Strategies
Lesson 1: Defining Civil Rights and Civil Liberties
Explanation/Modifications
The first lesson of the unit begins with an anticipatory set that asks students to make a list of 10 rights they have. The teacher will then lead a brainstorming session in which the students state all of the rights that they have put down while the teacher writes those rights on the board in 3 separate columns. The first column will represent those things that are actually rights, the second will be those rights, which are civil liberties, and the third column would be rights that they think they have, but they do not.
The class will then discuss these columns. The teacher will pose the question "why did I put these in columns like this?" Ideally a discussion will ensue, though it will be important to give the students ample time to answer, as they may have to think about it. The ultimate goal of this discussion is to identify the fact that civil rights and civil liberties are different, and that they are indeed terms in need of definition. It will be up to the students to then use their textbooks, or potentially the Internet, to define these terms.
When the students have working definitions in place of these terms the class will return to the board and make new lists of things that definitely fall under each category. This series of activities will prepare the students for their homework assignment, which asks them to create more distinctions between the two by explaining the differences between the two terms.
Lesson 2: Where do our rights originate?
Explanation/ Modifications
The second lesson will focus around the theme of discovering the origins of our modern rights. This will be accomplished through the inquiry process, in hopes of allowing the students to discover for themselves the origins of their rights. The lesson will begin again with brainstorming. For the purposes of this lesson I have chosen the question "Where do your rights come from?" as the topic for brainstorming. I am hoping that with some degree of prodding I can initiate a discussion that deals with multiple levels of rights, and multiple levels of law social history that afford them to us.
The class will brainstorm the origins of these rights before we progress to the inquiry process. The inquiry process functions through the use of guiding questions, which the students then research using specifically selected materials. The goal is to have the students explore the topic, rather than having the teacher give them the information. This process gives the responsibility of learning to the students while ensuring that they produce similar answers within the guidelines set by the teacher.
In practice it is often a good idea to have the class come up with the guiding question so that the students can then take ownership of the question. The question should be broad enough to cover all of the information that the teacher wishes to convey, though specific enough to provide guidance. The guiding question also needs to help the students find what they need to know about a topic. In many cases it is difficult, if not impossible to have a class come up with such a question organically. Therefore teacher guidance is required in this process, though it is required to varying degrees with different classes.
In this particular case the guiding question should be basically similar to "where do our rights come from?" I plan to create a question which will guide the students to the American Constitution and the founding fathers. Eventually the unit uses these two factors as a springboard for discussion of the English Civil War, and so it will be necessary to have the students delve into the materials through use of the questions to arrive at this point.
The question will be designed through class discussion as the students are asked what they need to know about their rights to research where they came from. Therefore the process of creating the guiding question will also bring up, through discussion, a number of questions that will further help the students to narrow their research. For example, the process of coming up with a question like "where do our rights come from?" might include the suggestion of questions like "What are my rights?" or "Where are they written down?" Both of these questions would be useful to students in finding the information, and this is the value of having students come up with their own guiding question.
Once the question is solidified the students will have 20-40 minutes (depending on the class and the time left) to answer it fully. In the case of my class the students will have access to both their World History book (Patterns of Interaction), and an American History text as well as the Internet.
When this process is complete the teacher will conclude the lesson through discussion of the work done in class today in addition to introduction to John Locke and Thomas Hobbes. I will explain briefly that these men were writers who influenced the founding fathers and allow their homework assignment introduce these men more fully. For homework the students will be asked to write a paragraph about each man explaining why they might be considered important using information from their textbook.
Lesson 3: The English Civil War
Explanation/ Modifications
The third lesson of the unit will focus on conveying the basic facts of the English Civil War to the students. The English Civil War is a vital component to this particular unit, but it is not the focus and the students need only have a basic understanding of the concepts at play here.
The process of this lesson is quite simple. The students will first be asked to create a timeline of events of the English Civil War which includes any battles, actions involving Parliament, actions involving the King, and the resolution of the war. There are many other resources one might choose, encyclopedias or the Internet, for example, but as it is necessary to keep this short and simple, I will limit my class to their textbook Patterns of Interaction.
