2017 Constitution Day lessons
Constitution Day 2017 is approaching, and several members of the Scholastic Press Rights Committee have come together to provide you with materials to help your students understand their rights and responsibilities. These lessons provide particular focus on the First Amendment and the freedom of speech in general, but they would be appropriate and effective in any class that touches on issues related to history, the Constitution, citizenship or journalism.
Since Constitution Day (Sept. 17) is on a Sunday this year, we’d suggest celebrating on the following Monday. For a quick preview of this year’s lessons, feel free to watch this video. Links are also provided, below, to the new materials as well as lessons from previous years that might be particularly useful.
This year’s lessons:
First Amendment School Dialogue, by Jeff Kocur: 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, by Matthew Smith: 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.
Introduction to News Literacy, by Kristin Taylor: The freedom of speech and of the press come with responsibilities, too, and this lesson provides materials for recognizing different types of news media and coverage. Students will examine the credibility of news sources as well as examine their own media habits in order to beef up their news diets and avoid “fake” news.
What’s in Your State Press Law?, by John Bowen and Lori Keekley: As New Voices laws spread across the country to protect student journalists, help your students understand what their state does or does not cover when it comes to student press rights. Students will examine their own law and create a dialogue with stakeholders about the benefits of protecting student publications.
Sharing Your State Law with Others, by John Bowen and Lori Keekley: State laws protecting student press rights mean nothing if students, administrators, school boards and others don’t know what they mean or how they impact the community. For this lesson, students will create an action plan for the various groups in their community about the state legislation.
Previous lessons:
Materials from previous years are obviously still available and relevant. The links, below, take you to the full list of lessons from each year, but we’ve also provided a quick suggestion of a lesson from that year that might work particularly well with the new batch we created.
2016 (Check out the lesson on exploring and discussing the gray area between political correctness and free speech.)
2015 (Check out the Constitution of the United States Crossword for a quick hit.)
2014 (Check out the lesson asking students to evaluate what to do when people ask them to remove content already published or posted in a student publication.)
2013 (Check out these materials forcing students to evaluate the ethical considerations involved when stories or information could be highly controversial or harmful.)
Feel free to send any feedback or questions to Matthew Smith (matthewssmith17@gmail.com) or Jeff Kocur (jeffreykocur@gmail.com)
Constitution Day Committee
John Bowen, MJE, Kent State University (OH)
Lori Keekley, MJE, St. Louis Park High School (MN)
Jeff Kocur, CJE, Hopkins High School (MN)
Matthew Smith, CJE, Fond du Lac High School (WI)
Kristin Taylor, CJE, The Archer School for Girls (CA)
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Bill of Rights Day, Dec. 15
Dec.15, 2016, is Bill of Rights Day and a good time to deepen students’ knowledge about intricacies of our government as seen through the first ten amendments.
Such discussions would also be timely and relevant given the political events of an election year and the change associated with a new presidency.
In a 1941 proclamation, President Franklin D. Roosevelt tapped the fifteenth day of December to be “a day of mobilization for freedom and for human rights, a day of remembrance of the democratic and peaceful action by which these rights were gained, a day of reassessment of their present meaning and their living worth.”
Here are links to some of what is available:
• National Constitution Center, Bill of Rights Day
Has a section of educational resources and a great “Do-Now discussion question: “Not all the amendment James Madison proposed made it into the final Bill of Rights. Is there anything missing from the Bill of Rights you would have included?”
http://constitutioncenter.org/learn/civic-calendar/bill-of-rights-day
• Bill of Rights Institute
With mission words of engage, educate and empower, the Institute provides information for students, teachers and supporters. The site features five lesson plans games and videos on Constitutional principles.
http://constitutioncenter.org/learn/civic-calendar/bill-of-rights-day
• Bill of Rights Day/United States Courts
This site offers resources for teachers, students and judges. The materials, reports the site, as meant to inform, involve and insire citizens to apapreciate and exercise the Bill of Rights.
