Martin Luther King, Jr. Timeline

Students create timelines that reflect important events in the civil rights movement and the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. Grades 4 – 8

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Objectives

Everyday Lesson Plans

• conduct research using print and Web sources about the life of Martin Luther King, Jr.
• create a chronology of important events from the life of Martin Luther King, Jr.
• write about an event in Dr. King's life.
  

Materials

• books about the life of Martin Luther King, Jr.
• copies of a printed list of relevant Web sites
• a class set of the Fact Gathering Sheet

• Ask students to tell you what they know about Martin Luther King, Jr. Record their information in column one of the chart paper, titled "What We Know."
• Now students should fill in the second column with questions they still have about Martin Luther King, Jr. This column could be titled, "What We Want to Know."
• Tell students that they will now have the opportunity to find answers to some of their questions about the events in Martin Luther King, Jr.'s life as well as when and where these events occurred. Let them know they will be using this information to build a timeline about his life. Tip: Review parts of a timeline with younger students. Tell students they will use books and Web sources to find this information.
• Pass out the Fact Gathering Sheet <"link to Fact Gathering Sheet Template"> Review hot to use the sheet to record research, including, entering event name, date the event occurred, and additional information about the event
  
• Show students the book selection and pass out the sheet with the relevant URLs. Have students begin research for events they will be including on their timeline. Tip: To make this a more challenging activity, ask students to include events from the civil rights movement that occurred during King's lifetime. (Students can choose to create a double timeline – one that includes important events in King's life and events that occurred during the civil rights movement. These parallel time lines could be placed one above the other.)
  
• After finding between 5 and 8 events, ask students to number them in chronological order, starting with the earliest one.
  

Assignment
Once students have collected their important events and determined the proper chronology, assign the construction of the timeline. Remind students that timelines include: a date and title for each event, a line or similar graphic illustrating a continuum. Ask students to add an illustration to go along with each event. (Students may use magazine clippings, etc. to illustrate their timelines.)

Assessment of Skills and Knowledge
After creating the timeline, students will have a clearer sense of Dr. King's life and the events that shaped it. Ask students to do further research on one event from their timeline. Remind students that they may return to previously used print and Web resources. Ask students to write a paragraph describing the event and its significance on the life of Dr. King and other Americans.

Extend

• Watch video "Our Friend Martin"
• Read excerpts from The Civil Rights Movement in America: From 1865 to the Present by Patricia and Frederick McKissack
• Read Dear Dr. King: Letters from Today's Children to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. edited by Jan Colbert and Ann McMillan Harms (Jump in the Sun, 2000) and then have students write letters to Dr. King.
• Familiarize students with Dr. King's famous "I Have Dream" speech by doing a dramatic reading of it from the book I Have a Dream by Martin Luther King and Coretta Scott King (School and Library Binding, 1997).
• Have students try the Martin Luther King, Jr. Scavenger Hunt.
  
• Read Freedom's Children: Young Civil Rights Activists Tell Their Own Stories by Ellen Levine (Puffin 2000)
• Participate in the kindness and justice challenge offered through Do Something.
  
• Create an ongoing bulletin board which you may want to title, "Keeping Dr. King's Dream Alive" where students can write ideas for what they can do now to keep King's dream alive.
  

Teacher Reflection About Lesson

• Did students find the books and Web sites helpful in supplying relevant information?
• Did students have enough time to be thorough in their information gathering?
• Did students obtain a clear sense of the chronology of King's life?
• Were enough resources available to help students find information?
• Was enough time allotted for discussing King's life before students embarked on their research and timelines?
• Did students have enough guidance for what to include in their paragraphs?