Once the timeline of events is complete the students will be asked to compile a list of causes and effects of the war that must be written in their own words, rather than copied word for word from sources. I do this to help ensure that they comprehend the information that they are reading. This list, in combination with the timeline will be important in the homework, which is to write one page in which the students answer the question "Was the English Civil War worth fighting? Why or why not?"
This lesson is geared toward giving the students a cursory understanding of the English Civil War. The activities could be substituted with any other activities or resources that would serve that same goal.
Lesson 4: The life and work of Thomas Hobbes.
Explanation/ modifications
In the fourth lesson of the unit the class progresses to a discussion of the philosopher Thomas Hobbes. The class will begin with a brief recap of who Hobbes was. At this point the students should have accomplished the assignment to write one paragraph on him, and they will be asked to recall this in the beginning of class by writing 5 lines on the man and his importance.
The students will then be broken into heterogeneous reading groups, in which the weaker readers are paired with the stronger readers in groups of 3 or 4 in the interest of reading a short text. These groups will read the "Introduction Thomas Hobbes" 1 by Vere Chappell. The teacher will circulate and ensure that the groups are reading. The students will be required to create a brief outline of the work, which includes the answers to the questions "What effect did the Civil War have on Hobbes?" and "At what stage in his life did he write Leviathan?" It may be necessary to give a short quiz to assess whether or not this has happened.
With that activity complete the class will reconvene and discuss the answers to these questions before breaking into pairs and beginning the next activity. In the next activity the students will be given four quotes which appear in the Quotes section. These are representative of Hobbes' feelings on civil liberties and the role of government.
Each pair will be tasked with reading the quotes, explaining what they mean in their own words, and coming up with a short outline that treats the quote as a thesis, showing how they would go about proving these theses. Once again it will be necessary for the teacher to circulate around the room and ensure that work is being completed.
Class will wrap up with a discussion of the pro's and con's of the Hobbes method as it is understood by the students. This closure will lead into the homework in which they have to write one paragraph on a pro and one paragraph on a con to Hobbes' view.
While this method does not ensure complete understanding of the depth and breadth of Leviathan, it does allow the teacher to assess the student's ability to make an argument based on a given thesis. Such an approach also allows for use of the material without having to approach whole excerpts. If however this approach is lacking in form or function it would be entirely appropriate to provide the students with outlines or summaries of Leviathan and ask them to answer questions regarding what Hobbes thought of government and civil liberties.
Lesson 5: The life and works of John Locke
Explanation/ modifications
Lesson 5 will follow much the same principles and procedures as Lesson 4. The lesson will begin with a discussion of the homework from lesson 4 in which the teacher discusses with the students their rationale behind each pro and each con that they chose. When this is complete the lesson will progress to reading Vere Chappell's short biography of John Locke2 in heterogeneous reading groups, and create outlines based on that biography. Following lesson 4 the students will be given quotes from Locke, which can be found in the quotes section and asked to create outlines once again based upon these theses. The class will also end in the same way with a discussion of pro's and con's leading to the same homework assignment as lesson 4 with John Locke's work.
Lesson 6: Comparing Locke to Hobbes
Explanation/ modifications
Lesson 6 can be taught in 2 ways, and the character of the class in question will largely determine the choice. Each option has its own merits, and each one is applicable in specific circumstances. The first option is a debate in which the students debate Locke and Hobbes based on their merits and what they think of these philosophies. The second option asks the students to campaign in the school at large for one or the other based upon their contributions to the modern world. In either case students will be working in groups and preparing arguments in favor of their chosen philosophy and philosopher.
Both approaches begin with an activity called "Take a Stand," in which the class begins by having students stand up and walk to one side of the class if they are in favor of Locke and one side in favor of Hobbes, with room in the center for the undecided. From these sides of the room the students must then state, in turn, at least one reason why they chose the side they did. Students who made no choice will also need to state why they are conflicted about making a choice.
From this point on the two approaches diverge. The first approach is based around having a debate in class for lesson 7. In this case the class will be broken roughly in half, where one half of the room is in favor of Hobbes and one is in favor of Locke. Ideally it will be a simple task to break the class up, in that in an ideal world there will be an equal number of students on either side of the class. It may however be necessary to shake the class up a bit, by choosing members of one group to be on the opposing side, assigning neutral parties to a particular side, or simply taking the evenly divided groups and switching sides (meaning those who chose Locke must defend Hobbes).
