted equaly just like he said. Martin Luther Kind was a non violent person. He has a speech called, I Have a Dream, and it is a great speech. He was killed by James Earl Ray. The think I like about Martin Luther king Jr. is that he worked for peace. That is why I like Martin Luther King Jr. ~Deanna

1972 Martin Luther King Jr. was wanting to be a minister like his father. Martin Luther King Jr. was non-vilent. He wanted all people to be treated equally. He wanted to work for peace. King was 15 years old when he was in collage so he was pretty smart. He was assassinated by James Earl Ray. Thats how he (Ray) got famous. As you can see, Martin Luther King Jr. Loved every body even if they were violent. But he wanted everybody to be non-vilent. He didn't mean to make people hate him. ~Ashley

Some of the kids said things that were either very funny or touching.

He used his life to save the people from attcking each other. ~Justin

It doesn't madder about your skin it matters about your heart. ~Johnathan

I doent like James Earl Ray for Killing him. But I remember Martin Luther King because he worked for Peace. ~Cristian

I'd hate the days back then. ~Anonymous (grrr...no name papers...the scourge of my existence!)

Dear Martin Luther King Jr., Im glad that you let everybody even the black people go to school. ~Jose

When Martin luther king, Jr Baby He sleeped in a jrow (drawer). A few weeks later he got a cribe. He and his brother and sisters usto (used to) play jokes on people. ~Danielle

When Martin Luther King Jr. was only 27 years old, he lead the boycott that stopped segregation. ~Emily

Reading these you would think that I spent the whole time talking about James Earl Ray, but I really only mentioned him in passing. I think that 4th grade is right about the first time they can really comprehend the concept of assassination and they are facinated by it. I spent most of the conversation focusing on the non-violent aspect of King's revolution. We talked about all the horrible things that were done against King and his supporters and how they used boycotts, sit ins, and protest marches instead of guns and bricks to make their voices heard.

I read out of a book about King and at the end of the blurb it stated that "King's message lives on." I was nearly in tears as I explained to my class that THEY are how that message lives. I told them that I was doing what I could to make the world better than my parents had it, but that there would still be lots for them to do to make it better than I have it. Many in my class expressed the idea that equality had been reached (unfortunately, I think we spend way too much time patting ourselves on the back as we teach this topic). One of my students told us about moving to Temecula. She said that as they were unpacking, their TV was stolen out of their car and eggs were thrown at her house. The kids were appalled. They were quite adament that this was unacceptable and should never happen again.

I hope you are enjoying your Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, whether you have it off work or not. No matter what you are doing today, take a moment to think about how far we have come and how far we have left to go. This is, of course, my entire reason for being a teacher - and a very large part of my reason for being at all.