A day "on," not a day "off?"

Martin Luther King's birthday is celebrated annually as a national holiday. The 2008 King Holiday comes 40 years after Dr. King's assassination and is expected to bring added attention to his life and teachings. The first "King Day of Services" project is planned especially for this year. Under this initiative, a period of 40 days will provide opportunities for families, schools, faith communities, and other organizations to plan service projects and educational activities promoting Dr. King's message of nonviolence and social justice.

Dr. King sought to forge the common ground on which people from all walks of life could join together to address important community issues. Working alongside individuals of all ages, races and backgrounds, Dr. King encouraged Americans to come together to strengthen communities, alleviate poverty, and acknowledge dignity and respect for all human beings.

Accessing the best resources for students to use to learn more about Dr. King and his accomplishments is easy -- use a ProQuest model BookCart. The model includes essential questions for critical thinking examples, as well as a room for teachers to include student directions, suggested print resources, and links to a teacher quiz page or a QuizCart.

Pathfinder: Open your eLibrary CE Teacher Edition > Click the BookCart Admin link at the top right > Select the ProQuest Carts tab > Click the Copy icon to the right of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Civil Rights > Select Return to My Local Carts

You will need to edit the Bookcart before using it. Click the title Copy of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Civil Rights to open the BookCart Editor. Delete "Copy of" from the title, add your name in the Author boxes, then save your new BookCart.

An especially good Study Unit inside HSC focuses on the Civil Rights Movement (1954-1968) featuring Martin Luther King, Jr. The study unit contains photos, biographies, speeches, videos, primary source documents, timelines, historiography, maps, references, and websites.

Pathfinder: Click the History icon on the right side of the eLibrary CE main search page > Type "Martin Luther King, Jr." in the Quick Search box > Click Search > Select The American Civil Rights Movement, 1954-1968

Teachers should integrate critical thinking skills into all research assignments to make assignments motivating and more effective in building essential skills. The best way to do this is to create several essential questions for critical thinking. Here are some samples for teachers to consider assigning to students (teachers can also create their own):

• How did Dr. King's parents play a significant role in his philosophy, strategies, and achievements?
  
  
• Who are some of Dr. King's colleagues who later helped carry on his work, and how did they support the civil rights movement?
  
  
• What were some examples of the specific strategies that Dr. King used to implement his philosophy of civil rights?
  
  
• How did Dr. King's work help to increase civil rights for other minorities as well?

Write a report of 150-200 words that utilizes at least three of the resources in HSC. The report should address the essential questions listed above. Students can use our new written report or PowerPoint model for their work.