CLOSE READING SCRIPT: GRADES 9-10
“LETTER FROM BIRMINGHAM JAIL” – MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.
LAKEVIEW & DPLC – 03.26.12
Section
1
2
3
4
5
Summary List of Text Sections
Instructional Focus
Close reading steps
Who is King’s intended audience?
How does King’s word choice contribute to his
tone?
How does King set up his argument for his
presence in Birmingham?
How does King use allusion and analogy to connect
with his audience and further his purpose?
How does King use figurative language to
communicate his purpose and motivate his
audience?
See detail below.
Section 1 Central Concern(s) & Summary:
-
Who is King’s intended audience?
Section 1 activities:
1.
Teacher puts the title and author of the letter on the board and asks the first question.
2.
Students find Birmingham on a map and then locate a 1960s picture of the jail.
3.
Students read the salutation silently, and then the teacher reads it aloud.
4.
The teacher asks the class a small set of guiding questions about the salutation of the letter.
5.
The teacher guides discussion of the salutation.
6.
After the discussion, students complete formative assessment (write their sample salutations).
7.
Wrap up.
Close Reading Script
Text Under Discussion
“My Dear Fellow Clergymen:”
Text Dependent Guiding Questions
A.
What do you know about the writer based upon
the letter’s title?
B.
How do you know King is writing a letter?
C.
Why is King writing a letter instead of a text or
an email?
D.
Define the word Clergymen.
E.
Who is the writer’s audience? What do the
words “My Dear Fellow” tell you about King’s
relationship to his audience?
Instructional Commentary
Formative Assessment Task:
Write a letter salutation to any three of the following choices: friend, pastor, teacher, principal, boss, and adult relative. Then explain
the differences in your word choice and the tone it indicates.
Wrap Up/Closure:
Group discussion of the formative assessment task responses.
Section 2 Central Concern(s) & Summary:
-
How does King’s word choice contribute to his tone?
Section 2 activities:
1.
Students read the first paragraph of the letter silently.
2.
The teacher then reads the paragraph aloud to the class, and students follow along in the text.
3.
The teacher asks the class a small set of guiding questions about the first paragraph.
4.
Students create graphic representations of each vocabulary word: confined, unwise, untimely, criticism, correspondence, and
constructive.
5.
Students complete formative assessment.
6.
Wrap up.
Close Reading Script
Text Under Discussion
Text Dependent Guiding Questions
A.
What does he mean by “While confined here”?
“While confined here in the
Describe a time when you have been confined.
Birmingham city jail, I came across your B.
Define the words unwise and untimely. What
recent statement calling my present
do you think he did that was “‘unwise and
activities “unwise and untimely.”
untimely’”? Have you ever done anything
Seldom do I pause to answer criticism of
someone else deemed “‘unwise and untimely’”?
my work and ideas. If I sought to
C.
What does the word criticism mean?
answer all the criticisms that cross my
D.
What does the word correspondence mean?
desk, my secretaries would have little
E.
What does the word constructive mean?
time for anything other than such
correspondence in the course of the day,
and I would have no time for
constructive work. But since I feel that
you are men of genuine good will and
that your criticisms are sincerely set
forth, I want to try to answer your
statements in what I hope will be
patient and reasonable terms.”
Instructional Commentary
Formative Assessment Task:
Hands-on matching game or puzzle involving prefixes, suffixes, root words, contextual definitions, and synonyms of the vocabulary
words: confined, unwise, untimely, criticism, correspondence, and constructive.
Wrap Up/Closure:
Group discussion of the formative assessment responses.
Section 3 Central Concern(s) & Summary:
-
How does King set up his argument for his presence in Birmingham?
Section 3 activities:
1.
Students read the second paragraph of the letter silently.
2.
The teacher then reads the paragraph aloud to the class, and students follow along in the text.
3.
The teacher asks the class a small set of guiding questions about the second paragraph.
4.
Students complete formative assessment.
5.
Wrap up.
Close Reading Script
Text Under Discussion
Text Dependent Guiding Questions
“I think I should indicate why I am here
A. Identify the two organizations King discusses.
in Birmingham, since you have been
B. What is King’s organization? What is his
influenced by the view which argues
position within that organization?
against ‘outsiders coming in.’ I have the
C. Define the word affiliate. Name the affiliate
honor of serving as president of the
King identifies. Name some of your own
Southern Christian Leadership
affiliates.
