Today in my 3rd grade class we were reading about Rosa Parks. The kids were riveted by this topic. They kept asking questions to make sure they understood correctly.
"Couldn't she just sit at the part of the bus in the back, you know where it goes all the way across?"
"Why did the black people have to go to bad schools?"
"Why didn't the white people want to share?"
"That was against the law? That doesn't make any sense."
"She went to jail?"
Finally, one girl's eyes got big. "Oh! so Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks broke every law so that black and white people can be nice to each other!"
Those words were so good, I had to stop and write them down. We looked a little more closely and revised as a group.
This is our summary of the civil rights movement:
"Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks broke unfair laws so that black and white people can be fair to each other."
I love my job.
Even though I am a music teacher, I can't resist explaining the civil rights movement as lead by MLK. Then we sing "Keep Your Eyes on the Prize" and raise the roof! The kids just can't believe that my husband never went to school with an African American.
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