Results
1. Students will know the first ten amendments to the Constitution and have a thorough understanding of them.
2. Students will apply this knowledge to a brief interpretation of the first 10 amendments and describe what they mean to him/her as an individual.
3. Students will investigate a specific group or organization that exists to protect our civil rights.
4. Students will compose an essay describing what a specific group is doing to preserve our civil rights, and why it exists.
5. Students will engage in a group discussion on our civil liberties in class.
Evaluation
Students will be evaluated on the following criteria:
- how well they understand the Bill of Rights, which will be highlighted in their interpretation of the amendments.
- their description of a group or organization set out to protect our civil rights.
- cooperation during the internet learning activity in class.
- participation in the class discussion at the end of the project.
Curriculum
This lesson plan fits well with any level of Government, or Political Science class, but it would also be a good lesson for a Current Events class. Our civil liberties are easily tied into these content areas, and are an important realm to discuss. This activity would help the students explore the rights handed to the citizens in the Constitution. This activity also fits well with the NCSS high standard Civic Ideals and Practices e and j.
Instruction
Day 1: This lesson will begin with students familiarizing themselves with the first ten amendments in our constitution. This will be accomplished by accessing a website presenting the bill of rights. http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.billofrights.html
Students will read over all of the amendments and think critically about what each of them means to them as an individual. From here the students will begin writing their interpretations of the Bill of Rights and how it relates to their lives. These interpretations should contain 2 – 3 sentences on what the amendments mean, followed by its importance to the individual in paragraph form. This will be handed in on day 2.
Day 2: Once again the students will meet in the computer lab, and look at a specific website. http://www.smpcollege.com/smp_govt/bor.htm This website contains an extensive list of organizations and groups that help to fight for the preservation of our civil rights.
From this sight students are to chose one group or organization and explore their website. While looking at the website the students need to be aware of any biases that the group or organization may hold.
After thoroughly viewing the chosen website, the student must write a brief essay on their findings. Questions to explore in the essay will include:
o What amendment is the organization trying to protect?
o How long has the organization been around?
o Who is involved in the organization?
o What is the organization’s interpretation of the amendment they seek to protect?
o How is the organization working to preserve our civil rights?
Day 3: The essay on an organization must be handed in.
The teacher will lead a class discussion where the students will be involved in critically examining the Bill of Rights, and what the amendments actually mean. We will also discuss how different groups interpret the same amendment in different ways, to come up with different views of what a particular freedom really means. Students will also be encouraged to bring to light anything interesting that they may have found concerning any particular group that they came across.
Lastly the teacher will close the activity with a summarization of how important our civil liberties are to American society.