“Dear Mrs. Parks”

1. “Dear Mrs. Parks” By: Rosa Parks with Gregory J. Reed Harcourt Trophies Theme 1: Look Inside “Dear Mrs. Parks”

2. Summary Slide • Use Text Structure and Format • Make Judgments • Point of View • Martin Luther King, Jr. • Rosa Parks • Aesop’s Fables Harcourt Trophies Theme 1: Look Inside “Dear Mrs. Parks”

3. Use Text Structure and Format • Good readers use strategies, such as using text structure and format, to better understand what they read. Active readers pay attention to each part of a selection and think about what each part tells them. • Example: I know that a paragraph usually has a topic sentence that states a writer’s main idea. Harcourt Trophies Theme 1: Look Inside “Dear Mrs. Parks”

4. Make Judgments • To make decisions or judgments, you should follow several steps: • Gather all available information. • Evaluate the information that has been gathered. Decide whether the information comes from a reliable source and whether the information seems accurate. • Think about the evaluation and make a decision or judgment based on the evaluation. Harcourt Trophies Theme 1: Look Inside “Dear Mrs. Parks”

5. Make Judgments • Imagine you are a school superintendent. You wake up to a bad snowstorm. A decision needs to be made—should the school be closed for the storm or stay open? • What information would you need to gather to make your decision? • Weather report for rest of day, how much snow has fallen, a traffic report on how vehicles are managing, information on conditions of school—can sidewalks be safely used, parking • As you get your information, you have to evaluate it. For example, would you prefer gathering weather information from yesterday’s newspaper, from a radio broadcast, or from a weather bureau call-in number? • Call-in number or radio broadcast would give current information Harcourt Trophies Theme 1: Look Inside “Dear Mrs. Parks”

6. Make Judgments Suppose you get two opinions about road conditions. One is from a person who has not been out in the storm but says it doesn’t look like the roads are slippery. Another is from a person who has driven in this storm and was an eyewitness to an accident in which two cars slipped off the road. Which piece of information would you consider more accurate? Information from the person who has been in the storm Harcourt Trophies Theme 1: Look Inside “Dear Mrs. Parks”

7. Practice: Make Judgments Making judgments often requires relating a statement or opinion to facts in the selection and to personal experience. The facts or personal experience provide evidence to support the judgment. Do you agree or disagree with each of these statements. Provide evidence to support or disagree with the judgment made in each statement. • Many times questions are more important than answers. You can’t learn if you don’t ask questions. Questions help you grow and make better choices in life. (page 94) • The lessons she learned when she was a child and teenager will still apply to your life today. Human nature, the way people act, does not change. We can learn from the mistakes of the past. It is important to learn of our ancestors’ courage, faith, and sacrifices. (page 101) Harcourt Trophies Theme 1: Look Inside “Dear Mrs. Parks”

8. Practice: Make Judgments • I have been blessed with a wonderful life. She has met people from all walks of life. She is proud to live in America. (page 103) • In just over 200 years, since the signing of the Declaration of Independence, we have come a long way. Slavery has been abolished. Women have the right to vote. (page 103) • Age does not determine what we know. You continue to learn all through life. No one knows everything. (page 95) Harcourt Trophies Theme 1: Look Inside “Dear Mrs. Parks”

9. Point of View • Being able to identify the point of view from which a story is told can help you understand the ideas that an author wants to communicate. • If the writer uses the pronouns I, me, my, us, we, our, then you know the story is told from the • first-person point of view. Harcourt Trophies Theme 1: Look Inside “Dear Mrs. Parks”

10. Point of View • If the author uses the pronouns he, him, his, she, her, they, them, or their, then the story is told from the • third-person point of view. • If the story tells what one character knows or feels, it is told from the • third-person limited point of view. • When an author reveals what all the characters know or feel, the story is told from the • third-person omniscient point of view. Harcourt Trophies Theme 1: Look Inside “Dear Mrs. Parks”

11. Martin Luther King, Jr. • American civil rights leader • Born on January 15, 1929 • Baptist minister • Preached “nonviolent resistance” • Won Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 • Killed on April 4, 1968 Harcourt Trophies Theme 1: Look Inside “Dear Mrs. Parks”

12. Websites: Martin Luther King, Jr. • Seattle Times Biography • Speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr. • Important Dates in King’s Life Harcourt Trophies Theme 1: Look Inside “Dear Mrs. Parks”

13. Rosa Parks • Born on February 4, 1913 • Seamstress in Montgomery, Alabama • Arrested on December 1, 1955 • Refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white man • “Mother of Civil Rights Movement” • Died October 24, 2005 Harcourt Trophies Theme 1: Look Inside “Dear Mrs. Parks”

14. Websites: Rosa Parks • Harcourt Authors and Illustrators • Rosa Parks – Pioneer of Civil Rights • Rosa Parks Portal Related Activity • PowerPoint on Role Models Harcourt Trophies Theme 1: Look Inside “Dear Mrs. Parks”

15. Aesop’s Fables • Aesop’s fables have been interpreted and retold by many different authors. The first author to put Aesop’s fables into written form was Demetrius of Phaleron, an Athenian politician, around 300 B.C. • Three hundred years later, a freed Greek slave by the name of Phaedrus translated Demetrius’ collection of fables into Latin. • More recently, in the twentieth century, the fables have been retold by authors such as Bernadette Watts, Eric Carle, Carol Jones, and Doris Orgel. Aesop’s Fables Website Harcourt Trophies Theme 1: Look Inside “Dear Mrs. Parks”

16. Credits • Harcourt Trophies – Distant Voyages, Chicago: Harcourt, 2003. • MacMillan Connections – Landscapes, New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1987. Harcourt Trophies Theme 1: Look Inside “Dear Mrs. Parks”