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Making Civics Real: A Workshop for Teachers

Professional Development > Making Civics Real: A Workshop for Teachers > 4. Constitutional Convention > 4.1 Constitutional Convention Workshop Session

Social Studies & History

9-12

Constitutional Convention Workshop Session

View Transcript

Making Civics Real, Constitutional Convention — Transcript

Key Constructivist Methodology:

  • Simulation

Teacher: Matt Johnson

School: Benjamin Banneker Senior High School, Washington, D.C.

Grade Level: 12th Grade

Course: AP Comparative Government

Lesson Objectives:

  • to review the political and constitutional organization of five countries that were previously studied and apply what was learned to a new situation.

 

The Lesson
This program concentrates on Matt Johnson’s use of a simulation in which students create a constitution for the hypothetical country of Permistan. The lesson—which Mr. Johnson uses to help students review prior to taking their final exam and the AP exam—was videotaped over a three-day period near the end of the semester. Students work in cooperative learning groups to discuss and debate issues relating to the executive and legislative branches of Permistan and then come together as a whole class to participate in a constitutional convention.

Support Materials
The support materials found under Sections will lead you through the viewing of the workshop video and the related activities and discussions for “Constitutional Convention.” These materials can be used by individuals and by facilitators of workshop sessions.

The support materials identify key concepts, provide discussion ideas for each video segment, and recommend follow-up activities for after the workshop session.

Additional Materials
The following materials—Lesson Plan, Teacher Perspectives, Student Perspectives, Essential Readings and Other Lessons—provide background and context for the lesson seen in the workshop video. They also supply the tools you need to adapt this lesson and its teaching strategies for your classroom.

Lesson Plan

Information on Matt Johnson’s method of teaching the lesson on the constitutional convention, the national standards this lesson addresses, additional resources, and his teaching materials, including:

Assessment

  • Constitutional Convention Rubric

Lesson Materials

  • Basic Data Sheet: Permistan
  • Executive Branch Worksheet
  • Legislative Branch Worksheet
  • Judiciary Branch Worksheet

 

See Lesson Plan

Teacher Perspectives

Matt Johnson’s reflections on the following topics:

  • Using simulations
  • Combining methodologies
  • Constructivism and civics
  • Creating groups
  • Guiding the process
  • Debate rules
  • Gauging success
  • Teaching challenges
  • Lessons learned
  • Advice to other teachers
  • His background

 

See Teacher Perspectives

Student Perspectives

Matt Johnson’s 12th-grade students’ reflections on the following topics:

  • Group work
  • The issues
  • Matt Johnson’s teaching methods
  • Constructivist learning
  • Civics education

 

See Student Perspectives

Essential Readings

Honoring the Learning Process
By Jacqueline Grennon Brooks and Martin G. Brooks

In this chapter from In Search of Understanding: The Case for Constructivist Classrooms by Jacqueline Grennon Brooks and Martin G. Brooks (Alexandria, Virginia: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 1999), the Grennons introduce one of the most basic ideas about constructivist teaching—how children learn. Jacqueline Books is Associate Professor in the Center for Science, Mathematics, and Technology Education at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Martin G. Brooks is Superintendent of the Valley Stream Central High School District in Valley Stream, New York.

 

See Essential Readings

Other Lessons

Student Exercise in Democracy
Excerpted from Constitution Translated for Kids by Cathy Travis. Dayton, Ohio: Oakwood Publishing, 2001. Pages 69-72, 75-77.

In this article, Cathy Travis, a long-term Congressional staff person for Congressman Solomon Ortiz (D-Tex.), presents a lesson on how to amend the U.S. Constitution and engages students in consideration of the pros and cons of potential new amendments. She focuses particularly on current topics and those of particular interest to students, e.g., the voting age, smoking, campaign finance. The lesson is written in a manner that can be shared directly with students.

 

See Other Lessons

Series Directory

Making Civics Real: A Workshop for Teachers

Credits

Produced by State of the Art, Inc., in collaboration with the National Council for the Social Studies and the Center for Civic Education. 2003.

