Using Real-World Math to Acknowledge MLK Day in the Math Classroom

As math teachers, we often feel a quiet tension around Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

We understand the importance of the day. We also understand the realities of pacing calendars, testing pressure, and the fact that social studies instruction is often scheduled elsewhere. The question becomes: How do we acknowledge MLK Day in a math classroom in a way that is respectful, meaningful, and academically sound?

For me, the answer has been to stay rooted in what I do best: teaching math, while being thoughtful about the context I choose to use.

Moving Beyond What Students Already Know

Most students come to MLK week with some background knowledge. They’ve learned about segregation, marches, and civil rights laws. Those lessons are essential, and they matter.

What students are often less familiar with, however, is Dr. King’s later work focused on economic opportunity and socioeconomic inequality. His advocacy extended beyond legal rights to everyday conditions: access to education, wages, housing, and resources that shape people’s lives.

This broader lens creates a natural entry point for math. Percentages, ratios, and unit rates are tools we already teach. When students use those tools to analyze access, funding, or participation, math becomes a way to examine fairness using evidence, not opinion.

What This Looks Like in Practice

One approach I’ve found effective is pairing brief background context with structured problem solving. Students might read a short explanation about economic disparities and then apply percent or ratio reasoning to compare funding, participation rates, or access across groups. The math remains the anchor, and teachers decide how much discussion to include.

A Resource Built With This Balance in Mind

I created the Real-World Percent & Ratio Problem Solving resource as one example of how this balance can work in a real classroom. It is designed for Grades 6–7 and focuses on percent of a number, fraction-to-percent comparisons, unit rates, and equivalent ratios, all within real-world scenarios.

The MLK background pages can be used to build understanding, or skip straight to the math. The goal is flexibility, clarity, and strong instruction.

MLK Jr. Day Real-World Percent & Ratio Problem Solving

Acknowledging the Day Without Losing Instructional Focus

Acknowledging Martin Luther King Jr. Day in a math classroom doesn’t require abandoning content or forcing connections that don’t fit. It can be as simple as choosing thoughtful contexts and letting students do what mathematicians do best: analyze, compare, and reason with numbers.