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Lesson Plan: Teaching
the Lesson: Overview, Goals, and Planning
Overview
In this lesson, students in Matt Johnson’s 12th-grade, two-semester,
honors-level constitutional law course at Benjamin Banneker Senior High
School in Washington, D.C., engage in a culminating activity that helps
them review what they have learned over the year and gives them an opportunity
to apply the concepts to new circumstances. To begin the lesson, each
student takes responsibility for writing and distributing a one-page brief
of a Supreme Court case that they have previously studied, and for presenting
a summary of the case to the class. All cases involve the constitutional
rights of students. Next, students are assigned to groups of three and
given a hypothetical case. The hypothetical cases, developed by Matt Johnson,
relate loosely to student rights cases that were to be decided by the
Supreme Court during its 2001-2002 term. Each team represents either the
petitioner or the respondent, or is part of the Supreme Court. Students
prepare their cases by examining precedents and determining which arguments
are most likely to prevail. After a period of preparation, the lawyers
present their cases to the Justices, who then retire to deliberate. Justices
then present their majority and dissenting opinions, after which the class
discusses both the process and the disposition of the case.
Goals
This lesson is a culminating activity for the semester and is designed
to help students review for a final exam. Students will brief Supreme
Court cases that they have studied over the past year, and apply them
to a contemporary situation.
Planning
The students have prepared for this lesson by reading and discussing relevant
cases in their assigned textbook (We the Students: Supreme Court Cases
For and About Students by Jamin B. Raskin, American University Washington
College of Law. Washington, D.C.: CQ Press, 2000). Many have also participated
in a citywide moot court competition and the class as a whole has participated
in other mock trials. For this lesson, each student has been given a Supreme
Court case to brief and will present to the class the basic facts of the
case, including the parties, the issues, and the Court's decision. They
were assisted in this task by the Case
Study Activity Sheet and given responsibility for preparing a one-page
summary and distributing it to the class. All cases concern the constitutional
rights of students.
Overview, Goals, and Planning |
Activity 1
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Activity 2
Activity 3
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Activity 4
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Activity 5
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Activity 6
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Scheduling and Adaptations
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