Conference, an organization operating
D. What are Human Rights?
in every southern state, with
E. What brought King to Birmingham? What does
headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. We
he mean by “our promise”?
have some eighty-five affiliated
organizations across the South, and one
of them is the Alabama Christian
Movement for Human Rights.
Frequently we share staff, educational
and financial resources with our
affiliates. Several months ago the
affiliate here in Birmingham asked us to
be on call to engage in a nonviolent
direct-action program if such were
deemed necessary. We readily
consented, and when the hour came we
lived up to our promise. So I, along with
several members of my staff, am here
because I was invited here I am here
because I have organizational ties here.”
Formative Assessment Task:
Instructional Commentary
Create a concept map of the relationship between the two organizations mentioned in the passage highlighted in yellow.
Wrap Up/Closure:
Group discussion of the formative assessment responses.
Section 4 Central Concern(s) & Summary:
-
How does King use allusion and analogy to connect with his audience and further his purpose?
Section 4 activities:
1.
Students read the third paragraph of the letter silently.
2.
The teacher then reads the paragraph aloud to the class, and students follow along in the text.
3.
The teacher asks the class a small set of guiding questions about the third paragraph.
4.
Play a video or audio clip using allusion/analogy (Shrek, Aladdin, The Simpsons, etc.).
5.
Students complete formative assessment.
6.
Wrap up.
Close Reading Script
Text Under Discussion
“But more basically, I am in
Birmingham because injustice is here.
Just as the prophets of the eighth
century B.C. left their villages and
carried their ‘thus saith the Lord’ far
beyond the boundaries of their home
towns, and just as the Apostle Paul left
his village of Tarsus and carried the
gospel of Jesus Christ to the far corners
of the Greco-Roman world, so am I
compelled to carry the gospel of
Text Dependent Guiding Questions
A. What kinds of injustices might have occurred to
bring King to Birmingham?
B. Identify the allusion King uses in this paragraph.
C. What does King mean by “the gospel”?
D. How does he compare Paul’s cause to his own?
E. Why does he use this allusion and analogy?
Instructional Commentary
freedom beyond my own home town.
Like Paul, I must constantly respond to
the Macedonian call for aid.”
Formative Assessment Task:
Imagine you need to rally your peers to support a cause. What allusions or analogies would you use to connect with your audience?
Wrap Up/Closure:
Group discussion of the formative assessment responses.
Section 5 Central Concern(s) & Summary:
-
How does King use figurative language to communicate his purpose and motivate his audience?
Section 5 activities:
1.
Students read the fourth paragraph of the letter silently.
2.
In pairs, guess the meaning of the words interrelatedness and mutuality based upon the context.
3.
Locate Atlanta on the map.
4.
The teacher then reads the paragraph aloud to the class, and students follow along in the text.
5.
The teacher asks the class a small set of guiding questions about the fourth paragraph.
6.
Draw the metaphor of the “single garment of destiny.”
7.
Students complete formative assessment.
8.
Wrap up.
Close Reading Script
Text Under Discussion
“Moreover, I am cognizant of the
interrelatedness of all communities and
Text Dependent Guiding Questions
A. What does King mean by the “interrelatedness”
of Atlanta and Birmingham?
Instructional Commentary
states. I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta
and not be concerned about what
happens in Birmingham. Injustice
anywhere is a threat to justice
everywhere. We are caught in an
inescapable network of mutuality, tied
in a single garment of destiny.
Whatever affects one directly, affects all
indirectly. Never again can we afford to
live with the narrow, provincial ‘outside
agitator’ idea. Anyone who lives inside
the United States can never be
considered an outsider anywhere within
its bounds.”
Formative Assessment Task:
B. Describe how DPLC/Lakeview is related to
Jordan or Southern. Describe how Durham is
related to Chapel Hill.
C. How do the events in one location affect
another? Give an example.
D. Identify the metaphor King uses to demonstrate
humanity’s common purpose (the need for
unity/interrelatedness).
E. How will addressing the clergymen further
King’s cause for unity?
Return to your definitions of interrelatedness and mutuality. Were your definitions accurate? Explain with textual evidence.
Wrap Up/Closure:
Group discussion of the formative assessment responses.