I don't think that I had actually read Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech until two or three years ago. Like every other American, I had heard the speech and seen black and white images of it on television. If I were being honest, I would admit that I would cringe and tune out when the speech came on or was brought up in History classes. I think that my reaction was based on the fact that I thought that I knew what it meant, when I really didn't.
We all know what an eloquent and powerful speaker King was, but what we miss is what a master of metaphor he was. Furthermore, once I read the speech, I was surprised by the tone of it . Martin Luther King wasn't begging whites for acceptance, he was demanding re-payment of a debt owed. His words are eerily relevant today.
The lesson below is one of the best that I have taught this year (if I do say so myself). In really good lessons there is a feeling of transcendence. I sure that it is similar to the feeling an actor has when he is on stage knowing that he or she has the audience in the palm of their hand. It doesn't happen every day, but when it does it reminds me why I love teaching.
Figurative Language and MLK's "I Have a Dream Speech."
1. I review the definitions of metaphor and simile.
2. We discuss how and why authors use figurative language.
3. Students write and share their own metaphors and similes inspired by the photographs in the slides below.
4. Students look at examples of 8th grade metaphor projects about Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye.
5. I read quotes from the novel aloud and ask students to identify what is being compared in each project. (They were enthralled by the projects).
(I made this on Haiku Deck, which is really easy to use presentation software. Click through the slides to see what my student's saw during class.)
Figurative Language - Created with Haiku Deck, presentation software that inspires
6. I explain that student's will read Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech, and then create a visual representation of one of the metaphors in the speech.
7. I give each student a copy of the speech and then project it on the Smartboard.
8. As we read the speech together, I choose a particularly energetic student to underline the metaphors in the speech on The Smartboard. Students highlight and annotate their speeches, and I draw (really basic) sketches on the white board.
9. I have the students annotate their text with notes about The March on Washington, The Emancipation Proclamation, and the Declaration of Independence.
10. As a class, we focus on several of the metaphors in the first half of the speech. Below are some of my favorites:
"The Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity."
In a sense we've come to our nation's Capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check; a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds."But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check- a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.
Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality.
After we finish the speech we will watch the video, and begin our metaphor project. Hopefully my students will understand and appreciate why they have the day off after they finish this assignment!
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