Constitutional Thinking
Objectives:
SOL:
Theater Grade K-4 Standard :
*Students collaborate to select interrelated characters, environments, and situations for classroom dramatizations
*Students improvise dialogue to tell stories and formalize improvisations by writing or recording the dialogue
Materials:
Procedures for Learning Activity: (about 45 minutes)
Introduction- (about 5 minutes)
1. The teacher will start the day by introducing the constitution. The teacher will ask the students if anybody has ever heard of the word constitution before? If students respond, the teacher will write on the smart board their answers. If none of the students answer, the teacher will define the term for them, stating that "a constitution is a document that sets up laws (rules) for the people and government".
Instructional Learning Activity- (about 35 minutes)
2. The teacher will explain to the students that "Like the founding fathers of our country, George Washington being one of many, we are going to try to make our own class constitution. The first part will be for you all to have some think time of what you think some class laws should be. I will give you a paper so that you can brainstorm some of your constitutional laws on it. After about 5 minutes, I will stop you all and ask for some volunteers to share some of their ideas on what some of our classroom laws should be."
3. The teacher will allow the students to work for 5 minutes and then ask the class to come to whole group. The teacher will explain to the students that like the founding fathers when they were trying to write our constitution, they will have to work together and agree on what is going to be put into our class constitution. The teacher will explain that she will not be involve in leading the discussion, but they will. In order to help find out who will be the president of the class constitutional convention (George Washington's role in the real one), the teacher will draw one of the students names randomly. That students job will be to call on who will be speaking or sharing their ideas one at a time. The teacher will also draw two more names to have two students take notes during the class constitutional convention (James Madison's role in the real one). The teacher will explain that these people are to take notes on what the class agrees on and disagrees on. This person's job is to make sure their notes are very detailed, mentioning who's idea is mentioned and what the idea is.
4. After these students know what their jobs are, the teacher will direct the attention to the president of the class constitutional convention and allow him/her to start by asking the students to share their ideas. The teacher will be sitting in the back of the room, taking anecdotal notes on how the students conduct the convention. These notes will be used later when discussing the content of how what the students did compared and connected to what the founding fathers did.
Summary- (about 5 minutes)
1. After the students conduct the classroom constitutional convention, the teacher will wrap up the lesson by discussing and asking the students which constructional laws were agreed on, did everybody agree with all the rules, why or why not? What was hard about this activity? Why were they hard? Do you think the founding fathers agreed on the ideas in the Constitution right away and one hundred percent?
2. The teacher will then take the ideas the students came up with and type them up. The students will be asked to sign the constitution in a later lesson (after talking about George Mason).
Assessment: The teacher be assessing students ability to understand a constitution and the process of making a constitution. The teacher will be assessing the students understanding of what a constitution is by reading students ideas of a possible classroom "laws" and through anecdotal notes of the classroom discussion led by the students. The teacher will assessing the students ability to conduct discussions with each other on the content and whether or not the students were able to understand the process of coming up and agreeing with each other ideas. The teacher will also be assessing students ability to understand and connect what they did to the ideas of the constitution the founding fathers made.
Differentiation: The lesson is made for many types of learners. Students who kinestectic will benefit from having to act out a convention on classroom rules or "laws". Students who are auditory learners will benefit from the opportunity to listen to the other students discussion. The intrapersonal learner will benefit from the independent writing activity in the beginning of the lesson.
SOL:
- VS 6 -The student will demonstrate knowledge of the role of Virginia in the establishment of the new American nation.
- English SOL - 4.1 The student will use effective oral communication skills in a variety of settings.
b) Contribute to group discussions across content areas.
c) Seek ideas and opinions of others.
Theater Grade K-4 Standard :
*Students collaborate to select interrelated characters, environments, and situations for classroom dramatizations
*Students improvise dialogue to tell stories and formalize improvisations by writing or recording the dialogue
- The students will be able to discuss and define what a constitution means and the process of making one.
Materials:
- Constitution chart paper to make the class constitution
- "Constitution" paper for individual students
- Popsicle sticks (to pick students names)
Procedures for Learning Activity: (about 45 minutes)
Introduction- (about 5 minutes)
1. The teacher will start the day by introducing the constitution. The teacher will ask the students if anybody has ever heard of the word constitution before? If students respond, the teacher will write on the smart board their answers. If none of the students answer, the teacher will define the term for them, stating that "a constitution is a document that sets up laws (rules) for the people and government".
Instructional Learning Activity- (about 35 minutes)
2. The teacher will explain to the students that "Like the founding fathers of our country, George Washington being one of many, we are going to try to make our own class constitution. The first part will be for you all to have some think time of what you think some class laws should be. I will give you a paper so that you can brainstorm some of your constitutional laws on it. After about 5 minutes, I will stop you all and ask for some volunteers to share some of their ideas on what some of our classroom laws should be."
3. The teacher will allow the students to work for 5 minutes and then ask the class to come to whole group. The teacher will explain to the students that like the founding fathers when they were trying to write our constitution, they will have to work together and agree on what is going to be put into our class constitution. The teacher will explain that she will not be involve in leading the discussion, but they will. In order to help find out who will be the president of the class constitutional convention (George Washington's role in the real one), the teacher will draw one of the students names randomly. That students job will be to call on who will be speaking or sharing their ideas one at a time. The teacher will also draw two more names to have two students take notes during the class constitutional convention (James Madison's role in the real one). The teacher will explain that these people are to take notes on what the class agrees on and disagrees on. This person's job is to make sure their notes are very detailed, mentioning who's idea is mentioned and what the idea is.
4. After these students know what their jobs are, the teacher will direct the attention to the president of the class constitutional convention and allow him/her to start by asking the students to share their ideas. The teacher will be sitting in the back of the room, taking anecdotal notes on how the students conduct the convention. These notes will be used later when discussing the content of how what the students did compared and connected to what the founding fathers did.
Summary- (about 5 minutes)
1. After the students conduct the classroom constitutional convention, the teacher will wrap up the lesson by discussing and asking the students which constructional laws were agreed on, did everybody agree with all the rules, why or why not? What was hard about this activity? Why were they hard? Do you think the founding fathers agreed on the ideas in the Constitution right away and one hundred percent?
2. The teacher will then take the ideas the students came up with and type them up. The students will be asked to sign the constitution in a later lesson (after talking about George Mason).
Assessment: The teacher be assessing students ability to understand a constitution and the process of making a constitution. The teacher will be assessing the students understanding of what a constitution is by reading students ideas of a possible classroom "laws" and through anecdotal notes of the classroom discussion led by the students. The teacher will assessing the students ability to conduct discussions with each other on the content and whether or not the students were able to understand the process of coming up and agreeing with each other ideas. The teacher will also be assessing students ability to understand and connect what they did to the ideas of the constitution the founding fathers made.
Differentiation: The lesson is made for many types of learners. Students who kinestectic will benefit from having to act out a convention on classroom rules or "laws". Students who are auditory learners will benefit from the opportunity to listen to the other students discussion. The intrapersonal learner will benefit from the independent writing activity in the beginning of the lesson.