From King to Constitution: "Get Off Our Backs!"
Topic: Monarchy to Democracy
Lesson Type: Reading/Small Group Interactive/Worksheet
What You'll Do: After having the class read a lively account of how the American colonists got sickand tired of England telling them what to do, you’ll divide the class into groups to brainstorm the pros and cons of four government structures the new Americans could have used to create their own government. You’ll help the class put together a class list, then have students choose what they believe is the most important pro and con from each list and explain their choices. Then the students will complete a worksheet in which they determine which type of government would be best for addressing different colonist concerns.
Concepts: Experiences of American colonists leading up to the revolutionary war and formation of a new government; Major types of government including monarchy, anarchy, direct democracy, and representative democracy; specific benefits and drawbacks of each of these forms of government
Wanted: A "Just Right" Government (also download the PowerPoint presentation)
Topic: Writing the Constitution
Lesson Type: Guided Notetaking/Whole Class Interactive
What You'll Do: Use either our ready-to-go Power Point presentation or overhead transparency masters to teach how the Constitution came to exist. You’ll guide students through a notetaking worksheet that includes cloze activities and active participation Mini Quizzes that let you check for understanding throughout the lesson. When you’re done, students can work on a crossword puzzle that reinforces ideas from the lesson.
Concepts: Purpose and powers of government; Declaration of Independence; Articles of Confederation; New Jersey and Virginia Plans; purposes, structure and content of the Constitution; branches of government.
Bill of Rights: You Mean I've Got Rights?
Topic: Bill of Rights
Lesson Type: Whole Class Interactive/Reading/Worksheet
What You'll Do: First, you’ll let students choose from a checklist of rights to include in a hypothetical “Pamphlet of Protections.” Then you’ll read through the actual text of the Bill of Rights and a few other amendments, comparing the hypothetical “protections” with the rights we actually have. You’ll offer guided practice with a mix and match circulation activity, then let students summarize their real-life rights with a cloze activity about the Bill of Rights and the other amendments.
Concepts: Purpose, origin, and content of the Bill of Rights and other important Amendments to the Constitution.
Do I Have A Right? (also download the Teacher's Guide)
Topic: Bill of Rights and other key Amendments
Lesson Type: Online game
What You'll Do: Spend a class period in the computer lab playing this fast paced game, and your students are sure to memorize important constitutional amendments by the end of the period. In this game, students run a constitutional law firm, and grow their firm as they become more skilled at applying constitutional rights to their client's problems.
Concepts: Specific amendments in the Bill of Rights and other key constitutional amendments; how rights apply to problems.
Interpreting the Constitution: What Does That Mean? (also download PowerPoint 1 and PowerPoint 2)
Topic: Interpreting and applying the Constitution, specifically the 5th and 8th Amendments
Lesson Type: Whole group interactive
What You'll Do: Using a series of yes/no checklists, you’ll let students decide how they think a series of Supreme Court cases should be decided. (Warning: The cases in this lesson may generate debate!) Create suspense by polling the class, then revealing the real answers one by one using our Power Point presentation (complete with drum roll and cymbal crash). If you don’t want to use Power Point, distribute our handy answer cards and let students reveal the answers themselves. This lesson is best used for a participation grade. Collect the checklists as evidence of participation. If you only have one class period, you may only be able to get through one amendment.
Concepts: Bill of Rights; constitutional interpretation; role of the Supreme Court
Argument Wars (also download game guide and lesson plan)
Topic: Landmark cases
Lesson Type: Online game
What You'll Do: Spend a class period in the computer lab playing this fun and engaging game in which students will learn about landmark Supreme Court cases by arguing them! Choose the cases that meet your curricular needs and time restraints.
Concepts: Individual landmark Supreme Court cases; constitutional rights; legal argumentation; precedent; facts versus opinions; relevance