I. Curricular Framework

Concept:

Personal Freedom

Essential Question:

Why is it important to understand that ‘due process’ is a flexible concept?

Bridge:

A Violation of Rights

Content:

5th and 14th Amendments

Outcomes:

II. Standards Aligned

III. Instruction and Assessment

1. Connect: Connecting to the Concept Experientially

Objective: To enhance student understanding that due process is a concept that applies to students in their lives.

Activity: Teacher announces the following new classroom rules: 1. Any student who misses more than one class a semester will receive a grade of "D." 2. Any student who interrupts another student will be suspended from class for three days. 3. The teacher has the final authority to decide what rules will apply in the classroom. Students who are unhappy can drop the class; however, they will receive an "F" for the course. Teacher asks students to write their reactions to these rules, or they can discuss their reactions in small groups and report their consensus.

Assessment: Quality of reactions.

2. Attend: Attending to the Connection

Objective: To have students recognize the importance of understanding the concept of due process.

Activity: Teacher leads the discussion focusing on the following questions: Are these rules fair? Why or why not? What other school rules are unfair? How can students challenge rules they consider to be unfair? What procedures should exist to protect students who feel they are treated unfairly by teachers? Personal Witness: the teacher should sum up the discussion with a carefully thought out statement on her/his own feelings/experiences concerning due process. This step is of vital importance. If a teacher does not personally value the material to be taught and therefore cannot witness that value, s/he should not be teaching the course.

Assessment: Quality of discussion.

Assessment, Phase One, Level of Engagement, Fascination:

3. Image: Creating a Mental Picture

Objective: To integrate the previous experience and reflections (discussion) into the concept of due process.

Activity: Students read the following fact situation and respond to the questions posed (hypothetical student suspension). Mr. Monroe, the seventh-grade teacher assigned to cafeteria duty, came upon a food fight in process. Before he could get across the crowded room to intervene, the food fight turned into a fist fight involving several students. Although the fight broke up as he approached the area, he ordered all the students at the table to report to the principal. The principal explained that all the students were to be suspended for three days because of their disruptive conduct. Jerry replied that he had merely been sitting at the table and he had not taken part. He demanded a hearing in order to question Mr. Monroe, and to have his friends testify in his behalf. After listening to Jerry, the principal decided that he was lying. He told Jerry that he believed Mr. Monroe and that Jerry had just had his hearing. Jerry responded that he knew he was entitled to due process rights before suspension, and that he could sue the principal for violating his constitutional rights. Is he correct? Teacher asks students to identify the arguments which the principal would use to support his actions and the arguments that Jerry would make. What facts support each position? What constitutional provisions apply?

Assessment: Quality of response and understanding of conflicts involved.

Assessment, Phase Two, Seeing the Big Picture:

4. Inform: Receiving Facts & Knowledge

Objective: To understand the constitutional requirements for the application of due process and to understand that due process is a flexible concept.

Activity: Students read the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution. Teacher delivers lecture outlining the requirements for due process to apply: There must be state action and deprivation of life, liberty, and/or property interest. Teacher should ask students for their definition of due process, and then outline the most expansive definition (provided in a criminal trial).

Assessment: Student attention and participation in teacher-led discussion.

Assessment, Phase Three, Success with Acquiring Knowledge:

5. Practice: Developing Skills

Objective: Reinforcement of information.

Activity: Students role play situations while other students serve as judges determining whether the individual's due process rights were recognized in each case. (NOTE: See sample skit scenarios in Overview section of this plan)

Assessment: Quality of participation and opinion reasoning.

Assessment, Phase Four, Success with Acquiring Skills:

6. Extend: Extending Learning to the Outside World

Objective: To integrate material with a personal expression of learning.

Activity: Students develop hypothetical situations for other students to analyze to determine whether a student's due process rights were recognized. (Example: A teacher reduces a student's grade because s/he had an unexcused absence as a result of a day at the zoo to entertain grandparents who arrived unexpectedly.)

Assessment: Quality of hypotheticals.

7. Refine: Refining the Extension

Objective: To develop a method for applying due process in student's own environment.

Activity: Students examine school discipline codes and other rules/regulations to determine whether they are consistent with due process requirements.

Assessment: Quality of analysis.

8. Perform: Creative Manifestation of Material Learned

Objective: To teach other students what they have learned; to apply due process concept in student's own environment.

Activity: To teach other students what they have learned; to apply due process concept in student's own environment.

Assessment: Quality of finished product and participation.

Assessment, Phase Five,Performance, Creative Use of Material Learned: