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Citizenship in the United States: Lesson Plan for Constitution Day 2019

Posted by on Aug 14, 2019 in Blog | 0 comments

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Description
A recent Gallup poll suggests that a record 27% of U.S. American citizens believe immigration is the most important issue we as a country face. The 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution outlines what we call “birthrightcitizenship,” which has sparked much debate as of late. Those not born in the United States or its territories can apply for citizenship, and part of this process involves passing a citizenship test that many birthright citizens could not likely pass.

In this lesson, students will examine the history of ratifying the Constitution, the addition of the Bill of Rights, assess their own Constitutional knowledge by answering Constitution-specific questions  from the current citizenship test, and read/discuss recent news stories and opinion pieces about the great citizenship debate.

Objectives

  • Students will ascertain why some states debated the initial ratification of the Constitution.
  • Students will test their own knowledge of the Constitution by answering questions that appear on the current citizenship test.
  • Students will critique recent news stories and op-eds about the current debate surrounding citizenship and immigration. 

Common Core State Standards

http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/RH/11-12/2/Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary that makes clear the relationships among the key details and ideas.
http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/RH/11-12/3/Evaluate various explanations for actions or events and determine which explanation best accords with textual evidence, acknowledging where the text leaves matters uncertain.
http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/RH/11-12/9/Integrate information from diverse sources, both primary and secondary, into a coherent understanding of an idea or event, noting discrepancies among sources.

Length

90 minutes

Document for handout: CSDAY2019 (PDF)

Materials / resources

Links to stories provided on the second page of the document: 

  1. https://www.dallasnews.com/news/immigration/2019/07/24/no-shower-23-days-us-citizen-held-deportation-shares-like-immigrant 
  2. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2019/07/26/enduring-cruelty-trumps-immigration-agenda/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.802ca5601cdb 
  3. https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/10/birthright-citizenship-other-countries-trump/574453/ 
  4. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/tijuana-expectant-moms-hope-u-s-asylum-n1032806 
  5. https://thefederalist.com/2019/07/01/constitution-grant-citizenship-anyone-born-inside-united-states/ 
  6. https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2019-07-21/with-send-her-back-chant-trump-tears-at-the-meaning-of-citizenship 
  7. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/29/us/politics/democratic-debates-immigration.html 

Lesson step-by-step

Step 1 — 30 minutes

Distribute the handout for the students and explain that they are to follow each portion from 1-7-8-7 — ask them to pause before beginning the last 7. Note: Encourage them to answer the questions on their own first (without the aid of classmates or other resources).

Step 2 — 45 minutes

Ask the students to read one or two of the articles (time permitting) by visiting the links provided. Encourage them to take notes about the content of the article, perspectives presented, references to the Constitution and its amendments, and potential biases they can identify.

Step 3 — 45 minutes

Discuss articles the students read, and then encourage them to read the remaining articles. You may add extra time for further discussion.

Ask students to locate additional articles for discussion. Journalism advisers: encourage your staff to brainstorm/explore the issue of citizenship in future coverage.

Differentiation

Students who may not have studied this material previously may be encouraged to use textbooks or the Internet to answer the questions on the first page of the activity. In addition, you may wish to divide students into small groups to read one article each and then summarize it for the class.

For past Constitution Day materials, go here.

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Constitution Day is right time
to apply for FAPFA recognition

Posted by on Sep 17, 2018 in Blog, News, Scholastic Journalism, Teaching | 0 comments

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by Lori Keekley, MJE
As advisers, we work to support student journalists on a daily basis.

Taking a moment today to apply for the First Amendment Press Freedom Award is a great way to symbolically show this support.

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Constitution Day quiz competition

Posted by on Aug 18, 2018 in Blog | 0 comments

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Title

Constitution Day Quiz Competition

Description

Have students compete (either individually or in groups) to demonstrate knowledge about the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights

Objectives

• Students will demonstrate knowledge of the history and content of the Constitution and Bill of Rights.
• Students will assess their own level of familiarity with the Constitution and its effects.
• Students will the priorities apparent in the Constitution to their own lives and beliefs.

Common Core State Standards

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.11-12.8
Delineate and evaluate the reasoning in seminal U.S. texts, including the application of constitutional principles and use of legal reasoning (e.g., in U.S. Supreme Court majority opinions and dissents) and the premises, purposes, and arguments in works of public advocacy (e.g., The Federalist, presidential addresses).

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.11-12.9

Analyze seventeenth-, eighteenth-, and nineteenth-century foundational U.S. documents of historical and literary significance (including The Declaration of Independence, the Preamble to the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address) for their themes, purposes, and rhetorical features.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.11-12.7
Integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information presented in diverse formats and media (e.g., visually, quantitatively, as well as in words) in order to address a question or solve a problem.

