Teaching Log: MLK

Quick follow-up on my multiculturalism and Clearness Committee entries.

In the Clearness Committee meeting I wrote about a student I'm having trouble helping. Well, leading up to MLK day, his reading group read a biography of MLK. Just a short picture book. This child, who I constantly have to practically wrestle to get him to do anything we ask except read, took a pencil, paper and clipboard to recess and wrote a poem about Blacks and Whites. I wrote a note to his mom saying what a great day he'd had. She wrote back and said he's always been interested in the Civil Rights movement and even called up his grandmother to ask her questions.

I'm so touched by this, and a little baffled. What is the inspiring thing in it for him? He's a very unique kid. Does he feel like he needs to start a movement to help him be treated more equally by his peers? Is he aware of others around him being treated unfairly? I'm very curious to see what this will look like for him when he's a teenager or even an adult.