Website Description:
Make your students’ gameplay more meaningful by using our constitutional rights activity and assessment set designed specifically for Do I Have a Right?. This easy-to-use Extension Pack helps you give context and purpose to the game, as well as reinforce and assess the game concepts. That means deeper learning for students and best practices around game-centered learning for you! Extension Packs require PowerPoint and are designed for use with projectors or interactive whiteboards.

This Extension Pack now includes English language learner (ELL) supports. We've included tips and practice that help make differentiated instruction a breeze. Best of all, new instructional scaffolds now mean this lesson is adaptable for a wide range of learners!

Student Learning Objectives:
Students will be able to...
*Describe the arguments for and against listing people’s rights in the Constitution (Bill of Rights).
*Identify key rights granted by the Bill of Rights and the 13th, 14th, 15th, 19th, and 26th Amendments
*Recall the specific amendment that guarantees a particular right
*Recognize complaints not involving constitutional rights

Game where students run a law firm and help clients solve constitutional rights issues. Includes an extension pack.

This lesson calls for students to take a stand on whether there should be drug testing in schools or not. Students stand along a spectrum – ranging from “test everyone” to “never test anyone” – to represent their position on the issue. As the class discusses and debates, students are encouraged to consider opposite views, and can move along the spectrum to reflect changed opinions. The lesson concludes with a conversation about the possible outcomes of the policies brought up during the session.

In its first constitutional challenge to the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, the U.S. Supreme Court decided to hear a case brought by a Chinese immigrant, not an American citizen.

Yick Wo believed city ordinances had been unfairly applied to him, so he challenged their constitutionality under the equal protection clause, and took his case all the way to the Supreme Court. Initiated by the Chinese in San Francisco, the precedent-setting case expanded the interpretation of the equal protection clause to include both citizens and noncitizens alike. It also established foundational principles of law.

In Yick Wo v. Hopkins, the Court ruled that “an administration of a municipal ordinance . . . violates the Constitution . . . if it makes arbitrary and unjust discriminations founded on differences of race . . . ” “The guarantees of the Fourteenth Amendment extend to “all persons within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States, without regard to differences of race, or color, or of nationality.” ” . . . the equal protection of the laws is a pledge of the protection of equal laws.”

In this lesson, based on the Annenberg Classroom video “Yick Wo and the Equal Protection Clause,” students explore the cause-and-effect relationships between historical events and the development of constitutional principles that protect the rights of all people in America today. The words inscribed on the U.S. Supreme Court building are a reminder of that protection: “Equal Justice Under Law.”

This collection uses primary sources to explore the Equal Rights Amendment. Digital Public Library of America Primary Source Sets are designed to help students develop their critical thinking skills and draw diverse material from libraries, archives, and museums across the United States. Each set includes an overview, ten to fifteen primary sources, links to related resources, and a teaching guide. These sets were created and reviewed by the teachers on the DPLA's Education Advisory Committee.

Website Description:
In this federalism lesson plan, students learn where the federal government gets its power and that government power in the United States is split between states and the federal government. They learn about express and implied powers, distinguish between federal powers and those reserved to the states (as well as shared powers), and contrast the federalist system of government with other choices the Founders might have made. We suggest teaching our lesson "State Power: Got a Reservation? back-to-back with this lesson.

Student Learning objectives
Students will be able to...
*Define federalism and explain the division of power between states and the federal government.
*Identify expressed, implied, reserved, and concurrent powers.
*Explain the significance of the Supremacy Clause and the Necessary and Proper Clause.
*Describe the ongoing tension between federal and state power.
*Compare and contrast federal, confederal, and unitary forms of government.
*Identify the strengths and weaknesses of federalism.

Website Description:
It’s easy to forget how much drama surrounded the Constitution before it became the law of the land. The ratification debate between the Federalists and Anti-Federalists gives us insight into the ideas behind both sides and a better understanding of how our government developed in its early years. Students will analyze parts of Federalist 84 and Anti-Federalist 46. We also provide a template so you can bring in additional excerpts as your state standards require.

Student Learning Objectives:
Students will be able to:
*Identify the arguments used by the Federalists and Anti-Federalists during the ratification debate
*Analyze excerpts from the Federalist Papers (#84) and Anti-Federalist Papers (#46)
*Describe the importance of the Bill of Rights in the ratification debate

This collection uses primary sources to explore the Fifteenth Amendment. Digital Public Library of America Primary Source Sets are designed to help students develop their critical thinking skills and draw diverse material from libraries, archives, and museums across the United States. Each set includes an overview, ten to fifteen primary sources, links to related resources, and a teaching guide. These sets were created and reviewed by the teachers on the DPLA's Education Advisory Committee.

Students will examine the purpose, forms, and limitations on government. They will learn about key philosophers like John Locke and explore practical examples of government functions. Students will complete this unit with an understanding of different forms of government, key influences on American democratic principles, and distinguishing features of governments around the world.

This lesson builds student understanding of the relationships between the United States’ founding documents by comparing and contrasting the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. Using a close reading guide, students will explore the key concepts in Jeffrey Rosen and David Rubenstein’s “Constituting Liberty: From the Declaration to the Bill of Rights,” accessible on the Interactive Constitution at constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution.

