FEATURE
January 18, 2021
Students will use iPad to capture and edit images of themselves, their family, and their neighborhoods, and then craft their stories about why they matter using the PBS KIDS ScratchJr coding app on iPad. Next, the students will research Dr. King’s life and legacy using Brad Meltzer’s book “I Am Martin Luther King Jr.,” and compare and contrast themselves to him by creating double exposure portraits of themselves with the civil rights leader. Finally, in the “I’m a Dreamer, Too” segment of the project, Lang will ask them how they can be of service to each other and their neighbors. The students will complete interactive workbooks in Keynote for each part of the project, and he will compile their thoughts into a collated book of their ideas, which they will have the opportunity to share with community organizers and legislators in Las Vegas later this semester.
With Lang’s project already underway, today also marks the launch of Apple’s second challenge in the “Taking Action on Racial Equity and Justice” learning series, “Make a Positive Impact in Your Community.” The “Challenge for Change” series includes a set of conversation guides based on the challenge-based learning framework and designed to help educators, community leaders, and individuals have thoughtful conversations on issues related to race and inequality. “We as educators have to enter the classroom every day with the idea that one, if not all, of our students could change the world,” Lang says. “It can be a Martin Luther King Jr., it can be a Bernice King, could be a Coretta Scott King, someone who would hopefully be a beacon to which other people rally.”
“Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy of striving to be excellent, striving to do what’s right, and striving to be fair goes beyond race. It’s economics and empathy, and this idea of solidarity with all human beings,” says Lang. “My hope is that my students come to the realization that there is a basic humanity that we need to always be beholden to, not only within their class, not only within their school, but within their community, their city, their country, and the world.”
Images of Apple Distinguished Educator Mike Lang