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Our Constitutional Connection Lesson 3: To Vote Or Not To Vote? That is the Question!
Students design colorful posters to "get out and vote" after studying the three amendments to the US Constitution that extend voting rights. They analyze the importance of voting to a healthy democracy.
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Rights And Responsibilities: Debating Free Speech, Responsibility And Censorship on Campus
Students weigh rights of students and others to free speech versus the responsibilities that come with those rights.
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Government Lesson Plan: Lesson Plan 8
Students analyze the Fourteenth Amendment. They discuss Reconstruction, read the provisions of the Fourteenth Amendment, define the provisions, and in small groups analyze a Supreme Court case that was impacted by the due process clause.
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Recommended Reading?
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.
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Bill of Rights - Remember Me!
Students participate in a unique and exciting method of memorizing the Bill of Rights using locations throughout the classroom and visual and auditory cues. They take a quiz they are guaranteed to pass!
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Documents and Symbols and American Freedom
Students complete a unit of lessons on the documents, symbols, and famous people involved in the founding of the U.S. government. They create a personal bill of rights, write a found poem, design a flag, conduct research, and role-play...
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A More Perfect Union
Fourth graders complete a unit of lessons on the development of the U.S. government. They examine the main ideas of the Declaration of Independence, develop a class translation of the preamble to the Constitution, create a flow chart,...
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Legal Rights, the Charter, and Canada's Constitution
Students explore the issue of human rights in Canada and compare and contrast the Bill of Rights and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. They debate whether Canadians are giving up certain democratic rights in exchange for the greater good.
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Creating A Bill Of Rights In Space
Students define rights, analyze and apply the U.S. Bill of Rights to hypothetical situations, and create an Intergalactic Bill of Rights.
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Understanding Procedural Justice
Students analyze procedural justice by identifying unfair decisions by ruler in play, stating procedural guarantees that a Bill of Rights should include, and comparing their list of guarantees to those provided by the U.S. Constitution...
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A Letter Read 'Round the World
Young scholars examine primary document to examine the concept of free assembly, and analyze Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's letter to the clergy to explain the rationale for this tactic to advance civil rights.
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Do You Have a Prayer?
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...
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Roots of Religious Liberty
Students examine the First Amendment and consider the contributions of James Madison and Thomas Jefferson. They review conflicts between the rights of Church and State and write a Madisonian argument on the issue.
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A Right to Bear Arms - One Patriot's View
Students research Samuel Adams' role in the crafting of the Second Amendment. They consider how Adams' views evolved with time and write a one-page response linking their research to current events.
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Citizen Journalism
Learners examine the role of citizen journalism, freedom of the press, and the First Amendment. They analyze the results of an Internet survey, discuss the ethics of downloading copyrighted material on the Internet, and write a news story.
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19th Century Women's Suffrage - Sheltered Activities
Students reenact The USA v. Susan B. Anthony and discuss women's suffrage and the 19th Amendment.
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I Am a Book
Third graders discuss books that have been banned and the things that they have in common. They explore the concept of freedom of speech and write poems based on their discussion.
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Taking to the Airwaves
Learners consider the purpose of talk radio and examine its importance in the new democratic Iraq. They enact mock talk shows based on current events and reflect on the value of free speech and the role audience members play in radio...
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Press-ing Freedom
Students consider how free speech applies to journalistic practices in light of a legal case involving two reporters. They participate in a fishbowl discussion about journalism codes of ethics and write response papers.
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Free Speech or Hate Speech?
Students see the difference between protected and prohibited speech as guaranteed by the First Amendment. They explain why free speech is essential to a democracy and consider how best to deal with speech they find offensive.
National Endowment for the Humanities
Lesson 2: The Debate in Congress on the Sedition Act
Pupils research and discuss the provisions in the Constitution that supported the arguments for and against the Sedition Act. They articulate objections to and arguments in favor of the Sedition Act.
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Justice in America
Students use the Preamble to the Constitution as the central resource, to consider the concept of justice in the United States, from past times to the present. Thoughtful questions are posed and helpful hand-outs provided.
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Across The Centuries
Students analyze the American Bill of Rights, compare it to the English Bill of Rights and note the differences in an essay. They access websites imbedded in this plan to do their research, then present their findings to the class.
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Just Say It
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.