Learners read the Knight report and discuss key findings before deciding what aspects of the findings students can replicate in their own school and conduct a survey. They write survey questions and test them on sample group before...

How does a judge in the federal judicial court decide on a verdict? Give your middle and high schoolers a better idea of how final decisions are made in the judicial system. Then split your class into four groups, assigning each group a...

Placing Ben Franklin’s ideas about a free press next to those embodied in the First Amendment sheds light on both. Learners interpret and compare two primary sources and then examine them in the light of a contemporary survey about...

What does "freedom of speech" mean to your class, especially in the context of Internet communications? In round-table discussion format, middle and high schoolers address the issues discussed in "State Legislatures Across U.S. Plan to...

Make a study of the First Amendment and its relationship to freedom. Pupils rewrite the amendment and discuss the central idea before focusing on a specific phrase. After discussing, class members write a journal entry about the included...

Students explore the First Amendment as it has been applied to teens and teen journalists. In this First Amendment lesson, students memorize the First Amendment, complete online research of the topic, and quiz. Students read about...

Students explore current interpretation of the First Amendment, including that of commercial speech. Next read background about Don Imus and his comments about the Rutgers women's basketball team.

After a close reading of the First Amendment and the five freedoms it guarantees, class members examine the civil rights timeline to see how civil rights groups applied these freedoms to create change. Using the issue the class chose in...

Is a Christian prayer before a Friday night football game a nice gesture or the imposition of religion on the rest of the community? A resource asks the question using a clip from the popular movie "Friday Night Lights" and readings...

Look at different case studies to discuss the ethics of journalism. Twelve real-life events are written up and your learners get to be the editors. Encourage your class to think about the implications of publishing decisions. After each...

Learners research three topics: The First Amendment, John Peter Zenger and his trial, and libel. In this journalism and libel lesson, students discuss things authority figures have done they disagree with and the anit-sedition law....

Students identify and discuss First Amendment rights, examine how to make sound legal judgements regarding photographs of private individuals, examine difference between public and private figures as far as libel law is concerned,...

Tackle ethics in your high school history classes with a Socratic seminar about torture as a means for obtaining information. The plan allows for pupils to take the reins during the seminar. On the first day, class members read several...

Students become aware of the basic liberties of speech, press, religion, assembly and petition through study of Supreme Court cases. Student groups analyae some cases heard by the Supreme Court to further their understanding of the First...

High schoolers research the passage of the 19th Amendment as an illustration of the mutual influence between political ideas and cultural attitudes. They also read the Seneca Falls Declaration and explore the cultural shifts it both...

High schoolers synthesize the information they've learned from each chapter of Natalie Babbitt's Tuck Everlasting with a creative summarizing activity. With a graphic organizer for all of the book's chapters, readers title...

Students examine and defend various positions in the argument over a book ban in the Miami-Dade school system and then write a letter to the Miami-Dade school board expressing their opinion about the issues raised in the debate.

Young scholars research online and in books city statutes regarding posting signs on utility poles, interview appropriate officials about ordinances and how completely it is enforced, explore what has happened elsewhere when citizens...

Fair or unfair? To begin a study of the American Revolution, class members review the treatment of the people of the American Colonies by the King of England and decide which were fair and which were unfair. Class members then annotate a...

Learners review their knowledge on the First Amendment. After reading an article, they identify specific church and state issues. Using the Internet, they research President Bush's proposal from a specific point of view. They summarize...

Explore the newspaper as a unique entity with a detailed and extended unit. The unit requires learners to consider the newspaper's role in democracy, think about ethics, practice writing and interviewing, and examine advertising and news...

To Kill a Mockingbird, Hunger Games, Brave New World. Welcome to Banned Books Week. As part of a study of censorship and book banning, class members investigate censorship, the purposes of censorship, and First Amendment rights,...

Whether you are teaching a newspaper unit in language arts, covering the First Amendment and censorship in social studies, or focusing on writing ethics in journalism, a unit based on the foundations of journalism would be an excellent...

Young scholars explore the initial Supreme Court decision to regulate commercial speech, and then analyze the legal precedents and principles underlying a recent case contesting this regulation.