Does the Bill of Rights need to “catch up with the times?” How does the Bill of Rights, written 200 years before Facebook and Twitter, apply to the digital age?
December 15th is the day that the Bill of Rights was ratified in 1791. This is a great day for us all to examine whether or not the document is still relevant today. Do your students know their (Bill of) rights? Use these teen-related current events to get your students reading, writing, discussing, and understanding how the Bill of Rights applies to them .
Can they do that? Use these links to get the conversation going.
A teenage girl tweets her 60 followers about her impressions of the Governor (with some expletives). The governor calls her principal. Should she be disciplined? See news clips on Youtube
A 21 year old male vents about having his car towed by creating a Facebook group page against the towing company. Can he be sued for defamation?
A high school senior posts a parody of his principal by creating a fake Myspace page. Should he be suspended?
Other Resources to use with Students
Check out these resources for other games, lessons and activities to celebrate Bill of Rights Day:
In response to a parent call to the school, all lockers are searched. Now one student is suspended for having his Boy Scout knife in his coat pocket. Should he be punished? Have students discuss this FREE SCAN lesson “Locker Search and the Fourth Amendment” from different perspectives. Set up the lesson for your private online discussion at www.tregoED.org.
Smartboard lesson: http://exchange.smarttech.com/details.html?id=2b5ef899-1617-40e9-a1...
Games and Lessons: http://www.billofrightsday.com/celebrate-bill-of-rights-day/
Freedom of Tweets lesson http://my.billofrightsinstitute.org/page.aspx?pid=1271&srctid=1...
Technology has changed our way of communicating and has made reaching the masses very easy. Our students should be aware of what protections they have under our Bill of Rights AND should think about what, if any, changes should be made to meet the needs of this new digital age.
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