An Introduction to the First Amendment

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...

In an online engaging and animated game, pupils role play as lawyers charged with protecting rights found in amendments to the United States Constitution. As they choose appropriate amendments to match the right that has been violated,...

How does the Bill of Rights, created over 200 years ago, still apply to the lives of American citizens to this day? Here is a fantastic resource that includes several resources on approaching the Bill of Rights with your class. After...

The Bill of Rights is an important part of the US Constitution. Have small groups translate the amendments into modern language and present their versions, as well as the original versions, to the class. In groups, learners also respond...

How did the Emancipation Proclamation lead to the Thirteenth Amendment? Middle schoolers analyze primary source documents including the text of the Emancipation Proclamation, political cartoons, photographs, and prints to understand the...

Consider how America's founding fathers and their experiences contributed to the rights we all enjoy today. A collection of reading, writing, and collaborative exercises prompt high schoolers to think about the ways their current lives...

Does a public school have the right to restrict what t-shirts students wear? Discover what happened when this question was brought to the Supreme Court, and review other major cases in United States history involving judicial review....

As Bob Dylan so famously wrote, "The times they are a-changin'." Through a series of discussions, indepedent class work, and a whole-class simulation young scholars explore how the amendment process allows the US Constitution to change...

Young scholars describe the contents of the First Amendment while telling about an example of speech that is protected by the Constitution and that which is not. They attempt to apply the First Amendment to situations that could occur in...

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...