Martin Luther King, Jr. Differentiated Unit - Standards-Based
Each reading passage is written at two reading levels for maximum differentiation.
Passage Reading Levels
- Passage 1: Fluency: The Civil Rights Movement – A Lexile Level 610L-800L
- Passage 1: Fluency: The Civil Rights Movement – B Lexile Level 1010L-1200L
- Passage 2: Fluency: Who is Martin Luther King, Jr.? Lexile Level 610L-800L
- Passage 2: Fluency: Who is Martin Luther King, Jr.? Lexile Level 1010L-1200L
- Passage 3: MLK Facts Lexile Level 610L-800L
- Passage 4: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. – Nobel Prize – A Lexile Level 610L-800L
- Passage 4: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. – Nobel Prize – B Lexile Level 810L-1010L
- Passage 5: March on Washington – A Lexile Level 610L-810L
- Passage 5: March on Washington – B Lexile Level 1010L-1200L
- Passage 6: Dr. Martin Luther King’s Assassination A Lexile Level 610L-800L
- Passage 6: Dr. Martin Luther King’s Assassination B Lexile Level 610:-800L
Student Edition Table of Contents
Fluency: Civil Rights Movement A page 3
Fluency: Civil Rights Movement B page 4
Civil Rights Movement Comprehension page 5
Fluency: Who is Martin Luther King, Jr. – A page 6
Fluency: Who is Martin Luther King, Jr. – B page 7
Who is MLK Comprehension and Standards Assessment page 8
Fluency: Who is MLK, Jr. Close Read page 9
MLK Facts page 10
MKL Facts Multiple Choice Questions and Descriptive Paragraph page 11
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. – Nobel Prize A page 12
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. – Nobel Prize B page 13
March on Washington - A page 14
March on Washington – B page 15
March on Washington Left Hanging page 16
March on Washington Left Hanging Weblink Activity – Optional page 17
Smithsonian Relic Search – March on Washington page 18
Dr. Martin Luther King’s Assassination - A page 19
Dr. Martin Luther King’s Assassination - B page 20
Dr. Martin Luther King’s Assassination Text Evidence page 21
MLK Making Inferences in Non-Fiction – Early Life page 22
Summing Up the Whole Unit – Main/Central Idea and Text Evidence page 23
MLK Quotes and Meaning Analysis page 24
RAFT – Choose Your Own Assignment page 25
Rubrics page 29
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23 Daily Reading Warm-Ups Social Justice & Discrimination: Standards-Based
Each of these 23 Daily Warm-Up or Bell Ringer passages is aligned with the Common Core State Standards and are written for grades 6 to 12. They contain quick reading comprehension and text structures questions, writing activities, and higher order thinking activities. They are provide a perfect background for the work of Martin Luther King, Jr. and work great for Black History Month.
Informational Text/NonFiction
These engaging passages are themed around the history of discrimination in the United States.
The passages are in three formats: Powerpoint, pdf and form fillable pdf.
The questions constructed response to help you incorporate communication, critical thinking, collaboration and creativity into student assignments. The warm-ups are designed to help students think critically, to prepare for state assessments, and to open important questions about race and discrimination.
The topics are non-fiction and perfect for use as warm-ups, bell ringers, early finishers, unit reinforcers, partner or group work and/or lesson starters. These lessons are designed to foster higher order thinking skills and writing across the curriculum. They are social studies, reading and writing themed and ask thought provoking questions to help students become independent thinkers and provide exercise for their brain muscles.
The passages are designed to be differentiated, so mix it up. Have students work alone, in pairs or in small groups. Encourage dialogue around the questions. If a passage seems particularly difficult for your students – pair emerging readers with patient proficient readers and writers. Some of the best thinking happens this way.
The three versions, pdf, form fillable pdf, and PowerPoint can easily be uploaded to any platform for digital/distance learning.
Table of Contents
page 6: Daily Warm-Up 1 – The Beginnings of the Segregation Stronghold (RI.2)
page 7: Daily Warm-Up 2 – Plessy v. Ferguson – Separate But Equal
page 8-9: Daily Warm-Up 3 – Plessy v. Ferguson – One Judge Did Not Agree
page 10: Daily Warm-Up 4 – Judge Harlan’s Prediction
page 11: Daily Warm-Up 5 – Plessy and Segregation Today
page 12: Daily Warm-Up 6 – Timeline of Discrimination in the United States: 1619-1865
page 13: Daily Warm-Up 7 – Timeline of Discrimination in the United States Continued: 1712-1776
page 14-15: Daily Warm-Up 8 – Founding Fathers
page 16: Daily Warm-Up 9 – Ben Franklin and Slavery
page 17-18: Daily Warm-Up 10 Timeline of Discrimination in the United States – The Amistad
page 19: Daily Warm-Up 11 – Timeline of Discrimination in the United States – The Amistad is Not Over
page 20: Daily Warm-Up 12 – Timeline of Discrimination in the United States – The Amistad Makes it to the Supreme Court (RI.1, RI.2, W.1a
page 21-22: Daily Warm-Up 13: Timeline of Discrimination in the United States – Fugitive Slave Act of 1783 (RH 2.1 and RH 2.2)
page 23-24: Daily Warm-Up 14 – Timeline of Discrimination in the United States – Fugitive Slave Act of 1783 and Martha Washington
page 25: Daily Warm-Up 15 – Timeline of Discrimination in the United States – The Underground Railroad – Comprehension
page 26: Daily Warm-Up 16: Timeline of Discrimination in the United States Dred Scott, March 6, 1857 (RH.5 and RH.2)
page 27: Daily Warm-Up 17 – Timeline of Discrimination in the United States – John Brown’s Raid of October 16, 1859 – Harper’s Ferry (RI.3, W.2 and W.3)
page 28-29: Daily Warm-Up 18 – Timeline of Discrimination in the United States – January 1, 1863 – The Emancipation Proclamation (RH.1 and RH.2)
