King Persuasive Speech

Ask students, “What does this picture show?” and “Do you notice any details?”
Then ask, “Why are statues made of some people?”

Discuss the idea that sometimes really brave and extraordinary people get written down in history and have buildings, schools, museums, airports, and streets named after them. Ask students if they can think of names of schools, museums, buildings, airports, or streets and if it was named after a famous or extraordinary person? Can they think of why that person is famous or extraordinary to get something named after them?

Tell students that the statue is of a man named Martin Luther King Jr. Ask the students:
• “How many of you know who Martin Luther King Jr. is?”
• “What did he do that made him important?”

May also

• Balto
• Lassie
• Rin Tin Tin
(See Appendix #3 for sample images.)
Giving students Post-It notes, students will be in their table groups and will circulate the room for our gallery walk. Students will view the images and post words or comments describing what they see using their Post-It notes around the images. After each group has seen each gallery, they will continue to stand at the last group of images they have been too. They will then read all the comments posted by that image and share their impression with the class on what they think the images represents. Ask students what the images have in common and guide a collaborative conservation to determine that all the images represent heroes.
Introduce the Compelling Question, “What makes a person an American Hero?” Have students think and record their responses on a word wall, which will help them to find out the characteristics of a hero. Explain to students that they will be reading about all kinds of heroes from different stories to help them figure out “what makes a person an American