MLK

Because there is no school on Martin Luther King Day (clarification: I still have to work - there just won't be any kids there), we do our token little MLK lessons on his birthday, Jan. 15th. You see, with many holidays, there are little lessons that are just kind of... expected. MLK Day is a fine time to present some history and promote discussion.

However, it's always kind of a touchy subject with seven year olds. There's racism, hate, murder - topics I generally try to avoid in first grade (I prefer sunshine, fairy dust and sparkles!!). I started it off just by mentioning that it was Dr. King's birthday, and then kind of left it at that for a while. After recess, we watched a brainpop video on his life and accomplishments. Brainpop is a fabulous educational website with loads of funny, clever, and well written cartoons educating kids about a variety of topics. I try to do one brainpop video a week, because the kids love them so much. So anyway, we watched the little cartoon, then I brought the kids back into class, and that's where things got hairy.

A sample of our discussion:

"I don't get why he got shot."

"Well... Dr. King was challenging a lot of people's ideas, and some people didn't like it. They didn't like it so much that they killed him."

"But WHY didn't they like him?"

"I suppose because they were afraid of the change he was bringing. They liked things the way they were, and Dr. King was changing all of that."

"Why were the white people so mean? "

"Not ALL white people were bad. But a lot of them felt that black people weren't as good as white people because they were different."

"How come black people didn't make the rules? Why did white people get to be the boss?"

*Here I had to go ALLLL the way back to the settlement of America and the beginning of slavery to clarify some points*

"But then why, all the sudden, did they just know it was wrong?"

"Well... they didn't just all the sudden know. Small groups of people knew it was wrong, and they tried to tell their friends, and teach their kids. Then those kids grew up and taught their kids, and those kids grew up and taught their kids...and on and on until here we are, believing that it's wrong, and most of the people who thought it was right aren't around anymore."

"So even though it's a sad story, I guess it's a happy story too?"

"Exactly."

Sometimes I'm convinced that children are a heck of a lot smarter than some adults.