The First Amendment: What's fair in a free country?
http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=339
A lesson plan for grade 5 Social Studies
Balancing rights and responsibilities is difficult, even for the Supreme Court. This lesson demonstrates to students that freedom of speech is an ongoing process.
After completing the lessons in this unit from the National Endowment for the Humanities and other partners, students will be able to:
- summarize the contents of the First Amendment
- give an example of speech that is protected by the Constitution and speech that is not protected by the Constitution
Through a series of six activities, students will use the First Amendment to consider their language on the playground and to work out some ground rules to improve the atmosphere during recess.
- Lesson 1: “Names Can Hurt Me.” Read with the students a book or story which revolves around the concept of free speech.
- Lesson 2: “Banning Speech on the Playground?” Students write down their suggestions for ground rules about speech on the playground and consider questions such as “it more important to have the freedom to say whatever you want or to protect others by being careful about what you say?”
- Lesson 3: “But Speech Is Protected.” In this lesson, the teacher will read the First Amendment to the Constitution aloud to the class and help students understand what it is saying about freedom of speech.
- Lesson 4: “Can You Say That?” Students will evaluate a First Amendment case that reached the Suprement Court. It’s the job of the students to figure out what arguments may have been used on both sides of this case. Then students will be asked to take a stand and to reveal what they think the Supreme Court decided. After everyone has taken a stand, the teacher will reveal the actual outcome of the case.
- Lesson 5: “Can You Not Say That?” In this lesson the class will consider two related cases, the Gobitis case and the Barnette case, each involving a compulsory flag salute in school. The decision in the Barnette case superceded the Gobitis decision. In the end, the Supreme Court limited the power of the school and supported a student’s right to refuse.
- Lesson 6: “Back on the Playground Again.” Culminate the unit by returning to the opening discussion. Would the class proceed now with banning certain speech on the playground, or are there alternative solutions?
North Carolina Curriculum Alignment
Social Studies (2003)
Grade 5
- Goal 2: The learner will analyze political and social institutions in North America and examine how these institutions respond to human needs, structure society, and influence behavior.
- Objective 2.01: Analyze major documents that formed the foundations of the American idea of constitutional government.
