Subjects: U.S. Government, Civics, U.S. History

Grade Level(s): 11-12

Time Frame: 5, 50-minute periods

Objectives [What the student should know and be able to do at the end of the lesson]:

1.0 Overall: One of the most important but least used powers of Congress is the ability to amend the Constitution. Since the ratification of the Constitution, over 7,000 amendments have been proposed. Of those, only thirty-three have ever been passed through Congress and only twenty-six were then ratified by the states. Amendments continue to be proposed in Congress on a regular basis. A current amendment in the spotlight is the amendment on school prayer. Defeated in 1998 but reintroduced in 1999, it serves as an example of the many aspects a Congressman must consider when deciding to support or oppose an amendment. This lesson will go be beyond the well-studied amendments of the Bill of Rights and offer students insight into the changes the Constitution has undergone. Students will:

• Become familiar with both ratified and failed amendments
• Understand the many points of view to be considered when altering the Constitution
• Connect a current amendment proposal with historical proposals
• Determine the decision-making basis for passing an amendment
• Develop an original proposal based on the decision-making criteria
• Debate an orginal amendment proposal

CongressLink lesson plans are built around Bloom's taxonomy. The purpose of the taxonomy is to provide a coherent format for lessons and to make it easier for teachers to design them according to CongressLink's standards.

2.0 Knowledge: State the requirements for ratifying an amendment listed in Article V of the Constitution. List at least five amendments that have been ratified since 1791. List at least five amendments that have failed. Use Congresslink and Constitution.net (www.usconstitution.net/constam.html) to research the answers for a worksheet

3.0 Understanding: For the amendments listed, briefly describe why you think people would support or oppose the amendment.

4.0 Application: Research the current school prayer amendment, a historic amendment that was ratified, and a historic amendment that failed. Compare and contrast all three. Use knowledge from earlier in the lesson and research at the ACLU (www.aclu.org/action/prayer106.html), Religious Tolerance.org (www.religioustolerance.org/istook97.htm), and other appropriates sources to create a graphic organizer.

5.0 Analysis: Based on the arguments used in the amendments you researched, develop a set of criteria for determining whether an amendment should be ratified or not.

6.0 Synthesis: Develop a Congress persona for yourself. Include background and constituency (e.g. a 50 year-old woman from an urban area on the East Coast or a 40 year-old man from rural Texas). Using the list of criteria created earlier and your persona, develop a proposal for an amendment you think should be added to the Constitution and make a presentation on why you think it should be passed.

7.0 Evaluation: In your persona, justify why you agree or disagree with amendment proposals in a class debate. After the debate, stay in character and write a brief (150 word) letter to your constituency explaining why you did or did not support the amendment.

Procedure/Sequence

Class 1
Introduce students to the concept of a constitutional amendment and have them work on the worksheet. As they finish, put them into groups to discuss their answers and begin researching various amendments.

Class 2
Finish research on amendments and create the graphic organizer. Have each group present its chart to the class.

Class 3
Have student groups make their lists of criteria for passing an amendment and present them to the class. Give students time to develop their personas and then direct them to begin writing their amendment proposals in their groups.

Class 4
Finish writing proposals and have students present them to the class. Have the class vote on the one proposal they want to debate and ask them to begin thinking of arguments in support or defense of the proposal based on their personas.

Class 5
Hold the debate. Have students sit in a circle and raise their hands to make a point or respond to another student. When all the arguments have been made, have the class vote. If time remains, more proposals can be debated. For closure, assign the letter to the constituency activity.

Materials:

The United States Constitution
Access to the Internet for research
Supplies for creating visual aids (PowerPoint if possible)
Related Websites:
Constitution.net (http://www.usconstitution.net)
United States Constitution Search Database (http://www.law.emory.edu/FEDERAL/usconser.html)

National Standards Addressed by Lesson [based on National Standards for Civics and Government, Center for Civic Education, 1994. Citation based on section, subsection, standard of the document]:

IC - Purposes and uses of a constitution
IID - Values and principals basic to the American constitutional democracy
IIID - Place of law in the constitutional system
VB - Rights of citizens
VD - Character traits important to the preservation and improvement of the American constitutional democracy

Evaluation/Assessment: See: http://www.congresslink.org/rubric/pdf

Author(s):
Miss Neela Mookerjee