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Constitution Day First Amendment Activity-Fight for the Right!

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Teacher Contributor:
Make History Fun
Resource Type:
Zip with PDF, PPT
Pages:
21
Teaching Duration:
90 Mins
  • Constitution Day First Amendment Activity-Fight for the Right!
  • Constitution Day First Amendment Activity-Fight for the Right!
$5.00

Description

I use this each year for my activity on Constitution Day. The kids love it because there is a lot of discussion, debating, and it deals with something they can relate to. I love it for the same reason.
 
The lesson begins with me asking them what would happen if we had to choose just one of the freedoms from the Constitution. I hold four rounds of voting where the class determines which of the freedoms (speech, press, assembly, petition, or religion) they want to eliminate.
Between each round I have a timer I set which gives them time to discuss which liberty to eliminate while I walk around the room and listen and question their thinking. Next I have another timer that allows them to write. Throughout the entire lesson they are discussing, writing, then debating. Once we vote I then ask the students to defend their position and provide reasons for the elimination of one of the 5 freedoms. Many times I don't have to say anything except "Does anyone disagree with what was just said?"
 
By the end of the lesson once the students are down to two (my class almost always has speech and religion left) and they have to decide they begin to see how all of these lessons are intertwined and the loss of one impacts another.
 
My students have told me this is one of their favorite lessons of the year and at least one student from each class asks if we can do more stuff like this in class! There are 17 slides and I rarely get through the EXTENSION questions at the end. It could easily be used over a two day period or if you are on 90 minute schedules you could accomplish the whole thing.
 
*This includes a PowerPoint Presentation as well as a link to Make a Copy of the GOOGLE SLIDES presentation I use with my class.
 
This is part of my Constitution Bundle - check it out and save
 
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