I love to hear my students react to history. Why? Most often their reaction represents the growth we as a nation have had over time. At times it is excitement. At times it is disgust. This is when they truly understand that this is their story… when they feel it! Yes, history is our story… our story as a nation… the story of our past.
As an educator, it is my responsibility to deliver… as students, it becomes theirs to decide the impact. Will history repeat itself or grow and “change for the better“… time will tell.
Silence settled over the room. I simply posted a picture.
That is when the conversation started… the gasps, the disgust, the questions, the confusion. It sounded like this:
“Does that say white and colored?”
“They have two fountains like us, but why does it say colored? Colored what?”
“Why is the white fountain nicer than the colored?”
“Look, they are still connected… with one pipe!”
Then, as the discussion simmered, and they started looking to me for some type of explanation, I powered up the most incredible speech in history… words spoken by a man honored with a Nobel Peace Prize.
I passed out paper to sketch-note the life of a man that impacted history. Impact to a degree that we recognize him with a day off of school… yes, his legacy lives on. Martin Luther King, Jr. gifted us with 10 incredible focus points in life that can impact every human being… “Believe in Your Worthiness“.
Let’s follow his lead… let’s design our blueprint: OUR VOICE! OUR CHOICE! Let’s Create CHANGE AGENTS!
- Believe In Yourself
- Be Fearless
- Fight For Yourself
- Keep Moving
- Follow Your Morals
- Act Now
- Be Determined to Achieve Excellence
- Stay True to Principals
- Stand for Something
- HAVE A DREAM
My class is currently on a 10 Day Challenge of “Pure Goodness“. On Tuesday, January 16th, they will extend that challenge for the greater good. They will choose one of the 10 listed above and begin to write their legacy in history. This legacy will unfold with their digital footprint in their NEW CLASS WEBSITE. We hope you follow our journey… we cant wait to get started!
Join us… create your very own blueprint! Send us your blueprint and we will share on our website! Will it be a sketch-note? A writing? A drawing? An iMovie? A blog? We can’t wait to see! or…
Simply CLICK HERE to be the first one to leave a reflection on our NEW Class Flip Grid!
T.R.U.E. G.R.I.T. 
What a beautiful and wonderfully thoughtful connection between a historical moment and how our students can have an impact too. I also love the use of legacy. So important for students to know they have the power to impact and cteate and leave a legacy. I’m so excited for your students and the opportunity they are going to have to put themselves out there and show themselves how incredible they can be!
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Thank you so much Carrie! I love how you get all the layers to this lesson in life… so many beautiful experiences and conversations to be had. Not to mention their love of sketch-noting shining through AGAIN! 🙌
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