Sections

4.1 Constitutional Convention Workshop Session

4.2 Constitutional Convention — Lesson Plan

4.3 Constitutional Convention — Teacher Perspectives

4.4 Constitutional Convention — Student Perspectives

4.5 Constitutional Convention — Essential Readings

4.6 Constitutional Convention — Other Lessons

Support Materials: Workshop 4: Constitutional Convention

Supplemental material for educators

Assessment: Constitutional Convention Rubric

Supplemental material for educators and students

Lesson Materials: Basic Data Sheet: PERMISTAN

Supplemental material for educators and students

Lesson Materials: Executive Branch Worksheet

Supplemental material for educators and students

Lesson Materials: Legislative Branch Worksheet

Supplemental material for educators and students

Lesson Materials: Judiciary Branch Worksheet

Supplemental material for educators and students

Workshops

Workshop 1 Freedom of Religion

Ninth-grade civics teacher Kristen Borges involves her students at Southwest High School in Minnesota in a simulation of a U.S. Supreme Court hearing on a First Amendment case. Students assume the roles of Supreme Court justices, attorneys for the school district, and attorneys for the families. They first work in groups to prepare for the hearing, then participate in the hearing, and finally, debrief their experiences and write short papers stating their positions on the case. The methodologies highlighted in this lesson include questioning strategies and mock trials.

Workshop 2 Electoral Politics

This program shows the conclusion of a 12-week civic engagement unit developed by the national Student Voices program. José Velazquez's 12th-grade students at University High School in New Jersey divide into small groups to brainstorm and research community issues, prioritize the issues on the basis of what they have learned, present their findings to the class both orally and through a visual presentation, and develop a whole-class consensus on a youth agenda that they present to the mayoral candidates in a televised question-and-answer forum. The methodologies highlighted in this lesson include issue identification and consensus building.

Workshop 3 Public Policy and the Federal Budget

Leslie Martin's ninth-graders at West Forsyth High School in North Carolina create, present, revise, and defend a federal budget, and then reflect on what they have learned. After assuming the roles of the President and his or her advisors to create a federal budget, students are introduced to the actual 2001 federal budget, and in a whole-class discussion, discuss some key concepts involved in creating it. Next, students return to cooperative learning groups, revise their budgets based on what they learned, present their revised budgets, and simulate a Congressional hearing. This lesson highlights the integration of teacher-directed instruction with small-group work.

Workshop 4 Constitutional Convention

Matt Johnson teaches an AP Comparative Government class to seniors at Benjamin Banneker Senior High School in Washington, DC. In this lesson, his 12th-grade students create a constitution for a hypothetical country called Permistan. Matt Johnson uses this lesson to help students review for their final exam and the AP exam by having them draw on what they have learned during the semester about international governments. Students work in cooperative learning groups to discuss and debate issues relating to the executive and legislative branches of government. The lesson closes with a simulation of a constitutional convention. Simulation is the primary methodology highlighted in this lesson.

Workshop 5 Patriotism and Foreign Policy

The students in this program are seniors at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts, a public magnet school in Washington, DC. In this lesson, U.S. government teacher Alice Chandler has her students create a Museum of Patriotism and Foreign Policy. The lesson alternates between whole-class discussion and small-group committee work as students create a gallery for the museum using their respective arts concentration as the medium. The lesson concludes with students presenting their gallery contributions in dance, music, theatrical performances, and visual presentations, along with rationales for their selections. This lesson highlights small-group work as a constructivist methodology.

Workshop 6 Civic Engagement

This program shows a group of 11th- and 12th-grade students at Anoka High School in Minnesota engaging in service learning — a requirement for graduation. In this human geography class taught by Bill Mittlefehldt, students work in teams to define a project, choose and meet with a community partner who can help educate them about the issue and its current status, conduct further research, and present the problem and a proposed solution first to their peers, and then to a special session of the Anoka City Council. The primary methodology presented in this lesson is service learning.

Workshop 7 Controversial Public Policy Issues

In this 12th-grade law class at Champlin Park High School in Minnesota, JoEllen Ambrose engages students in a structured discussion of a highly controversial issue — racial profiling — and connects student learning both to their study of due process in constitutional law and police procedure in criminal law. Students begin by completing an opinion poll, which they discuss as a group. Students are then put into pairs in which they conduct research on the topic. Next, students participate in a debate in which each partnership argues both sides of the issue. A debriefing discussion completes the lesson. The methodologies highlighted in this lesson include role playing and structured academic controversy.

Workshop 8 Rights and Responsibilities of Students

Students in Matt Johnson's 12th-grade law course at Benjamin Banneker Senior High School in Washington, DC, engage in a culminating activity to help them review and apply what they have learned. Students write and distribute one-page briefs of Supreme Court cases they have studied. Next, students are assigned to small groups and given hypothetical cases related to student rights cases from the Supreme Court's 2001-2002 term. Students prepare their cases and present them to the Justices. Justices deliberate and present majority and dissenting opinions, after which the class discusses both the process and the disposition of the cases. This lesson highlights the use of case studies for synthesis and analysis.

Supporting Materials Introduction: Making Civics Real

Supplemental material for educators/facilitators

Supporting Materials Appendix

Supplemental material for educators

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