Curated OER
Law & Ethics for Photojournalists
Students identify and discuss First Amendment rights, examine how to make sound legal judgements regarding photographs of private individuals, examine difference between public and private figures as far as libel law is concerned,...
Curated OER
Individual Rights
Students study the individual rights enshrined in the U.S. Constitution. They determine where these rights come from, and why we value them as we do. They consider that our individual rights are not absolute, and may be limited by other...
Curated OER
Sportswriting
Students complete a variety of activities (using the Washington Post Newspaper) that reinforce concepts involved in sports writing.
Curated OER
Will the Supreme Court Vouch for Vouchers?
Students investigate past Supreme Court decisions that have centered on education issues and assess the ways in which those decisions have impacted American education. They consider the controversies surrounding the issue of school...
Curated OER
A Safe Place For Hate?
Students explore the conflict over the admission of hate-related information onto web portals and other web sites, and, after representing the point-of-view of the constituencies involved in this conflict, posit possible solutions to the...
Curated OER
Democracy in Action
Students consider words that reflect their knowledge and opinions about democracy. They work in groups to research countries that have recently transitioned to democratic forms of government.
Curated OER
Building a Human Rights Document
Young scholars identify the issue of basic human rights, examine the importance of the UDHR, and compare it to United States Bill of Rights. They create a definition of human rights as a class. Students are divided into groups of four...
Alabama Learning Exchange
J. Alfred Hyperbolizes
Mermaids will sing to your class members as they engage in an activity related to T.S. Eliot's famous dramatic interior monologue. After engaging in a socratic seminar about literary devices in the poem, individuals choose one...
Deliberating in a Democracy
Cyberbullying—Lesson Plan
Learners examine cyberbullying. In this lesson on democracy, students discuss the different ways to deal with cyberbullying. They then take a position on the question of whether a democracy should allow schools to take action against off...
Curated OER
Essay Evaluation
In this essay evaluation worksheet, students are provided with a writing prompt and two sample essays. Students evaluate and grade the sample essays and provide three reasons why they graded as they did.
Curated OER
Trial Simulation Project on First Amendment Cases
Students engage in research and role play to discover the history and importance of certain First Amendment court cases. They act out the cases in different roles in order to understand different perspectives from the prosecution to the...
Curated OER
The Law: Your Rights and Responsibilities
Students explore First Amendment rights and responsibilities.
Curated OER
Bill of Rights and Lawmaking
Ninth graders consider how the Bill of Rights impacts the lawmaking process in the United States. In this Bill of Rights activity, 9th graders discuss the amendments and their limitations. Students research the role of the Legislative...
Curated OER
A Day in the Life of a Homeless Person
Learners examine the day in the life of a homeless person. In this humanitarian lesson, students examine the life of a homeless person while discovering the importance of social justice in our society.
Curated OER
Lessons from the Holocaust
Students discover what a dictatorship is by examining the holocaust. In this government lesson, students discuss the laws that were enacted for Nazis to take control of Germany, and the types of laws we have put place to prevent...
Curated OER
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Middle schoolers learn what goals Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. had when he wanted to change the inequality of the United States.
Curated OER
Creating a New Media in the Arab World
Students explore the pros and cons of government-sponsored media into a war-torn country and determine whether the news will be considered information or propaganda.
Curated OER
Two Constitutions
Fourth graders participate in a teacher-lead discussion about the United States Constitution and the California State Constitution. They compare the Bill of Rights in the United States Constitution with Califonia's Declaration of...
Curated OER
Who To Believe?
Students interpret meaning from opposing views on the same topic, and discuss that there is often so much "spin" and "hidden agendas" in the media.
Curated OER
Live Paintings
Pupils research various works of art, write essays, and create live performance art pieces in this 2-day Art, History, and/or Language Arts lesson for 7th and 8th grade. The use of a digital camera to capture the "live" performance is...
Curated OER
Who or What is Un-American?
Students explore concepts about civil liberties, research the history of sedition-related legislation in the U.S. and create a position paper on the topic.
Curated OER
Creating an Ethnic Student Newspaper
Students examine the role of the Black Press. In this African American history lesson, students watch segments of a video titled, " Too Long to Have Others Spoken for Us." Students respond to discussion questions regarding each of the...
Curated OER
Divided We Fall
Learners investigate the consequences of eliminating one or more of the amendments to the Bill of Rights.
ReadWriteThink
Read Write Think: Freedom of Speech and Automatic Language
Contains plans for four lessons that use the "Pledge of Allegiance" to discuss the concepts of freedom of speech and automatic language. Ties in well with novels that deal with First Amendment rights such as Laurie Halse Anderson's...