page 30-31: Daily Warm-Up 19 – Timeline of Discrimination in the United States – The Emancipation Proclamation and the Thirteenth Amendment (W1a,b.c)
page 32-33: Daily Warm-Up 20: Timeline of Discrimination in the United States: Civil War: Slavery Out – Black Codes In
page 34: Daily Warm-Up 21: Timeline of Discrimination in the United States - Reconstruction
page 35: Daily Warm-Up 22: timeline of Discrimination in the Unites States – 40 Acres and a Mule: One More Broken Promise
page 36: Daily Warm-Up 23: Timeline of Discrimination in the United States – Reconstruction Dies a Bid Death – The Compromise of 1877 (RH.2 and RH.5)
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3 Week – Social Justice Unit – Standards-Based - See Topics Below
23 Daily Warm-Ups with Corresponding Mini-Units
Social Studies and Language Arts
Over 150 Pages
Distance Learning:
- Detailed 23-day Lesson Plan
- 23 Social Justice Warm-Ups
- 23 Sample Blog posts to correspond with warm-ups to “discuss” each social justice topic with your students virtually
- Extra enrichment activities
In Class:
- 23 Social Justice Warm-Ups
- Presentables (PowerPoint to present each mini-lesson) to spark classroom conversations – full daily mini-lessons around each warm-up
- Extra enrichment/extension activities
IN CLASS: PowerPoint with slides for each Warm-Up topic, conversation starter questions and lesson plan for discussions and activities.
BLOG: The blog is turn-key – with 23 days of pre-written posts. This is great way to augment the effectiveness of the Social Justice Warm-Ups. The blog is secure, interactive, and engaging – with detailed instructions for teacher set-up. Learning about Social Justice and helping students become more aware of prejudice and discrimination is imperative as we prepare them to live and work in our diverse world – and this unit opens conversations and engages students.
BLOG SECTIONS: Each warm-up has an accompanying blog post. The pages are laid out for you in this manual. There are also instructions on how to set up a secure blog with Google Blogger. A blog is great for distance learning. Each separate blog post is on a new page (or pages) - for you to copy and paste and edit – so you can modify them to address issues in your part of the world.
EXTRA READING: Some of the blog sections and in class lessons have extra readings and video clips you can link to (if you are using this unit for distance learning.) Some of the PDFs for those readings are in the folder titled “extra readings” – very original title, right?
EXTENSION ACTIVITIES: There are three enrichment activity/assignment menus before the blog posts begin. The pages state which posts to put them between. I say “menus” because they offer students differentiated activities/assignments to choose from. This type of differentiation makes it easy to assess understanding. Strugglers may choose activities on the lower end of Bloom’s – while advanced students can dig in and think critically.
If you don’t want to edit, the lessons are turnkey – copy, paste and you are off.
It is imperative to teach students about the world and everyone in it by having real conversations around social and cultural differences and privilege. Students need to understand social issues, what society is and how we must all live peacefully together.
We all, students included, need to face the conversations around discrimination and racism happening in our world with frankness and honesty. Teaching Social Justice must occur, not simply because it’s relevant, but so students can explore how their stories fit into the larger quilt of the national and global blanket that make up our world.
This isn’t easy. These activities don’t always feel good and don’t always, or even rarely, end in simple answers. But as educators, we must ensure that each student in our influence, at some point, stands up for what they believe in. They may not always agree with others, but at least we can give them the tools to share their beliefs with respect and compassion for others.
TOPICS
1. What is Social Justice?
2. We All Have Rights – Universal Declaration of Human Rights
3. We All Have Rights – But Are They Equal
4. What About Zero Indifference – Being a Bystander
5. You Have the Key – Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights – Education is Key
6. UDHR – Article 2 – Never Judge a Book by Its Cover
7. UDHR – Article 2 and Discrimination – What is Discrimination? Feeling Unsafe taking a Walk – the perspective of a Black person
8. UDHR – Article 3 – Eric Garner – Police have a job to do, but what about when they go too far? How do we overcome institutional racism and discrimination?
9. With Liberty and Justice for All – All People are Created Equal
10. UDHR – Article 4 and Slavery plus Glenn C. Loury’s article “An American Tragedy: The legacy of slavery lingers in our cities’ ghettos.”
11. UDHR Article 5 – Torture – Was George Floyd Tortured?
12. UDHR Article 5 – Torture – Ariana Granadillo’s Story – Was Ariana Granadillo Tortured?
a. Comparing Floyd and Granadillo
13. UDHR Article 5 – Social Justice – Desmond Tutu and Neutrality
14. UDHR Article 6 – Discrimination with Post to Harvard Study on personal experiences with discrimination
15. Social Injustice in Schools
16. Then There is You – The Great Outlier
17. Social Justice on a Global Scale
18. UDHR – Article 10 – Everyone is entitled to a fair and public trail, but does everyone get one?
19. Innocent Until Proven Guilty or Guilty Until Proven Innocent
a. UDHR – Article 11
b. Josesph Lamont Abbitt – Wrongly Accused
20. UDHR – Article 11
21. SATs and Racial Bias
22. Plessy v. Ferguson – Separate is Not Equal
23. Jim Crow Laws and a History of Racism
24. Jim Crow Laws and Plessy
25. Racially Biased Language
