Lesson Plan : Bill of Rights
Teacher Name: | Amanda Snader |
Grade: | Grade 9-10 |
Subject: | Social Studies |
Topic: | Bill of Rights |
Content: | Evaluate how the Bill of Rights extended the Constitution. |
Goals: | The purpose of this activity is to acquaint the students with the guaranteed rights of the Bill of Rights, and assist them to see the application of these rights in their daily lives. |
Objectives: | Identify and locate the Bill of Rights. List the rights guaranteed in the Bill of Rights. Apply the rights to their daily lives. Learn the advantages and disadvantages of committee work. Use the newspaper to identify three rights currently being protected or questioned by the Bill of Rights. Memorize the titles or summary statements for the Bill of Rights. |
Materials: | Newspapers, butcher paper, copy of the First Ten Amendments. |
Introduction: | All students will individually list the rights guaranteed by the First Ten Amendments to the Constitution. These will be checked and discussed to insure all students understand these rights. |
Development: | Show student the proper way to work in a group. |
Practice: | The students will be separated into groups of three or four people, preferably with students of dissimilar interests. Each group will take a piece of butcher paper and make three headings: (1) Rights in School, (2) Rights at Home, and (3) Rights in Public. The students will then list ten rights for each column. These could include rights such as loud music, large groupings of friends, prayer at home, etc. The students will then write to the side of each item in each list the number of the amendment that corresponds to the right listed. The group will add one more right from an Amendment they had not used into one of the columns. Each group will present its lists to the class. Note--Add a rule that no group may ask the Instructor for clarification or information unless the whole group agrees on the question. Also, the whole group must agree before something can be written on the paper. The students will locate and mount on lined notebook paper three newspaper articles demonstrating current use of the Bill of Rights. |
Accommodations: | Divide class into two groups based reading comprehension. For the struggling learners, present them with a one sheet, two-column table that lists each of the 10 amendments in the Bill of Rights in the left-hand column and definitions of troublesome words in the right-hand column. Using this information, students will be asked to write down their own understanding of the meaning of the first ten amendments. Advanced readers will be given the original text of each amendment and asked to derive, in their own words, the meaning of each. |
Checking For Understanding: | Have each group orally present one newspaper article to the class. Follow up with a discussion. Test the students' ability to identify the titles and content of the Bill of Rights. Discuss the problems and advantages of committee work. Have the students discuss which one right is most important. They should eventually realize that each right is as important as the next, given the set of circumstances. |
Closure: | |
Evaluation: | |
Teacher Reflections: | Identify how students worked in particular groups (too talkative, etc.) to prepare for group activities in the future. |
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