On Wednesday and Thursday I gave two very special homework assignments to the Fourth Graders I teach at a Title I school. My school serves a population that is 96% African-American and where 80% of our students receive "free or reduced meals". Wednesday my students wrote "August 28, 1963" at the top of sheet of paper. Their challenge was to talk to some adult, parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts and neighbors who remembered what happened that day, and then write about it.
My students bounded into our classroom Thursday morning excited to relate what they had learned about August 28th, forty-five years ago. . They were shocked when I told them that Black people were not even allowed to vote in many states when that speech was made.
I told my students that Thursday night they too could be "witnesses to history". A letter went home to their parents/guardians asking them to allow the kids to take a nap and get up at 10 PM to "witness history". I also encouraged parents to watch with their students to answer questions and share their feelings about this awesome moment in our country's history. The excitement in my class tomorrow morning will be almost as great as at Invesco Field tonight. Here are the results.
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