http://www.uscourts.gov/about-federal-courts/educational-resources/annual-observances/bill-rights-day
• US Citizenship and Immigration Services, Bill of Rights Day
Provides materials available for immigrants tolearn about and prepare for the naturalization process. Good to see if your students could pass the naturalization test.
https://mail.aol.com/webmail-std/en-us/suite
• 15 facts about the Bill of Rights
Interesting background information for further discussion and use.
http://mentalfloss.com/article/72155/15-facts-about-bill-rights
Introduction to 2016 Constitution Day materials … and more
Constitution Day lessons, activities and related materials
In preparation for Constitution Day 2016, several members of the Scholastic Press Rights Committee (SPRC), a committee of the Journalism Education Association, created lesson plans specific for the event.
We suggest celebrating Sept. 16 since the official Constitution Day is Saturday this year.
We created these lessons to help celebrate the Constitution and Bill of Rights, as mandated by Congress. Legislation requires schools to offer lessons on the Constitution and how it affects all Americans. Our lesson plans emphasize the First Amendment and particularly the freedoms of speech and the press.
[pullquote]Keep reading. There are more special offers at the end of the CD Day materials.[/pullquote]
Please contact me if you have any questions or feedback about the lessons or how to implement them.
The SPRC works to provide information and resources on legal and ethical issues to journalism students, teachers and administrators. SPRC members also work to promote the First Amendment rights of students across the nation.
Lessons:
• Students will examine the gray area between political correctness and free speech through peer discussion and real-world examples. Students will explore several topics in small groups followed by a large-group discussion. By Matt Smith
• 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
• Students will design ethical guidelines they can use this fall and in later coverage (reporting and viewpoint) of elections, candidates and issues. They will examine the comprehensiveness election reporting and how students can go about building robust election coverage. The lesson also examines how students can apply ethical principles to this coverage. By John Bowen
• Sometimes politicians misconstrue facts during debates and political ads. This lesson examines the “truthiness” of the ads running currently. Students will analyze one from the Democratic and one from the Republican party. Students could look at a TV ad, online ad or print ad. By Lori Keekley
To see past years’ lessons, go here. Also has links to previous years.
Please send any feedback to keekley@gmail.com. I’d love to hear from you!
Lori Keekley
For JEA’s Scholastic Press Rights Committee and the Constitution Day Committee
Constitution Day Committee
John Bowen, MJE, Kent State University (OH)
Lori Keekley, MJE, St. Louis Park High School (MN)
Jeff Kocur, CJE, Hopkins High School (MN)
Matt Smith, Fond du Lac (WI)
And we’re not done yet.
Additionally, we are reintroducing the Making a Difference Campaign.
This campaign will highlight at least one piece of student work each month to help illustrate how students can make a difference through their coverage.
The first Making a Difference in 1988 showed how students reported the impact of the Hazelwood decision.
These are examples of student media that had an impact on the community or school where they were produced. They can be print, digital, video or audio.
On Constitution Day, we’ll release the link to the submission form and explain the process.
SPRC members will select student work that made a difference, post it on jeasprc.org and promote it on Facebook, Twitter and other social media. Let others see the work you have created. When you have something to contribute, please send it to us!
Wait, Wait. There’s more…
• Because two states, Illinois and Maryland, passed legislation over the summer and others are poised to do the same, the SPRC created a packet for helping communities of all kinds understand the importance of that legislation. The Student Free Expression Package will be released later in the week, but some of its main points are outlined below:
Contents for this package:
- Importance of state legislation: Although many educators and advocates think of the First Amendment (and the court decisions interpreting it) as the most important tool for interpreting student press rights, there is another equally important source of law: state statutes.
- Why protecting student free expression is important: Students and advisers in states with recent freedom of expression legislation may want to inform their communities of educational rationale for the legislation. Additionally, those states working to pass such legislation might want to use the same points to gain support
- Talking Points: With legislation giving students decision-making power over their student media comes questions about roles, purpose and standards. If the school cannot make content decisions who is responsible? What is the role of the adviser? Of students? If the adviser cannot control content, what guidelines will students follow and why?
