Years ago, when your parents were small, our country was experiencing some important events. Slavery had been outlawed many years before, but life was still very difficult for many African Americans. Their rights were not being protected and many of the laws at the time even made things worse. In the 1950s and 60s, after centuries of unfair treatment, many people began protesting, saying it was time for change. The Civil Rights Movement, as it is called, was led by a minister from Alabama, named Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Dr. King believed in the power of peaceful protest. Inspired by his message, people gathered for marches in various places around the country. They walked long distances, singing and carrying signs declaring the need for fair treatment and opportunities for all people regardless of the color of their skin. Many people opposed them. Sometimes the government did too. And sometimes the opposition was violent. Dr. King was shot and killed in 1968. But the movement continued, and change did come.
In 1963, Dr. King delivered a speech during the March on Washington. It is now famously known as his "I have a dream" speech. Watch the video clip below. Pay careful attention to what Dr. King tells us his dream is...
Think about your world today. What problems concern you? I don't mean whether your parents make you go to bed earlier than you'd like, or whether your family can afford to go to Disney World every year. I mean, what concerns you about our country (or even the world)? The environment? Homelessness? Crime? Hunger? Terrorism?
More importantly, what dream do you have for how it can be better?
Write a paragraph about one concern and your hope for the future. Start with a topic sentence explaining the problem. Then write 3 or more sentences explaining how you dream of it being better. (Don't worry, you don't have to have the solution figured out. Just explain how you'd like it to be different than it is now.) Finish with a concluding sentence that sums up your dream for the future. Feel free to listen to Dr. King again for inspiration.
As always...
- do your writing in MSWord or another word processing program first
- revise it to include strong verbs and descriptive details
- proofread your work and make corrections in spelling, capitalization and punctuation
- copy and paste your writing into the comments section of the blog or into your own blog
- add your first name and code before publishing
14 comments:
Dear Mme Powell,
My concern is CRIME!!!! I've watched court tv a lot and one of tha worst things in the world is crime. Here is my paragraph:
Why do people want to hurt other people? One reason is because it is just wrong....why would someone want to harm somebody or steal something or even disobey the laws?
There are a lot of people in the world that do the right things. But then there is about a fourth of people who think it is people do it because funny or cute to do some something bad.Most of the people do it because they have nothing else to do, or they are jealous or some weird thing. But the goverment has to watch those people 24/7. Put them in jail, do something so that the rest of the world is safe from criminals...if you have something brand new or important or something that you like a lot you would not want that to get stolen. The people who have had that happen to them are proably scared to even leave something unattended. Sometimes people think it is fun to shoot out people's car windowa or steal people's purses. So now you know my dream for america! Sylvia J 24
I have a dream. Instead of throwing away the leftovers from restaurant food you can give it to the homeless. Every homeless person that walks into a restaurant wanting food the waiter has to give it to them for free.
Braxton SW4 #18
I have a dream that kids can drive. When kids drive they will never ger a ticket until they are 82. The kids will have more freedom and their parents will not have to drive them all around. By letting kids drive we would save gas and lower pollution.
Noah SW4 #4
I hve a dream that someday people won't litter and put stuff that they could have recycled in to the garbege.I hope that someday poeple will do something about all the stuff every that they thro away.I hope that they will think were does all this stuff go or were could it be. When it is cristmas or a birthday you could do what something that I did for my mom for cristmas, I was cleening my room when I saw a huge pile of matereals from my birthday. I tried to stuff them in to bags. but they didn't fit so insted of buying my mom's cristmas present I made her 12 presents out of the left over matereals. So I have a dream that people will stop just throing everything away when it could be recycled.
Sarah sw2
Help Other People
When I go to “Feed My Starving Children” and watch the movie, I see people in other countries that have very little food, clothing, education and help. I have a dream that all people will have running water, good clothing, food and good education. I hope that by 2050 all the world won’t be starving, but will have a good education and good clothing and electricity. I hope that the entire world will have all the stuff that we enjoy here in the US. That’s the reason why we need to help the people in other countries. Don’t just think about yourself -- think about other people.
