Making Civics Real: A Workshop for Teachers

Professional Development > Making Civics Real: A Workshop for Teachers > 1. Freedom of Religion

Social Studies & History

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.

View Transcript

Making Civics Real, Freedom of Religion — Transcript

Test Your Knowledge (Before Watching)

Freedom of Religion — Quiz

Take this quiz to test your knowledge about the topics discussed in this workshop:

If a student leads a prayer over the P.A. system before a football game between two public high schools which is approved by the school administration, the Supreme Court of the United States would probably:

rule that it was allowed as long as the prayer did not favor a specific religion
rule that it violates the first amendment of the constitution
apply the “Lemon” test to determine the constitutionality of the action
Freedom of religion in the United States constitution has two distinct parts. One of them is called the “establishment clause” and prohibits the government from establishing a state religion that all must belong to or abide by. The other part:

guarantees the separation of church and state
prohibits prayer in the public schools
allows the recognition of national holidays such as Christmas
ensures that all people will be able to practice their religion
Which of the following activities has the court upheld as constitutional:

a prayer delivered by a rabbi at a public middle school graduation ceremony
a moment of silence at the beginning of the school day for the purpose of encouraging silent student prayer
a student bible study club that meets on school grounds after school classes have been completed

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.

Closed Captioning
ISBN: 1-57680-679-0

Sections

1.1 Freedom of Religion — Workshop Session

1.2 Freedom of Religion — Lesson Plan

1.3 Freedom of Religion — Teacher Perspectives

1.4 Freedom of Religion — Student Perspectives

1.5 Freedom of Religion — Essential Readings

1.6 Freedom of Religion — Other Lessons

Supporting Material: Workshop 1: Freedom of Religion

Supplemental document for educators

Assessment: Assessment Rubrics

Supplemental document for educators and students

Lesson Materials: Student Instructions

Supplemental document for educators

Lesson Materials: Santa Fe Independent School District v. Doe

Supplemental document for educators and students

Lesson Materials: Lemon v. Kurtzman

Supplemental document for educators and students

Lesson Materials: Tinker v. Desmoines

Supplemental document for educators and students

Lesson Materials: Background Information Packet

Supplemental document 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

Join us for conversations that inspire, recognize, and encourage innovation and best practices in the education profession.

Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and more.

2000 Avenue of the Stars, Suite 1000S, Los Angeles, CA 90067

2024 Annenberg Foundation. All rights Reserved.

Privacy Policy.