As we've been learning about the U.S. Constitution in my classes, I've been using This is Our Constitution by Khazir Khan as a primary text. The history, contextualization, and interpretation of the U.S. Constitution within it are approachable and digestible; of course it includes the full text of the Constitution and its amendments. Here are some plans to help your students process through the amendments.
RATIONALE: This lesson will have students process through the first 10 amendments in an evaluative way that prompts them to consider the value of each.
GUIDING QUESTION: What rights do the first 10 amendments protect? Which rights do we value most as citizens?
MATERIALS:
- Bill of Rights cut up into strips with one amendment per strip
- Notebooks
- Divide the class into groups of ~four students each and have them read through the preamble of the Bill of Rights together.
- Discuss: What is the purpose of the Bill of Rights? Why was it written and ratified?
LESSON:
- Distribute one set of Bill of Rights slips to each group.
- As a group, students should read through each amendment and discuss in order to reach consensus: Which amendments are most precious? Place those at the top. Which notes seem less vital? Put those at the bottom.
- Rotate among the groups to prompt deeper thinking about rights they've valued or devalued.
- Once they're firm in their organization, have them document their order in their notebook.
DISCUSSION: As a class, can we recognize any patterns in how different groups prioritized their goals?
- Set up a simple grid on the board with however many groups in columns and 10 rows for amendment rankings.
- Ask each group to share their top choice for most valuable and mark their choice in the appropriate column; continue for their second choice and so on.
- Ask students to recognize patterns in which amendments were most valued and ask groups to share out how they came to their decisions.
EXTENSIONS: In my classes, students have independent reading books in U.S. historical fiction and we are connecting amendments to those texts. You might ask students to author a new amendment or look for news articles related to the Bill of Rights.
ENJOY!
