GRADE LEVEL: 12
SUBJECT: U.S. Government
INTENDED UNIT: Civil Liberties and Civil Rights (Unit 3 for AP U.S./U.S. Government Curriculum, interchangeable for Ethnic Studies)
LESSON SEQUENCE/INTENTION: This lesson is intended to be the second of a 3 part mini-unit, incorporating the continuity of Unit 3 in AP Government/US Government Curriculum.
ESSENTIAL QUESTION: How do race, ethnicity, nationality, and culture (among others) shape our personal identity?
CENTRAL QUESTIONS/BIG IDEAS:
How does the socialization of humans impact civil rights and liberties?
How does maintaining the Freedom of Speech fundamentally shape an individual’s identity and understanding of self?
LESSON PACING:
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday/Thursday
Friday
CONTENT OBJECTIVE:
Knowledge:
The First Amendment---Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
14th Amendment Equal Protection Clause: “nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
Skills:
RH Key Ideas and Details
secondary source; provide an accurate summary that make clear the relationships among the key details and ideas
RH Integration of Knowledge and Ideas
Evaluate an author’s premises, claims, and evidence by corroborating or challenging them with other information.
Integrate Information from diverse sources, both primary and
secondary, into a coherent understanding of an idea or event, noting discrepancies among sources.
Habits:
Understanding Identity and Representation/Visibility
Systematic Critique and a challenge to systems of oppression
Asian American as a political identity
GRADE LEVEL/SUBJECT AREA STANDARDS:
12.2.1 Discuss the meaning and importance of each of the rights guaranteed under the Bill of Rights and how each is secured (e.g., freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly, petition, privacy).
12.5.1 1. Understand the changing interpretations of the Bill of Rights over time, including interpretations of the basic freedoms (religion, speech, press, petition, and assembly) articulated in the First Amendment and the due process and equal-protection-of-the-law clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment.
CA ELD STANDARDS:
RH Key Ideas and Details
secondary source; provide an accurate summary that make clear the relationships among the key details and ideas
RH Integration of Knowledge and Ideas
Evaluate an author’s premises, claims, and evidence by corroborating or challenging them with other information.
Integrate Information from diverse sources, both primary and
secondary, into a coherent understanding of an idea or event, noting discrepancies among sources.
IEP/504 ACCOMMODATIONS:
All lesson plans will be accommodated with a transcript (for video clips), student facing worksheets, and visual slides ready to be shared and accessed.
Feel free to accommodate extra time for any formative assignments and provide scaffolds as needed for differing age groups/needs.
INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS
Slides (link)
“The American Dream” song by sundial Video (link)
Student Facing Worksheet (link)
Tom Izu Interview 1 Oral History (12:38 >> 17:54)
Collective Table Example (link)
LESSON IMPLEMENTATION SEQUENCE: Total Lesson Time: 55 minutes
Step 1: Do Now
Duration: 5 minutes
Purpose: To reacquaint students to high priority aspects of the foundational documents of U.S. Government Curriculum
Implementation:
Check-in with students on the 14th Amendment, notably which aspects of the 14th amendment were key points and how the interview responses shifted how the 14th Amendment was honored in U.S. society.
Resources/Materials: Slides 1-3
Assessment: Class discussion
Step 2: Guided Instruction
Duration: 10 Minutes
Purpose: To bring in aural learning modalities into the lesson by introducing students to the nuance of speech and expression in this country. Music incorporation allows for students to listen to the words on repeat if necessary for added internalization of learning.
Implementation:
Play the song “The American Dream” by Sundial. Ask them to really think about the importance of language from the song lyrics. How might language impact cultural development? What might that imply about the nuance of freedom of speech and expression?
Play it twice for students and have them annotate (feel free to use your own annotation tools or the ones provided in the student facing worksheet) the lyrics. Based on the culture of your classroom, feel free to guide them in thinking about how these lyrics might hold personal relevance to their identity and experiences.
Some other extension questions in this discussion can include which themes emerge from these lyrics. Some relevant thought lines to push student thinking would include:
Civil Rights/Liberties and why Civic engagement is crucial in society
How laws deeply and personally impact people; Humanizing government policies and the people they impact
How the suppression of speech is a lot more nuanced than it seems---if a country’s actions towards a people group impact their willingness to voice their opinions, are they culpable for speech suppression? Good examples are internment or slavery
Resources/Materials:
Slides 4-6
The American Dream by Sundial
Student Facing Worksheet
Assessment: Annotation
Step 3: Interview Video Analysis
Duration: 15 minutes
Purpose: The goal of this mini-unit is to humanize the experiences of Civil Liberties/rights in regards to identity formation.As such, the video is meant to provide a human perspective towards the limitations of “freedom of expression” and whether this statement needs to be further clarified in the court of law
Imlementation:
As a class, ask students to look into a primary source video excerpt of another interviewee recounting his experience talking about his relationship with his grandfather.
Some analysis questions for students to consider would be:
What did the interviewer say was the reason behind why his grandfather refused to talk to him?
From this video, how is language shown to intimately be tied to culture?
Resources/Materials:
Slide 7
Tom Izu Oral History
Student Facing Workshee
Assessment: Interview Analysis
Step 4: Independent Activity
Duration: 20 minutes
Purpose: This will be meant to prepare students for their major formative FRQ in the next lesson of their 3 part mini-unit. This 20 minute block will be dedicated to in-depth source analysis from the past two lessons, along with preparation for a mock Free Response Essay in the next lesson (aligned with FRQ 4 of the AP Gov Exam)
Implementation:
Students will be asked to work in groups of 3-4 on creating a collective table on paper of the 3 main Civil Liberties from the 14th Amendment (life, liberty, and property).
Under each of these sections, students will be asked to identify a piece from a source from the past 2 lessons that connects with those themes.
For You: Collective Table Example (link). This table can be done on paper for more kinesthetic learning and student group involvement.
Students may have difficulty immediately grasping these abstract concepts, so a whole class debrief where groups are cold-called can be helpful in providing adequate evidence for all students. This can also reiterate the learning for students still trying to pick up these pieces of evidence.
Feel free to monitor the classroom and support student groups as needed. For IEP and 504 accommodations, feel free to pair them with stronger learners or take more time facilitating/warm-calling those individuals.
Resources/Materials:
Slides 8-9
Student Facing Worksheet
Collective Table Example
Assessment: Source Analysis Tabling Activity
LESSON SEQUENCE/INTENTION: This lesson is intended to be the 2nd of a 3 part mini-unit, incorporating the continuity of Unit 3 in AP Government/US Government Curriculum. It will be diving into the 1st Amendment Freedoms, along with the 14th Amendment Equal Protection Clause, both crucial concepts for the foundation of this unit.