Length

30-50 minutes

Materials / resources

Constitution Day Quiz (See these links for QUIZ and ANSWER sheet)
Constitution Day Quiz on Kahoot

Lesson step-by-step

Step 1 — Introduction and Set-Up (2-5 minutes)

Introduce the day and activity (For example: “Constitution Day is a federal observance celebrating the anniversary of the day the U.S. Constitution was signed. The law formalizing the observance in 2004 mandated that educational institutions provide information about the Constitution and its signing every Sept. 17.”).

Set up the activity with the materials necessary depending on what you plan to use. You may be handing out print-outs of the quiz for individuals or groups to answer, getting students into groups to answer questions read or displayed by the teacher, or getting students set up for the Kahoot version of the quiz.

Step 2 — Quiz/Competition (15-25 minutes)

Administer the questions/quiz. There are several options available for this:
Have students using devices to join the Kahoot quiz that you are also displaying using a screen and projector at the front of the classroom. Students will be seeing the correct answers and their progress as they go, but feel free to take some time to discuss answers missed by large numbers of students.

(or) Have students grouped into teams and responding to each question as they are read aloud by the teacher or projected on a screen. Groups may either write answers on whiteboards to all display at the same time or raise hands to compete for a chance to answer. Someone will also need to keep track of correct answers (or points) earned by each team.

(or) Have students answer the questions using a print-out of the quiz (either individually or in teams) within a certain time limit. Groups/student may then exchange papers to peer grade as the teacher shares the correct answers.

Step 3 — Recognition (2-5 minutes)

Try to cap off the competition with a simple prize of some kind for the winning students (maybe top 3 or so) or groups. Prizes could range from some small candy to extra points to some sort of small certificate to even just some words or recognition or applause.

Step 4 (optional) — Connection (5-10 minutes)

Finally, ask students to respond in writing to the following or similar prompt: What effect do you think the structure of our Constitution has had on our national character? What priorities do we seem to have, as Americans, and how have they impacted your own life?

Differentiation

The flexible nature of the lesson allows for quite a lot of differentiation. Students needing more assistance could be paired with students who can provide that assistance. If devices are lacking for the Kahoot, student could also be paired up to share technology use.

 

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Ways to celebrate Constitution Day 2018

Posted by on Aug 18, 2018 in Law and Ethics, News, Scholastic Journalism, Teaching | 0 comments

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The Scholastic Press Rights Committee is again excited to provide lesson plans and activities to help you celebrate Constitution Day and the First Amendment. Constitution Day recognized Sept. 17 each year, and we have a trove of new and archived lessons and activities to help you raise awareness of the First Amendment’s rights and applications for students.

Take a look at the new lessons:

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Constitution Day highlights from previous years

Posted by on Aug 18, 2018 in Blog | 0 comments

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As we brainstormed ideas for this version of Constitution Day, we realized how many previous activities and lessons were still relevant today. Here are our top eight. If you’d like to revisit the previous years’ lesson and ideas, we’ve included links to each year at the end of the page.

 

Celebrating Constitution Day (Lori Keekley, 2015): This activity encourages the English, social studies and journalism teachers to engage students in exploring the Constitution’s relevance to their daily lives, facts about the Constitution and understanding the amendments to the Constitution

 

First Amendment School Dialogue (Jeff Kocur, 2017): Guide your students through a class-sized (or whole-school) dialogue about the five freedoms of the First Amendment. Students will identify and evaluate the impact of the First Amendment in their own lives and the lives of others.

 

The Importance of an Independent and Active Press (Matthew Smith, 2017): Expose students to the many possible benefits of independent media in a democracy through quotes and video excerpts of world leaders espousing the necessity of a free press. Students will evaluate and discuss their own reaction to these arguments.

 

Understanding the perils of prior review and restraint (Jeff Kocur, 2015): Click here for the activity. For additional resources and model ethical guidelines and staff manual procedures for this, go here and here.

 

Examining the gray area between political correctness and free speech (Matthew Smith, 2016): Students will explore several topics through peer discussion and real-world examples in small groups followed by a large-group discussion. By Matt Smith

 

The Decision to Report: Because You Can, Does that Mean you Should? (Jeff Kocur, 2013): Allows students to explore the conflict of reporting the truth when that truth may have consequences. Students work with several leading questions and apply them to several scenarios.

 

Our Right to Comment (Jeff Kocur, 2016): Since media organizations have moved to online formats, they have struggled with the practice of hosting online comments next to their content. Many news organizations require posters to meet specific standards, moderate the comments, and reserve the right to remove or delete comments and users. Some organizations even require each post be approved by a human before it can be live on their sites. More recently, NPR is the latest news organization to completely remove comments from its news sites. Students will explore the question whether the ability to comment on news stories creates a more or less informed culture. By Jeff Kocur

 

Takedown demands (John Bowen, 2014): This lesson addresses how to handle takedown requests. Students will work through two scenarios and then create a takedown request policy.

 

Previous Constitution Day lessons and activities by years:

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

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