Teaching Literary Analysis with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Springboards for Writing and Thinking

One of the best activities I've found to encourage higher-level thinking and analysis is the Insight Garden by Gretchen Bernabei. My students could elaborate well in a class discussion, but they froze when writing essays.

I discovered the Insight Garden in Gretchen Bernabei’s book, Reviving the Essay: How to Teach Structure Without Formula. Using the Insight Garden model, I adapted the activity to various literary essay lessons.

I needed a way to encourage my middle school students to think beyond the plot. They could tell me what happened in a story and give examples, but they needed help explaining why something happened, or how a character changed, or how the author developed a theme. I wanted them to elaborate, interpret, and dig deeper.

I also needed my students to practice writing multi-paragraph essays for a timed writing assessment test.

Written in 10 minutes or less, these activities encouraged higher level thinking in small doses.  They produce thoughtful, multi-paragraph essays, and it's painless!

Although my 8th grade students were a bit baffled the first time we did one, after two or three, they enjoyed these writing activities. Because the prompts are divided into chunks, their pieces were well-organized. Students felt a sense of accomplishment when saw their finished product—a multi-paragraph essay written in 10 minutes.

Managing the Paper Load: Write 3; Choose 1 for a Grade

After each prompt, I would choose a few to show as examples the next day. Then we would do another prompt. After they completed three or so different prompts, they would choose one for me to grade. All of the samples went in their writing portfolios.

The finished product also made great pieces for bulletin boards.

I often wrote alongside my students.

This activity fostered higher-level thinking and improved my students’ writing skills. It was one of the most effective strategies I used!

Please visit my Teachers Pay Teachers Store, Literacy Toolbox. Click here to follow my store for updates on new products and specials.

Literacy Toolbox: MLK Writing Prompts

Another Great Idea for Teaching Literary Analysis with Dr. King's Work

Dr. King's "I Have a Dream" speech is a great way to introduce students to literary analysis. I found this wonderful, free, online activity from the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History.

Six Words and a Whole Lot of Learning

This activity makes a great end-of-the-year or graduation writing activity. 

My 8th-grade students learned more about writing from six-word memoirs than they did from the five-paragraph essays and research papers they wrote. Well, almost.

Here's what I mean. Take a minute and write a six-word memoir about your day today. I'll wait.

---------------------

Critical Thinking, Writing, Revising, & More Thinking

You probably navigated your way through these steps:

Step 1: Thought about your day.
Step 2. Thought about the most important parts of your day. What stood out?
Step 3. Jotted down ideas.
Step 4. Summarized those ideas.
Step 5. Wrote a few phrases or sentences.
Step 6. Chose a phrase and revised it to 6 words.
Step 7. Played with the word order and word choice. Looked up words to take the place of multiple words. Added adjectives or adverbs.

If you worked through those steps, chances are you could feel your brain cells working. You had to synthesize the information from your day and phrase it in a logical way. It took some critical thinking.

Don't get me wrong. Five-paragraph essays and research papers are extremely important. I'm not suggesting replace those with six-word phrases, but . . .

Sometimes the most learning takes place in small chunks. From the perspective of a student, a six-word memoir is a lot more manageable than a five-paragraph essay. Students can focus on syntax and word choice. As they revise to hit the six-word count, it also helps improve their vocabulary.

Once students write a few six-word memoirs, they get the hang of it, and it gets easier. It's something you can work in often—before, during, and after the major writing assignments. It's a fun break. My reluctant readers and writers loved them!

Consider the possibilities (and they're not just for English class):

• Exit Tickets
• Bulletin Boards
• Response to Reading
• Summarizing a history lesson
• Summarizing a science or math concept
• "Getting to Know You" Ice Breaker at the beginning of the school year
• Introducing yourself to your students and parents at "Meet the Teacher" Night
• Grandparents' Day Tribute
• End-of-the-Year Activity
• Final Exam Question

For just about anything you teach, you can use Six-word memoirs.

Here are some memoirs I wrote to introduce myself to my students and to show them various patterns for six words.

• Born in Maryland. Live in Tennessee.
• Twelve years teaching junior high English.
• Junior high: New adventures every day.
• Daughter. Sister. Wife. Mother. Teacher. Friend.
• Learned about memoirs from a colleague.

Background

Six-word memoirs are the brainchild of Larry Smith of Smith magazine, an online storytelling website he founded in 2006.

In 2008, Smith released a book of six-word memoirs called Not Quite What I was Planning, which was featured on NPR. A book for and by teens called "I Can't Keep My Own Secrets," soon followed. (The link is at the right.)

According to Smith, the inspiration for six-word memoirs comes from Ernest Hemingway who was once asked to tell his life story in six words. He replied, "For sale. Baby shoes. Never worn."

Teaching Tips

I first taught six-word memoirs when my students read Melba Pattillo Beals' memoir, Warriors Don't Cry. I used the activity to introduce the concept of memoir.

Afterwards, my students used their memoirs to introduce themselves to students in a class in another state. I had connected with another 8th grade English teacher through Edmodo, and we collaborated on several activities together.

The memoirs turned out so well, we used them for Parent Tributes and Grandparents Day.

I suggest you start small. Try it out. Start with exit tickets, then maybe a bulletin board.

I created a packet of resources I developed during eight years of teaching Six-word Memoirs.

Over time, I developed ways to encourage students to think deeply and symbolically about the important people in their lives. Some of their memoirs about their parents—and especially their grandparents—were very poignant.

The memoirs became more poetic each year.

This packet includes all the graphic organizers I used for students of different abilities. I also included a student sample of the thinking process.

Six Word Memoirs for the Classroom