ND Curriculum Initiative

Subject & Standards

Needs Assessment/Rational

The instructional need of this lesson is focusing on students understanding of the Bill of Rights and the law making process. More importantly, it will focus on how the Bill of Rights affects their day to day routine. Many students are not aware of the controversy of the 8th Amendment surrounding capital punishment and the definition of “cruel and unusual” punishment.
Another example is the need for students to understand their limitation on freedom of speech in regards to slander and liable. Many students know that they have rights, yet often the perceptions of these rights are distorted. Further students need to understand how the law making process works as not to violate the Bill of Rights.
Also they will understand how the branches of government work together to protect these rights. Though classroom discussion and interacting with students at the freshman level, many have a distorted view of the criminal justice system. Some students feel it is the police department that makes, enforces, and interprets laws. I believe the reason for this misconception is that the police force is the most visual for this age group.
Once this unit is completed the students will understand the law making process and how many people work together to make, enforce, and interpret laws that are fair and just. Debating issues such as gun control search and seizure, capital punishment, or separation of church and state will be addressed through research, reading, and open forum discussion.

Understandings & Goals

Enduring Understanding: 1. I want my student to understand how our government is established to protect their rights.  2. I want the students to understand the law making process.  3. Further, they need to know how government works so they can actively participate in the process of reform or retention of policy.
Goal(s): 1. Students will better understand the rights and responsibilites granted though being an American citizen. 2. Students will understand the process of law making.  3. The students will be able to identify how government is structured to protect an individual’s rights.

Questions Answered

Essential questions: 1. What rights are given by the Bill of Rights?  2. What are some limitations on these rights?  3. Why is in there a conflict of interest on the interpretations of these rights?  4. How does government make and change laws?
Objectives:  1. Students will describe the Bill of Rights and explain its significance and be able to indetify the the first 10 amendments with 100% accuracy. 2.  Students will understand how the Constitution has changed over time to better guarantee citizen’s rights.  3. Students will identify the duties and responsibilities of US citizens and demonstate this knowledge though a reflective essay. 4. Through the use of the text book and electronic media, the students will understand the function of the Legislative Branch of government.  5. The students will identify where the ideas for bills originate.  6. Using electronic media or artistic creativity students will be able to outline the process through which a bill becomes a law.  7. The finished product will be original, neat, and correctly follow the bill to law process.

Assessment

What quiz and test items (e.g. simple content-focused questions that require a single, best answer) will provide evidence of understanding? 1. Students will be quizzed over the contents and terminology of each of the 1st ten amendments.  2. Testing will include scenarios of a person’s rights being violated and the student will identify which amendment is in question.  3. Further testing will involve the student stating the next step in the process of a bill becoming a law.
What academic prompts (e.g. open-ended questions or problems that require students to think critically and then to prepare a response / product / performance) will provide evidence of understanding?  Students will discuss and analyze through writing how the components of the Bill of Rights have affected their lives already.
What performance tasks and projects (e.g. complex challenges that are authentic, mirror the real world and require a performance or product) will you include that will provide evidence of student understanding? We will examine case studies, discuss news articles from the area, and keep a portfolio of civil right issues and challenge the Bill of Rights.
What other evidence (e.g. observations, work samples, dialogues, student self-assessment) of understanding will you collect?  The students will create an animated flow chart of the bill to law process. This will indicate that they have an understanding of the process and can relay the information to others.

Instructional Strategies

Problem based learning will be implemented through discussion of the certain amendments. For example, how can the 1st amendment right of freedom of speech be used to justify a hate rally? We will look at this through a 1977 case in Skokie, Illinois, home of 7,000 Holocaust survivors and a rally staged there by a neo-Nazi group.

Though listing pro and cons of such a event, the students will form an understanding of how one person’s interpretation of the Bill of Rights my be very different from another person. The students will work in groups create an animated flow chart of the bill to law process. This will indicate that they have an understanding of the process and can relay the information to others.