Key Points
Back to top- SEL field leader Maurice Elias shares a powerful classroom activity to encourage students to exercise their social,emotional, and cognitive skills and strengthen their dispositions toward civic engagement.
- Inspired by a recent op-ed in the New York Times, the activity guides students in examining and discussing the speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr., as a way to connect his ideas to their own lives and today’s world.
- The activity also offers opportunities to extend their application of what they have learned beyond the walls of the classroom.
Esau McCaulley writes thoughtful articles in the New York Times about civil rights in America. In a recent article, he pointed out that one message of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s life is that hope is most useful when despair seems greatest. Dr. King faced segregation, the war in Vietnam, and economic inequity for people of color, especially African Americans. He and his colleagues dealt with protests and racial violence against Black people in Birmingham, AL; Jackson, MS; and elsewhere in the run-up to the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Yet, he did not give up or lose his ideals.
It would benefit students greatly to read, analyze, discuss, and potentially write about his words. Being able to think critically and carefully about these ideas and what they mean today presents an excellent opportunity for students to exercise their social,emotional, and cognitive skills and strengthen their dispositions toward civic engagement. This can happen in social studies/history or language arts. Doing so can be an antidote to the cynicism and pessimism too many of our youth experience today.
In this blog post, I’d like to share an activity to introduce students to Dr. King’s powerful insights and encourage them to exercise their own social and emotional skills while exploring how his words connect with their lives.
Lesson Plan: Analyzing the Words of Dr. King
Back to topIn this lesson, you’ll share quotes from Dr. King and ask students to reflect upon them.
In his “I Have a Dream” speech in March 1963, Dr. King said that someday, “the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will sit down together at the table of brotherhood.” (Of course, we would add that the daughters would sit at the table of sisterhood.)
Small Group Activity: Have your students work in small groups to discuss this quote, and then share out the group’s consensus: Put Dr. King’s statement in your own words. What was his message for those attending the march? Do you think what he was saying was possible, not possible, or are you not sure? Explain the reasoning for your opinion. As part of the class discussion, be sure to ask about the difference between a dream and an aspiration, i.e., that the latter more strongly implies action and creating a plan for accomplishment.
During his speech upon accepting the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, Dr. King said, “I refuse to accept despair as the final response to the ambiguities of history.”
Writing & Pair-Share: Ask your students to write a paragraph about what they believe Dr. King meant and whether they agree with his statement. Have students share their perspective in pair-shares with two different students, then give them a chance to revise their own work before handing it in.
In that same speech, Dr. King said, “I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daylight of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality.”
He also said, “I still believe that one day, mankind will … be … triumphant over war and bloodshed and nonviolent, redemptive good will proclaim the rule of the land.”
Explain to your students that Dr. King was speaking during a time when racial unrest was leading to violence in many cities, and there were widespread protests over the Vietnam War.
Small Group Activity: Ask your students to discuss in small groups and agree on five feelings they have as they read Dr. King’s remarks and what specifically they are reading that connects to these feelings.
Individual Reflection: Then, ask them individually to put into their own words their modern version of Dr. King’s statement. They can agree or disagree. Allow them to share with one another before finalizing their own quote.
Share Out: Collect all the quotes and share them with the class. If you do this online, you can have students leave comments next to quotes to which they have a strong positive or negative reaction. If they have a negative reaction, be sure they understand that they must respond in a civil manner.
Analyzing the Words of Esau McCaulley
Back to topNext, you’ll introduce your students to New York Times journalist Esau McCaulley and ask them to engage with his writing about Dr. King.
Esau McCaulley added his own words: “Despair has never liberated anybody.”
“I am still inspired by Dr. King’s witness but I do not believe that we can be content with borrowing his dream … We need more people with the courage to say that we do not have to see the foreigner as a threat … We can’t push suffering onto others without it returning to us. Our world is interconnected whether we want to acknowledge it or not. We can’t build walls high enough to blot out the world’s problems, but we can extend our hands far enough to make a difference in the lives of those who are hurting.”
Writing Activity: Ask your students to write a one-page letter to Esau McCaulley in which they state their opinion about what he said, ask questions about what he meant, and/or give their opinion about how to deal with despair and suffering in the world. Show them how they can send their comments to Esau McCaulley (or any other writer!) at the New York Times (check the options at the end of his online article). They are likely to find this quite empowering!
Group Discussion: Close these conversations by asking students what they think is the difference between dreams and aspirations. Be sure their answers capture the element of dreams being something one hopes might happen, whereas aspirations can be considered dreams that one works for. Ask if they consider Esau McCaulley’s words more like dreams or more like aspirations, and why.
Adapt for Skill-Building With Other Sets of Quotations
Back to topThis relatively short activity engages a wide range of your students’ social-emotional competencies and can serve to inspire them to think more deeply and critically about what they read, to feel more confident to express their own points of view (even if others disagree), and to be open to conversations about their aspirations and the actions it will take to reach them. Of course, you can use this inquiry structure with any set of quotes about any topic, with similar benefits to your students.
The views in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of CASEL.
Maurice J. Elias, Ph.D., is a professor in the psychology department at Rutgers University, the director of the Social-Emotional and Character Development Lab, co-director of the Rutgers-based Academy for SEL in Schools, which offers online certificates in SEL Instruction and School Leadership, and a member of the Leadership Team for SEL4NJ and SEL4US. He received the Joseph E. Zins Memorial Senior Scholar Award for Social-Emotional Learning from CASEL, the Sanford McDonnell Award for Lifetime Achievement in Character Education, the Myrna B. Shure SEL Lifetime of Achievement Award, the Lifetime Achievement Award from the European Network for Social-Emotional Competence, and The Provost Community/Publicly Engaged Scholarship Lifetime Achievement Award from Rutgers University. His books include Nurturing Students’ Character: Everyday Teaching Activities for Social-Emotional Learning; Social-Emotional Learning Lab: A Comprehensive SEL Resource Kit, Emotionally Intelligent Parenting, Joys and Oys of Parenting, Morning Classroom Conversations: Build Your Students’ Social-Emotional, Character and Communication Skills Every Day (Corwin), Schools of Social-Emotional Competence and Character, Addressing Equity Through Culturally Responsive Education and SEL, Students Taking Action Together: 5 Teaching Techniques to Cultivate SEL, Civic Engagement, and a Healthy Democracy (ASCD), and Building a Positive Classroom Climate to Engage Students (2025, National Professional Resources). He writes a blog on SECD for Edutopia.
Related Posts:
- Teaching the Art of Civil Discourse in the Classroom
- Civil Discourse Through the CASEL 5
- SEL as an Entry Point to Tough Conversations With Kids About Race
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