- Tips for engaging communities: With new legislation, or attempts to pass it, comes the need for ways to engage those who would support it. The ways can run from concept to concrete and can be delivered in many approaches with details determined locally.
- Legislation terminology: A compilation of important terminology so everyone can better understand the language and issues surrounding student free expression language.
- What to do if school officials threaten censorship: Even though state legislation can provide protection, sometimes others do not understand that and need further education. Use a friendly and informative approach and help them understand. Here are some steps we recommend.
- Sample press release on state legislation: Another option for letting your various communities know about the benefits of free expression legislation is to create a press release to media, civic groups, school board and others.
- Resources on state legislation: Links to additional information and contacts
And, as a special bonus…
• An important part of JEA’s supports for free expression rights for student journalists is the First Amendment Press Freedom Award.
In its 17th year, the award recognizes high schools that actively support, teach and protect First Amendment rights and responsibilities of students and teachers. 
The recognition focuses on student-run media where students make all final decisions of content without prior review.
The award comes in two steps, with Round 1 due before Dec. 1. The entry form and entry information can be obtained here.
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2015 Constitution Day lessons
Please contact me if you have any questions or feedback about the lessons or how to implement them. For a video about the lessons, go to https://youtu.be/39c8sZVmT20.
The SPRC works to provide information and resources on legal and ethical issues to journalism students, teachers and administrators. SPRC members also work to promote the First Amendment rights of students across the nation.
The lessons
• Celebrating Constitution Day, by Lori Keekley.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
• Crossword Puzzle, by Lori Keekley. For fun activities to celebrate Constitution Day in a number of curricular areas.
• Understanding the perils of prior review and restraint, by Jeff Kocur. Click here for the activity. For additional resources and model ethical guidelines and staff manual procedures for this, go here and here.
• Listening with a skeptical ear: checking source accuracy and credibility by John Bowen. With candidates jostling for positions in the 2016 presidential election and numerous state, local races taking shape and issues developing readers and viewers face an onslaught of information not limited to politics. Student journalists must able to separate valid from questionable information and know how to determine if sources and their messages are credible.
• Where should journalists draw the line? by John Bowen. By examining The Huffington Post’s announcement it would only report Donald Trump’s bid for the Republican nomination for president on the entertainment pages, students can further explore ethical issues pertaining to the decision while again examining the role of media.
• Should there be limits to taking a stance in front page design? by John Bowen. This lesson examines the ethical and philosophical issues as to whether it is OK for a student newspaper to Rainbow Filter its Twitter profile picture or show any unlabeled viewpoint.
• Censorship and broadcast video by Chris Waugaman. This lesson would be intended to be a lesson used with producers in a broadcasting class or even anonline editors who often use video and stream events. Students will learn terms that familiarize them with censorship in video and radio. Students will also learn how to make critical decisions regarding their press rights by applying the case outcomes they learn in this lesson.
To see past years’ lessons, go here.
Please send any feedback to keekley@gmail.com. I’d love to hear from you!
Lori Keekley
For JEA’s Scholastic Press Rights Committee and the Constitution Day Committee
Constitution Day Committee
John Bowen, MJE, Kent State University (OH)
Lori Keekley, MJE, St. Louis Park High School (MN)
Jeff Kocur, CJE, Hopkins High School (MN)
Chris Waugaman, Prince George High School (VA)
Content list
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Join us Aug. 31 to learn more about Constitution Day
Need Constitution Day celebration ideas? Join us Aug. 31 at 7 CDT as we highlight several ways to celebrate.
Here’s where it will take place: http://bit.ly/1fX9OHd
Members of JEA’s Scholastic Press Rights Committee will lead the session. So far, we have Lori Keekley, Jeff Kocur, Chris Waugaman and John Bowen.
That’s 7 p.m. CDT, Aug. 31, at http://bit.ly/1fX9OHd.
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