HomeTeacher by day, Mommy by night
Teacher by day, Mommy by night
Juggling the demands (and insanity) of being a high school teacher, a wife, and a mother to a toddler
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In Honor Of Martin Luther King, Jr.
One of my favorite quotes of Martin Luther King Jr is as follows: I cannot be who I am meant to be until you become who you are meant to be. It is a statement beautiful in its simplicity.
When the school year eventually rolls around to his birthday, I like to put this quote on the board. My students in the past have become very confused by it, and we tend to have a good conversation about cooperation and other symbiotic relationships. Since I teach high schoolers now, I'm interested to see what their take is on the idea. While I never mind having a day off, I wonder at the wisdom of giving students a holiday for Martin Luther King Jr. I would much prefer coming to school and devoting time to studying his legacy. I know that personally, I've gathered peace within myself by taking a few minutes to think about him and his ideas. I remember spending quite a bit of time learning about Martin Luther King Jr. in elementary school; I'm not sure if that still happens, what with schools' increased focus on test scores. etc. I hope I am incorrect. As we look towards a year charged with political rhetoric and inevitable ugliness, I truly hope that we can carry with us Martin's words of peace, change, and hope. I go to bed, and to school tomorrow, with these hopes. 2 comments from 2 users
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posted by
creatress
on Jan 22, 2008 at 08:35 AM
posted by
hmoeckli
on Jan 22, 2008 at 06:28 PM
That sounds like an awesome time you had a church! I've read many first-hand accounts of people who worked with him, and those are fascinating. I'd love to hear from people who actually lived through that time. Â Â Â Â Â
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I very much agree. I never thought overly much about it (rather than the famous "I HAVE A DREAM!") But this year some personal friends of his spoke at our church and that was very interesting to me. I loved hearing first-hand from people who knew him. It made him, his struggle, the cold realities of our world more real somehow. Then The Sacramento Bee ran a great article on him yesterday. There was much I didn't know (like he studied peaceful protesting techniques in India with Ghandi).
When it's "just a day off" from work and school it's easy to just take it as such, rather than the celebration of a great man and humanist. Good for you for bringing it into your classroom.