Welcome to this Lesson:

I Say to You Today...I Have a Dream!

writing speeches about personal dreams and ideological beliefs

This lesson was created by Northern Nevada Social Studies teacher Tami Ruf during an I-Pods Across the Curriculum Workshop for teachers.

This writing prompt is inspired by the song

"Pride (In The Name Of Love)" by U2

Click here to do a Google search for the lyrics.

Three-Sentence Overview of this Lesson:

Martin Luther King, Jr., is an iconic American figure who gave his life for the civil rights movement. He is remembered for his passionate, motivating speeches and non-violent marches to gain equal rights for African Americans. Inspired by Martin’s passionate “I Have a Dream Speech,” the mentor text Martin's Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., by Doreen Rappaport, and U2’s Pride (In the Name of Love), students will write speeches that detail their dreams for the future, using a format borrowed from King’s famous speech. Teachers: Click here to see the entire lesson plan.

6-Trait Overview for this Lesson:

The student product for this lesson is a passionate speech conveying dreams for the future using a format borrowed from Martin Luther King, Jr’s “I Have A Dream” speech. The focus trait to accomplish this is idea development because students will be working with expressing their original ideas. The supporting skill is word choice because students will be working on creating a speech with depth and meaning. By using these two writing traits as a focus, students will craft a piece where their ideas and words convey the color, texture, mood, and hopefully optimism for tomorrow.

Recipient of the NNWP's
Excellent Writing Lesson Award:

Because of the quality of its resources and ideas, this WritingFix lesson was selected by the Northern Nevada Writing Project as February 2010's Writing Lesson of the Month. It was e-mailed to thousands of teachers who are members of the NNWP's Writing Lesson of the Month Teacher Network.

To access all past lessons, click here to visit the NNWP's webpage. You can start receiving all the new ones my creating a profile on-line at our site-sponsored Ning.