• explore the use of the semicolon in their own and others' texts.
• review the rhetorical use and significance of the semicolon.
• revise their own writing, based on the stylistic knowledge gained from their exploration.

• Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Letter from Birmingham Jail"—this text is frequently anthologized, appearing in many student textbooks and readers. The text is also available online; however, because the text is protected by copyright, the definitive copies of the letter are not printable:
  
  
  • PDF version, from the Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers Project (not printable)
  • Flash interactive—select 1960s, and then 1963 to access the letter, from the Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers Project (not printable)
  • Audio with printable transcript, from History and Politics Online
  • HTML version, from the Seattle Times (printable)
  
  
  
• "Letter from Birmingham Jail" from the University of Pennsylvania
• Grammar Handbook, for reference
• General classroom writing supplies (board, overheads, or chart paper, notebooks and pens/pencils, and so forth)
• Handouts of Sample Passages:
  
  
  • Examples of Dr. King's Use of Semicolons, shorter passages
  • Example of Dr. King's Use of Semicolons, longer passage
  • Example from Dr. King with No Semicolons
    
    
  Alternately, this lesson could be completed by focusing completely on passages that students choose from the text. If you decide on this option, these handouts would not be necessary.
• (optional) Internet access to play the audio version of King reading his letter

1. Students should be assigned to read the "Letter from Birmingham Jail" prior to this class session, so that they are familiar with the text and its contents before they begin this activity. You can make copies of the letter for your students from the HTML site above, or direct students to the URL for one of the sites to read the text online.
2. Ideally, students should be given time to explore the Flash interactive from the Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers Project. This interactive provides audio, video, still image, and texts in an interactive timeline which documents the highlights of Dr. King's life. Be sure to take time to discuss the ideas from the letter and its historical context.
3. Consult the "Letter from Birmingham Jail" from the Univeristy of Pennsylvania for background information on the letter.
4. Provide paper copies of the text for each student—because students will be looking closely at the text, they should have a copy of the letter that they can mark on (e.g., circle semicolons).
5. Make copies of the handouts of the shorter passages and the longer passage as well as the handout of a passage with no semicolons from Dr. King's letter for students. Alternately, make overheads of these pages and arrange for an overhead projector.
6. If you want to play portions of Dr. King's reading of the letter for your class, arrange for Internet access.
7. Check your grammar textbook for information on semicolons, noting the pertinent section or page number on the board for students' reference. Alternately, you can point students to the Purdue OWL Overview of Punctuation.

1. Ask students, working alone or in groups, to search out and circle as many semicolons in the text as they can find. Be aware that owing to different editors, the copies of King's letter included in many anthologies exhibit slightly different punctuation and phrasing. Nevertheless, these varied texts demonstrate fairly consistent punctuation, including semicolons. If there is a pertinent question regarding a semicolon, the copies of the letter on the Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers Project Web site and on the King Center Web site should be considered the definitive texts, as they are the copyright versions endorsed by the King family.
2. Once students have had a chance to work through the letter, ask them to share passages that they have found with the class.
3. Pass out the handout of sample shorter passages that use semicolons, or display the sentences on an overhead projector. Students will use these sentences to analyze Dr. King's punctuation in context, as the rhetorical work of an author trying to connect with an audience that may or may not agree with his political protest.
4. Ask students to go through the sentences circling the semicolons.
5. Invite students to discuss the ways that Dr. King uses the punctuation mark in his writing by looking closely at each of the passages (or using passages that students have identified from the letter). Questions such as these can spur useful conversations about areas of grammar and writing related to semicolon use—for example, parallelism, repetition, and contrast:
   
   
   • Why did Dr. King use a semicolon here instead of a stronger period or a weaker comma?
   • How does this semicolon shape the meaning of its sentence, its paragraph, the work as a whole?
   • Does this semicolon help King to reach his audience? Why or why not?
   
