( CNN Student News ) -- Students will examine Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 's famous `` I Have a Dream '' speech . Also , they will compose written responses to Dr. King in which they compare his historic vision of racial equality in the United States to the reality of present-day life . Procedure . On August 28 , 1963 , Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. shared his vision of racial equality in America in his historic `` I Have a Dream '' speech . Now , efforts are under way to build on that dream by constructing a monument to Dr. King on the banks of the National Mall 's Tidal Basin in Washington , D.C . In class discussion , have students define the following terms : racism , prejudice and discrimination . Have them give examples of each . Then , point out that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke of being judged not by the color of one 's skin , but by the content of his or her character . Direct your students to read Dr. King 's famous `` I Have a Dream '' speech and discuss its content in class . Then , challenge each student to compare Dr. King 's dream to the reality of life in the U.S. in the year 2008 . Direct each student to compose a written response to Dr. King , explaining what life is like in the U.S. today and to what extent his dream has been realized . ( Encourage students to be creative in their responses . For example , students could write a letter , a speech , a song or a poem . ) After students share their responses to Dr. King , pose the following questions for class discussion : . Do you think that in today 's society individuals are judged by the content of their character and not by their race ? Give examples to support your opinion . Correlated Standards . United States History . Standard 29 . Understands the struggle for racial and gender equality and for the extension of civil liberties . Level II [ Grade : 5-6 ] . Benchmark 1 . Understands the development of the civil rights movement ( e.g. , the Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education and its significance in advancing civil rights ; the resistance to civil rights in the South between 1954 and 1965 ; how the `` freedom ride , '' `` civil disobedience , '' and `` non-violent resistance '' were important to the civil rights movement ; Martin Luther King Jr. 's `` I Have a Dream '' speech in the context of major events ) Level III [ Grade : 7-8 ] . Benchmark 1 . Understands individual and institutional influences on the civil rights movement ( e.g. , the origins of the postwar civil rights movement ; the role of the NAACP in the legal assault on the leadership and ideologies of Martin Luther King , Jr. and Malcolm X ; the effects of the constitutional steps taken in the executive , judicial , and legislative branches of government ; the shift from de jure to de facto segregation ; important milestones in the civil rights movement between 1954 and 1965 ; Eisenhower 's reasons for dispatching federal troops to Little Rock in 1957 ) McREL : Content Knowledge : A Compendium of Standards and Benchmarks for K-12 Education ( Copyright 2000 McREL ) is published online by Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning ( McREL ) ( http : //www.mcrel.org/standards-benchmarks ) , 2550 S. Parker Road , Suite 500 , Aurora , CO 80014 . Keywords . Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. , `` I Have a Dream '' speech , racial equality , discrimination , prejudice , racism .
Review Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 's famous ` ` I Have a Dream '' speech . Link King 's vision of racial equality in the U.S. to the reality of present - day America .