Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Law: Your Rights and Responsibilities

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Middle schoolers explore First Amendment rights and responsibilities.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Mayflower Compact-Freedom Contract

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students examine the main goal of the Pilgrims and the first amendment of the Constitution. They read and discuss "The Mayflower Compact," role-play excerpts of the reading, and write a journal entry.
Unit Plan
1
1
Curated OER

Constitutional Convention Simulation

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Why did the Founders make it so challenging to amend the US Constitution? To gain an understanding of why the process is so difficult, class members engage in a Constitutional Convention simulation. Groups draft, propose, and debate...
Activity
Novelinks

Tuck Everlasting: Titles for Chapters

For Teachers 4th - 7th Standards
High schoolers synthesize the information they've learned from each chapter of Natalie Babbitt's Tuck Everlasting with a creative summarizing activity. With a graphic organizer for all of the book's chapters, readers title...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Recommended Reading?

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students examine and defend various positions in the argument over a book ban in the Miami-Dade school system and then write a letter to the Miami-Dade school board expressing their opinion about the issues raised in the debate.
Activity
Administrative Office of the US Courts

Texas v. Johnson

For Teachers 10th - 12th Standards
Which right does the Constitution weigh more heavily: the sanctity of the American flag as a symbol of national unity, or the right to burn the flag in protest? The 1989 Supreme Court case of Texas v. Johnson explores a...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Free To Speak And Free To Post?

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Young scholars research online and in books city statutes regarding posting signs on utility poles, interview appropriate officials about ordinances and how completely it is enforced, explore what has happened elsewhere when citizens...
Lesson Plan
Los Angeles Unified School District

Why Is the Declaration of Independence Important?

For Teachers 5th Standards
Fair or unfair? To begin a study of the American Revolution, class members review the treatment of the people of the American Colonies by the King of England and decide which were fair and which were unfair. Class members then annotate a...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Do You Have a Prayer?

For Teachers Higher Ed
Students review the 1st Amendment and the clauses which deal with prayer/religion in schools. They discuss, in groups, the Equal Access Act, which gives students the right to practice/express their religion at school and take a quiz on...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The First Amendment

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Young scholars participate in a mock trial. Given the scenario, students prepare a cases concerning the freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and the right to assemble. In groups, young scholars prepare an opening and closing...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

In God We Trust; All Others Pay Cash

For Teachers 5th - 12th
Learners review their knowledge on the First Amendment. After reading an article, they identify specific church and state issues. Using the Internet, they research President Bush's proposal from a specific point of view. They summarize...
Unit Plan
7
7
Online Publications

Become a Journalist

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Explore the newspaper as a unique entity with a detailed and extended unit. The unit requires learners to consider the newspaper's role in democracy, think about ethics, practice writing and interviewing, and examine advertising and news...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Mayflower Compact: Freedom Contract

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students read historical documents. In this freedom lesson, students discuss the freedoms they have, such as whom to play with at recess, and how the pilgrims must have felt when they landed in America. Students read The Mayflower...
Lesson Plan
Deliberating in a Democracy

Free and Independent Press

For Teachers 8th - 12th
Students determine how free press principles can be compromised. For this global studies lesson plan, students read an article titled "Free and Independent Press." Students respond to discussion questions regarding the article.
Lesson Plan
2
2
My Access

“Banning Books” Lesson Plan

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
To Kill a Mockingbird, Hunger Games, Brave New World. Welcome to Banned Books Week. As part of a study of censorship and book banning, class members investigate censorship, the purposes of censorship, and First Amendment rights,...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Bill of Rights: Debating the Amendments

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Learners interpret historical evidence presented in primary and secondary resources. In this Bill of Rights lesson, students research 12 possible amendments that were considered for the Constitution in 1789....
Unit Plan
1
1
Madison Public Schools

Journalism

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Whether you are teaching a newspaper unit in language arts, covering the First Amendment and censorship in social studies, or focusing on writing ethics in journalism, a unit based on the foundations of journalism would be an excellent...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Just Say It

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students explore the initial Supreme Court decision to regulate commercial speech, and then analyze the legal precedents and principles underlying a recent case contesting this regulation.
Interactive
Ashbrook Center at Ashland University

Bill of Rights

For Students 6th - 12th Standards
Do citizens need protection from the federal government? Scholars investigate why the framers of the Constitution created the first 10 amendments and what these amendments mean to citizens of the United States more than 200 years later....
PPT
1
1
Curated OER

History Review: Colonial America

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Explore key moments in American history with the click of a mouse! Learners read 50 questions from different eras in early America, and watch the rest of the presentation to find more questions to answer.
Lesson Plan
1
1
PBS

Constitution Day

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Travel back to 1787 as young scholars investigate the creation of the US Constitution. After first working in small groups to create sets of classroom rules, young scholars go on to read a summary of the Constitution and watch a short...
Lesson Plan
1
1
National Endowment for the Humanities

Kate Chopin's "The Awakening": No Choice But Under?

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
The first in a series of three resources designed to accompany a reading of Kate Chopin's The Awakening provides readers with background information about Chopin, Creole culture, literary realism, and women's suffrage.
Lesson Plan
Newseum

Photo Ethics: News Independence

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Young journalists read a case study about an annual school tradition of a streaker running across the football field after the homecoming game. Small groups then decide whether or not to cover the story and whether or not to include a...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Bill of Rights: Debating the Amendments

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students explore the Bill of Rights. In this U.S. Constitution instructional activity, students participate in classroom debate regarding the first 10 amendments to the Constitution. Students then vote for the amendments they would like...