   
   
6. Look closely at a longer passage from the letter. Begin by reading the passage aloud.
7. Ask students what they note about the passage. If students do not volunteer details, the following discussion questions can lead to conversation:
   
   
   • Where does Dr. King use repetition in the passage? What is the point of the repetition?
   • Where does Dr. King use semicolons in the passage? What ideas do the semicolons join?
   • Why would Dr. King choose one sentence with semicolons over two or three short sentences?
   • Where does Dr. King use short sentences in the passage? What role does the short sentence play rhetorically?
   • What overall conclusions can you draw about Dr. King's style, including his use of sentence length and punctuation, from this passage?
     
     
8. Next turn to students' own decisions about when to use the semicolon. Share the handout of a passage which does not use semicolons. Begin by reading the passage aloud.
9. Ask students to imagine that they are the letter's authors and to identify places in the passage where they might insert a semicolon. Give them a few minutes to explore the passage alone or in groups.
10. After students have had sufficient time, ask them to identify places where they would insert semicolons in the passage. Students will typically choose more than one place. Some join the sentences beginning "A just law" and "An unjust law"; others may choose to join the two sentences that begin "Any law." Encourage students to share the possibilities they have identified.
11. As students share their ideas, ask them to support their choices. Discussion can include the following questions:
    
    
    • Why are these two sentences related?
    • What rhetorical advantage does the author gain by linking the clauses in the reader's mind?
    • What rhetorical advantage does the author lose by abandoning the short, abrupt stops that periods create?
      
      
12. Ask students to choose a piece of writing from their writer's notebook or another piece of writing that they are working on.
13. Ask students to find one or two places in their drafts where they could insert a semicolon. Have students circle the semicolon with a pen or mark it with a highlighter to make it obvious.
14. Allow students to work at their own pace. Circulate through the room, helping any students who have questions or comments. If time is short, students can revise their own texts for homework or during the next class session.
15. Once students have added the semicolons, ask them to write a short reflection in their writer's notebooks that identifies the sentences they've joined and the reasons they selected the sentences. Encourage them to apply the same questions that they applied to Dr. King's letter, such as the following: Why are these two sentences related? What rhetorical advantage do I gain by linking the clauses in my reader's mind? What rhetorical advantage do I lose by abandoning the short, abrupt stops that periods create?

Martin Luther King, Jr. was born in 1929.
http://www.readwritethink.org/calendar/calendar_day.asp?id=396

Choose among additional Web and text resources as well as find links to lesson plans and classroom activities that can be used to supplement or extend this lesson, from the January 15 entry from ReadWriteThink calendar.

The Martin Luther King Papers Project at Stanford University
http://www.stanford.edu/group/King/

The primary location for information about Dr. King, this site includes a chronology, encyclopedia, biography, videos, lesson plans, and more. The overseeing board for the Project is chaired by Coretta Scott King.

Today in History, for January 15, from the Library of Congress
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/jan15.html

The Library of Congress entry for King's birthday provides a linked overview of King's life and the struggle for Civil Rights.

The Nobel Peace Prize 1964
http://www.nobel.se/peace/laureates/1964/index.html

The Nobel Prize Web site includes the text of the committee's presentation speech, awarding the Peace Prize to Dr. King, as well as Dr. King's Nobel Lecture, his acceptance speech, and biographical information.

Photo Essay: Martin Luther King in His Own Words
http://www.time.com/time/photoessays/mlk/index.html

This Time.com collection pairs ten photos of King with excerpts from his writing. Each could provide a starting place for a classroom discussion of King's carefully chosen words.

Martin Luther King: His Greatest Triumphs
http://www.life.com/image/first/in-gallery/24541

The Life site provides a wealth of pictures of Dr. King, including this gallery of his greatest triumphs.

NCTE/IRA Standards

3 - Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts. They draw on their prior experience, their interactions with other readers and writers, their knowledge of word meaning and of other texts, their word identification strategies, and their understanding of textual features (e.g., sound-letter correspondence, sentence structure, context, graphics).

5 - Students employ a wide range of strategies as they write and use different writing process elements appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes.

6 - Students apply knowledge of language structure, language conventions (e.g., spelling and punctuation), media techniques, figurative language, and genre to create, critique, and discuss print and nonprint texts.

11 - Students participate as knowledgeable, reflective, creative, and critical members of a variety of literacy communities.

12 - Students use spoken, written, and visual language to accomplish their own purposes (e.g., for learning, enjoyment, persuasion, and the exchange of information).