Continuing the Dream

           August 28, 1963-August 28, 2013.  It is hard to believe that it has been fifty years since Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.’s famous speech at the March on Washington.  In my seven years as a teacher, I have taught the “I Have a Dream” speech, or at least some part of it, every year.  I have taught students how to analyze the use of logos, ethos, and pathos in the speech; to understand the effect of parallelism and repetition; and to examine the strong use of imagery throughout the speech.  I have played the speech aloud with Rev. King’s voice silencing the class, had students read it aloud with their own inflections, and read it to them myself with my own inflections.  I’ve had students write their own “Dream” speeches and write their own calls to action.  We’ve read the speech in conjunction with King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” and alongside Gandhi’s and Thoreau’s opinions on civil disobedience.  In short, Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s famous speech has become a rite of passage within my freshmen and sophomore classes: students must understand its historical significance, connect it to their own lives, and think about their own dreams for the future.

                Today, I would like to do the same as I reflect on the speech and its place in today’s society.  As a nation, we have made much progress since the March on Washington on August 28, 1963, but in the words of Martin Luther King III, the oldest son of the assassinated civil rights leader, "This is not the time for nostalgic commemoration.   Nor is this the time for self-congratulatory celebration. The task is not done. The journey is not complete. We can and we must do more."  The people who gather in Washington today to commemorate this famous speech unite with the hope that the dreams of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. will continue to expand to all people in areas of race, gender, immigration, poverty, voting rights, and education. 

We are at a crossroads in America.  We are moving forward rapidly, but there are times when we falter at the intersection, scared to take a new path and frightened enough to retreat back the way we came.  As we honor the words of Rev. King, Jr. today, let us think about how they apply to our own lives and how we can unify the America that is more diverse today than it ever was before.  Fifty years have brought progress and change, but the next fifty years have the potential to continue the progress exponentially— only if we unite as a nation to see our love for our fellow citizens continue to grow.  We must look past party lines and political philosophies to what we collectively need as a nation.  We must continue to protect freedom, and to do so, we must find more ways to provide opportunities for our marginalized citizens.  We must work together to ensure the same opportunities for all—opportunities in areas of civil rights, finances, and, perhaps the most important starting point for all equality, education. 

As I end with some select lines from King's famous speech, think about how it applies to our world today and how the dream will never fully become a reality without the effort of our entire nation.  The dreams of our young schoolchildren depend on our collective effort:

“…We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy…

We cannot walk alone.

And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead.

We cannot turn back…

Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.

And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal…’

I have a dream today!...

With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood…knowing that we will be free one day.

And this will be the day -- this will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning:

My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.

Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim's pride,

From every mountainside, let freedom ring!

And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.”

Afortunada

Below is my most recent entry for the Superintendent's Bi-Weekly Newsletter about the start of the new school year:

          As the school bells start to digitally ring in a new school year across North Carolina, I find myself struggling with mixed emotions about the year ahead.  I am eager for the upcoming year that is full of speaking engagements, school visits, and exciting opportunities (like meeting the President and going to Space Camp!), but I also find myself occasionally saddened and a little jealous as I hear about the hustle and bustle of the start of the school year for teachers across the state.  As the North Carolina Teacher of the Year, I am out of the classroom for the next year, and, perhaps more times than I should admit, I catch myself gazing longingly at pens, pencils, paper, markers, highlighters, staples, and other goodies that I would normally be purchasing at this time of the year.  I slightly envy Facebook posts of coworkers that show the finished projects they’ve completed in their own classrooms—a floral duct tape covered podium, a new seating arrangement, or a shiny Word Wall just waiting to have essential vocabulary words stapled to it.  I have even scheduled a day to go to Grimsley High School and help my coworkers put the final touches on their classrooms that will warmly greet high school students on August 26.

            When I think about the way I feel right now, I think I can best describe my emotions by saying that I feel like a bit of a contradiction.  I can best explain this contradiction through my recent experience traveling abroad in Spain and Morocco for much of August.  While in Spain for the wedding of a dear Spanish friend, I was frequently introduced in the following way (the introductions occurred in Spanish, so the following is a very loose translation): “This is Karyn.  She doesn’t speak Spanish very well, but she understands most of what you say. The airline lost her luggage and she is a vegetarian.  No, she does not eat fish, not even dolphin or tuna.  Pobrecita.”

           While the above introduction might seem rather unrelated to my new school year, it is surprisingly apt.  You see, I feel like I currently exist in a world of contradictions.  I am one thing, a teacher, but I am also another, a representative.  Much like the way most Spaniards could not understand my choice to be a vegetarian, I am now in an in-between position where it is sometimes hard to describe to others exactly what I will be doing for the next year.  Like my lost luggage (still lost after more than seven days), my past seven years as a teacher are so much a part of who I am that even though I am not presently in a traditional teaching position, those seven years are the personal belongings that define me.  Yet, unlike the ending of most of my introductions in Spain, “Pobrecita,” I do not feel like I am “unfortunate.”  Instead, I feel delighted to have the opportunity to expand my classroom beyond the four walls that are lined with posters of great authors and works of literature to the unlimited bounds of education in North Carolina.  This year will be incredibly different, but it will also be one of tremendous possibilities and opportunities.  It is a time when educators need a representative voice, and I hope to serve as that representative.  While I may not be decorating the four walls of my classroom at Grimsley High School this week, I am placing the finishing touches on speeches, researching changes to educational policy in our state, and planning and preparing for my upcoming school year, one in which I hope to learn and share just as much as I will teach.

"Teaching and Learning" in the School at La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, Spain

I feel like my introduction upon my return from Spain to the United States as the new school year begins should be the following:  “This is Karyn Dickerson.  She loves education and wants to talk about it with others.  She is a teacher but she is not teaching in the classroom this year.  No, that does not mean she is not a teacher, it just means her classroom got a lot bigger.  Yes, she is also a student.  And a representative.  Afortunada.”    

Leaving Morocco and Ready to Embark on a New School Year and a New Journey