From this point the students will be asked to prepare arguments using their books, their experiences and classroom computers to defend and promote the works and the merit of their particular philosopher. The students will also be required to prepare rebuttals for anticipated arguments which the other side might make. This process will require a good deal of organization on the part of the students, and a good deal of supervision on the part of the teacher. It may be necessary to assign roles to individual students, or ask the students to assign themselves roles such as team leader, researcher and person in charge of rebuttal.
Lesson 7: Hobbes and Locke Face Off in a Debate
Explanation/Modifications
This lesson requires the students to debate the merits of one philosopher/philosophy versus that of another. The class will already have been broken into groups and will have only a few minutes to prepare before they are asked to form up. When the class is organized into their teams, the teacher will pass out the rules (see Classroom Activities Section) and the students will go over them with the teacher.
The debate will then progress according to the rules as outlined in the section below. The debate should take a majority of the period, but may be stopped at any time if there appears to be waning interest, or if it becomes a simple back and forth argument between a relatively small percentage of the class. The goal is to have all of the students participating, and if that cannot be achieved, then the class should move on to the final part of the day's activities.
The day will wrap up with a brief discussion of how the debate went between teacher and students, and then will wrap up with the assignment of the formal essay outlined in the Classroom Activities section of this document. The essay asks students to defend one of the two philosophers. Therefore it may be a good idea once again to switch things up and ask the students to defend the philosopher they were debating against.
In my class if I assign a formal essay I try to leave time for peer editing, and therefore the homework for this lesson will be the completion of an introductory paragraph with thesis, and an outline of the essay to come.
Lesson 6 & 7: (Alternative) The Campaign of Hobbes or Locke
Explanation/Modifications
The alternative approach to Hobbes and Locke mentioned in the previous lesson 6 begins with the "Take a Stand" activity. From that point the students will be broken up along similar means, but instead of being asked to prepare for a debate, the students will be asked to prepare a campaign on behalf of their chosen philosopher. The students will need to show how their philosophy would be a better way to run the school. They will need to prepare information, and campaign materials (posters, graphs, signs, web sites etc.) on behalf of their philosopher. The goal will be to convince teachers and students that their philosopher was more important than the competition.
The students will act as advocates for their philosopher. They will be charged with convincing students and staff to vote for one or the other philosopher for the award of most valuable philosopher for the government of our school. They will do this by explaining to the voters the important contributions of their philosopher, in order to show the voter that their man is the more important man. The students, using a petition in which each voter must sign their name and may only sign once, will collect the votes.
In this case Lesson 7 becomes an opportunity to count votes and rehash the experience in advance of assigning the essay, which appears in the first version of lesson 7. If one wanted to extend this assignment beyond 1 day, one could make use of lesson 8 as a means of extending the process.
Lesson 8: What rights are important to you?
Explanation/Modification
Given that I do my best to give my students an opportunity to peer edit formal essays, this lesson is designed to take place over the course of two days. Each day the lesson will begin with peer editing, in which students share their work with a partner who looks over it for errors, omissions, or areas for improvement. On the first day the students will peer edit each other's introductions and outlines, and on the second day the students will peer edit each other's rough draft.
After the peer editing is complete on the first day the teacher will pass out the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which the students will read through together and discuss. This will be followed (if there is time) by reading Kurt Vonnegut's Harrison Bergeron. If the reading and discussion of both cannot be completed in one day, it can easily be extended into two.
Following the reading and discussion of both works the teacher will ask the students what these two works had in common with regards to human rights. If the students do not reach this point on their own the teacher will explain to them that they both represent a specific view of how human rights might be realized. In the case of the UDHR a document has been created outlining what rights human beings should ideally possess. In the case of Harrison Bergeron, Vonnegut has portrayed a world where everyone is equal by means of various devices that handicap people who are above average.
The students will then be asked to outline what rights they think that individuals should enjoy, and then to outline the role of government in maintaining those rights. In this way the students arrive at a point whereby they have taken the idea of civil rights and liberties, evaluated specific versions of those rights and liberties through Hobbes or Locke, and suggested which rights or liberties they believe they should be entitled to.
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