Your students can more fully explore the U.S. Constitution’s history and what it means today with the new Interactive Constitution, where scholars of different perspectives discuss what they agree upon, and what they disagree about. These experts were selected with the guidance of leaders of two prominent constitutional law organizations—The American Constitution Society and The Federalist Society. This project is sponsored by a generous grant from the John Templeton Foundation.

Please note that the link in the lesson plan for “Constituting Liberty: From the Declaration to the Bill of Rights” is rather difficult to locate, but is available here: https://constitutioncenter.org/media/files/13_Exhibition_Pamphlet.pdf.

This video segment from The Supreme Court introduces viewers to the 14th amendment.

As part of the Bill of Rights, freedom of speech is guaranteed by the Constitution, but it is not defined by it. That task is left up to the people through a representative government that makes the laws and a judicial system that interprets and applies the laws to resolve disputes. When people bring their First Amendment challenges into the court system and decisions are made, principles get established that help define the boundaries of free speech for everyone.

While most Americans believe there should be some limits to free expression, there is much disagreement about what constitutes speech and where those limits should be. Consequently, freedom of speech ends up being our most contested right.

In this lesson, based on the Annenberg Classroom video “A Conversation on the Constitution: Freedom of Speech,” students gain insight into the many challenges involved in defining and protecting free speech. They also learn about principles that come from Supreme Court decisions and case law that are applied to define the limits for us today.

This 12-minute video is useful for any lesson that introduces students to the Watergate scandal, and any lesson focused on the constitutional and political challenges that complicate the regulation of campaign contributions. After clarifying the connection between the Watergate break-in and subsequent campaign finance scandal, the video documents how campaign finance regulations created in the wake of Watergate would eventually be manipulated by donors seeking to convert money into political influence. The video helps students make the connection between the history of Watergate and current controversies surrounding campaign finance, and to see how, after decades of attempted reforms, the United States is once again experiencing the same unregulated flow of campaign cash that helped give rise to the issues in the 1970s.

The process of redistricting, or redrawing congressional and state legislative boundaries, often becomes politicized. Drawing district lines to create partisan advantages and disadvantages is a tactic known as gerrymandering. Examine interactive resources to explore how changing district lines can affect the balance of partisan power, and evaluate criteria for drawing district lines.

One of our oldest human rights, habeas corpus safeguards individual freedom by preventing unlawful or arbitrary imprisonment. This documentary examines habeas corpus and the separation of powers in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks as the Supreme Court tried to strike a balance between the president’s duty to protect the nation and the constitutional protection of civil liberties in four major Guantanamo Bay cases: Hamdi v. Rumsfeld, Rasul v. Bush, Hamdan v. Rumsfeld and Boumediene v. Bush.
Closed captions available in English and Spanish.

This series of lessons introduces students to the expectations of members of different groups. In the first lesson, students explore what it means to be members of their closest groups like the family, classroom, and a team. Towards, the end of the lesson students move on to discussions about more abstract groups such as a neighborhood or a town. In the second lesson, students learn the difference between the rights and responsibilities of US citizens outlined in the US Constitution. Finally, the accumulating activity asks classrooms to stage a mock election where students are asked to choose a fun class activity. Students are asked to use their knowledge of rights and responsibilities to make a choice that serves the common good of the class.

STUDENTS INVESTIGATING PRIMARY SOURCES Forward to the Future: The Declaration of Independence in Our Lives Celebrate Freedom Week Series: Part IV How are the ideas from the Declaration of Independence connected to our government today? A Short Gallery Walk Activity for High School and Middle School.

Students will engage in a primary source analysis of the Bill of Rights, The US Constitution, and the Declaration of Independence and analyze the documents to see connections between documents and how these documents connect to their lives today.

Students will inductively discover the First Amendment by reading and analyzing newspapers. They will discuss various circumstances involving the First Amendment, and so understand that in certain instances – libel, publication of national secrets, etc. – there is a limit to the freedoms expressed in the First Amendment.

The goal of the jury selection process in both civil and criminal proceedings is to seat an impartial jury. Longstanding processes and procedures are followed to ensure that a trial is fair for the two opposing parties. The Supreme Court decision in Edmonson v. Leesville Concrete Co. (1991), however, wasn’t about a violation related to either party’s constitutional rights; it was about the rights of prospective jurors. Constitutional protections apply to the rights of all private individuals in a courtroom, including prospective jurors.

Before Edmonson, the law only prevented race-based peremptory challenges in criminal trials. With Edmonson, the Court extended the prohibition to civil trials. “Racial discrimination,” Justice Anthony M. Kennedy wrote in the opinion of the Court, “has no place in the courtroom, whether the proceeding is civil or criminal.” It threatens the fairness and impartiality of the proceedings and violates equal protection principles.

In this lesson, students analyze the interplay of processes and procedures that courts use to seat an impartial jury and gain appreciation for the essential role of juries in the justice system. They also explore the responsibilities and limits placed on government by the Constitution in the context of civil and criminal trials.

After wearing black armbands to school in protest of the Vietnam War, three students -- two of them siblings -- were suspended by the Des Moines Independent Community School District for disrupting learning. The parents of the children sued the school for violating the children's right to free speech. The landmark Supreme Court Case Tinker v. Des Moines determined it was a First Amendment violation for public schools to punish students for expressing themselves in certain circumstances. This lesson uses expert analysis, perspectives from the Tinkers, oral arguments, and archival video to explore the case and the legacy of the ruling.