1. Lesson Description 2. Classroom and Time Management 3. Materials and Teacher Preparation 4. Assessment 5. Technical Skills Guide  1. Lesson Description Period of time required for lesson: 2 days, 55 minutes each day. Overall goal of the lesson: In this lesson, students explore how and why the Bill of Rights was added to the Constitution of the United States. Students will model the historical process by creating their own Bill of Rights for their school and publishing the amendments in a newsletter format. Rationale for the lesson: This lesson addresses the social studies standard for eighth grade. According to the standard, students must understand the formation of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights and why the delegates were involved in writing them. Students will also address the use of the language arts standard for the eighth grade in creating the newsletter, specifically, standard 1.0 that states, "Students write clear, coherent, and focused essays. The writing exhibits students' awareness of audience and purpose. Essays contain formal introductions, supporting evidence, and conclusions. Students progress through the stages of the writing process as needed. Student academic outcome objectives: Students will be able to: examine and understand the historical events that lead to the creation of the Bill of Rights. discuss and appraise the underlying concerns of the delegates of the Constitutional Convention and reasons for amending the Constitution with the Bill of Rights. examine and discuss the underlying principles of the Bill of Rights and be able to defend their choices for their own Bill of Rights. demonstrate their understanding of the underlying principles of the Bill of Rights through the publication of a newsletter that is persuasive and justifies their Bill of Rights as well. Student social outcome objectives: Students will be able to: learn how to listen to and respect opposing points of view and negotiate to arrive at a consensus practice peer presentations and good listening skills critique peer work in a constructive manner Student technical skills outcome objectives: Students will be able to: use the StarWriter Stylist to uniformly change all headings (to 24 pt. and selected font) change color of text create column breaks the Navigator to move to previous or next graphics wrap text around graphics Prerequisite Academic Skills: Students should: know how to create a grammatically correct paragraph that presents clearly supported ideas understand the major ideas of the enlightenment and origins of self-government in the Magna Carta know the six basic underlying principles of the U.S. Constitution Prerequisite Social Skills: Students should know how to: work cooperatively in a group environment brainstorming and how to contribute to a group discussion ask relevant questions Prerequisite Technical Skills: Students should know how to: create a two-column newsletter enter text and direct the cursor format text by creating justified alignment change font size and style use increase and decrease indentation use spell check create a text box for emphasis import graphics from the Internet and StarOffice clip art create a title for the newsletter using the draw functions on the StarWriter tool bar to give a background with color print a document Back to Top  2. Classroom and Time Management Group Management: As a class, students will discuss which of the various groups in the student body should be represented as delegates in the creation of their Bill of Rights. Students will then form groups and assign themselves specific roles for creating the newsletter. It will cover the topics delineated below. The students in the group will decide how the following content will be divided up. They also will design their own layout and assume responsibility for the creation and placement of graphics. This management technique allows each person in the group to work together while being responsible for a specific part of the newsletter. Technology Management: Work on one computer to collect graphics from Internet research. The newsletter will be formulated in one computer Students will write their columns using StarWriter. They will first create an unformatted text document, spell check the content, then print it for peer editing Students will design their layout scheme on paper and decide which columns will go on the first page and how they are to be continued on subsequent pages Students will decide which graphics they will incorporate in their columns and the placement of such graphics Students will choose a name for their columns Students will pick a title for and design their newsletter Two students will be responsible for the content and format of pages 1. This includes designing the title and inserting graphics Two students will handle the content and format of all other pages, including the design of columns and placement of graphics Time Management: Day Event 1 Students receive an introduction to the project and a lesson on how the U.S. Constitution evolved, setting the precursors to the constitution 2-3 Students brainstorm to determine whom in the student body will be represented. Groups delineate which rights are to be included in the amendments. Students begin writing 4-5 Students interview the students they represent, the principal, teachers,parents, and others, including those with opposing ideas. The Internet and textbooks provide information on underlying principles of the Bill of Rights and the participants in the Constitutional Convention. Students discuss the founding fathers' process and continue writing 6-7 Printing; group peer feedback 8-11 Designing and creating the newsletter 12 Class Presentations Back to Top  3. Materials and Teacher Preparation As included with the Technical Skills Guide. Back to Top  4. Assessment Students will be graded on both their individual and group work. Back to Top  5. Technical Skills Guide -StarOffice(zipped - 452 Kb) Back to Top