Benf.j7
My concern is the war in Iraq. Too many people have died there. We are spending too much money on guns when we could be helping the poor or the homeless or the sick. I don’t think we have got anything out of the war because as soon as a new president is elected the war will probably end. The war should end!
Kevin SW4
My dream is that no one will be treated unfairly because of their personality, hair, height and cloths. I dream that everyone will be treated equally among each other and that no one will care about looks. How do you think it feels when you are treated like a freak and you had no friends? It seems silly when you think about it but it happens all the time. Why does this happen? I think because some people think looks and cloths are everything. People are laughed and bullied and everybody knows it does not feel good. In the future let’s hope we can all change the way we look at people.
Patricia Sw #13
I have a dream.That global warming will be gone.So animals in the Arctic won't die.Without global warming the animals will have more food to eat.So polaer bear and seals will be able to eat more fish.
Garrett SW#23
Dear Mme Powell,
My concern is global warming. All of the cars are making too much gas. It is the same case with boats. Even natural things like cows and other animals make pollution. Also volcanoes and meteorites produce global warming. If all that gas builds up and the atmosphere pops ,we will all die. It will be the end of the world! But there are ways for us to prevent this from happening. First, switch to a hydraulic vehicle or a solar powered car. Recycle things such as aluminum cans and paper products so they can be made into something new. But, for the natural things just let it slip because there is no way to stop them. So please “go green “ and help prevent global warming. That would be great!
Andy J16
Dear Ms. Powell,
Every night I worry about robbers breaking into our house. I think that there should be no crime. One way to prevent crime is to teach people to be honest and respectful of others. Another way is to help them find a job to earn money so that they have enough money to live and to not steal from other people. Another way is to prevent people from being on drugs, because when people are addicted to drugs, they do crazy things. I think there will be less crime if we help all these people to become better people.
Maria J4 #5
I have a dream that people will not pollute the land, air and water. People who throw plastik bags in the ocean do not know that tutles will eat them. Turtles think they are jellyfish. Many turtles have died eating plastic bags. Also, if you put a plastic bag it in the ground and 50 years later it will still be there. but if you put a paper bag in the ground 50 years later it will be recycled into soil. that is way it important to use paper.
patrick sw4 #Vll
We could change global warming by the way we live, purchase and use the earth’s natural resources. We could use a lot less gas by using electric cars. We could save a lot more trees and animals by not using plastic and paper bags. We could change the way we live and we could save a lot more animals and change global warming by that and more.
J.P. J8
There are many homeless people in the world and I think we should take care of this problem. I want all people to have a home and be warm. It’s very cold out there and the homeless don’t have a place to sleep! Would you like it if you didn’t have a home ? If you wouldn’t, then help them by giving money, and being friendly. People should give money to charity. The homeless should have someone who takes care of them and helps them when they get sick. They should see a doctor for free. Homeless people should go to school to learn so they can work for money. If they are hungry and have no food they should be able to go to a place where they can eat for free. My dream is to have no homeless people in the world.
Estee #25 SW
I have a dream that doctors and medical researchers will find what starts an illness and how to stop it.
Medicines can be good, but they can hurt too. A prescription from your doctor can make you feel better but can hurt some other place in your body. The best way to find the cure of sickness is to find what caused it.
There was a time when I was sick. My mom knew I had sinus problems, so we went to ask the doctor “Why?” She didn’t know but she gave my mom a prescription. So, my mom did some research on sinus problems, she found that it was taking swimming lessons and jumping into the pool feet first.
When that was eliminated the sinus problems left.
My mom did some research, she found the problem and how it started! My dream is for doctors and medical researchers to learn how a sickness started to be able to stop it. Thomas j21
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