Luisa Connal Rodríguez, South Mountain Community College

Few of my students knew people from either the New Orleans area or those who had moved to Michigan following Hurricane Katrina. I learned of housing problems that arose from slow payment by government departments responsible for the beleaguered New Orleans residents. So like many teachers around the country, I thought that current events would lend themselves to "teaching moments." However, I noted that in order to raise my students' level of civic awareness, it would be important for them to look at their own state and city. Many times by studying the needs of our neighborhoods we can connect to the plight of people who live far from us. To underscore this lesson, I frequently refer to Martin Luther Kings writings in part because he worked for civil and human rights and in part because much of my own self-identity is linked with the ideology of being a person engaged with others. Furthermore, many students' writing and learning takes off when they can see themselves as part of a community with which they can engage—as a participant or agent for change. To demonstrate what I mean and what Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. taught in many of his writings, I frequently use King's "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" in which he frequently refers to the concept of the interconnectedness of humans as a tool in his lessons on the need to work together for a common good. When questioned about his presence in Birmingham, Alabama he said:

Moreover, I am cognizant of the interrelatedness of all
communities and states. I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not
be concerned about what happens in Birmingham.