Our entire focus this week has been the Constitution.
On Monday, we began with our Constitutional Convention simulation. As with the actual convention in 1783, the blinds were drawn, doors closed, and delegates were sworn to secrecy. Once done, each delegate introduced themselves and shared their point of view on representation. Then, as we had so many varied opinions the honorable delegates from New Jersey and Virginia shared their plans with the Convention. With each plan, students were allowed to debate the merits and drawbacks and then vote. As we learned previously with the Articles of Confederation, 9 out of 13 is difficult to reach. It was not until the delegate from Connecticut shared "his" plan that we were able to reach a compromise. In all three classes, we agreed that two houses with one based on the population size and one with two votes per state, no matter the size, was the best plan for our new government. The kids did an amazing job. They were passionate in their defense of their favored plan and gave sensible and logical reasons for their beliefs. Below are pictures of our debate. Lots of kids dressed up for the activity, enjoy!
On Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday we discussed the Preamble of the Constitution and whether or not "We the People" truly applied to everyone. We looked at the meaning of the words that make up the Preamble and how they apply to the nation. Then, after looking at a painting of the framers of the Constitution, students were asked to stand and leave their state's table if they would not have been allowed to participate in the convention. It was a surprising moment to see how few people were included. Then, we spent the remainder of class looking at laws, court decisions, and letters that reflected the experiences of the people who were not included. There was a great deal of shock, disbelief, and some anger at what they read.
On Wednesday, we discussed how the limited point of view from those who created our new government and nation would have impacted those that had no voice in that creation. Then, students were given an opportunity to "get on their soapbox" and share their thoughts and feelings about the readings from the previous class. They were allowed to express why the documents were unfair or made them upset. Students made clear arguments and insightful points.
Then on Thursday students had to apply what they had read and discussed in the form of a written response. We began the class learning about how to write a CER. C=Claim, the answer to the question posed, E=Evidence, text-based evidence to support your claim, and R=Reasoning, explaining what your evidence means and how it proves your claim. As a whole class we wrote two CERs together, one about a man who had the police called on him when he was trying to kill a spider and another from a Super Bowl commercial about a graduate who assumed he was getting a car. Once students had several solid examples, they were asked to write their own CER about whether We the People applied to all members of the new nation. In this activity, students had to write a claim, provide two direct quotes from their primary source documents, and then explain what their evidence meant and how it proved their claim.
Finally, we ended the week looking at the actual Constitution. Class began by reviewing articles and ended with an online scavenger hunt. Students were divided into teams and given a series of questions about the seven articles of the Constitution. Competition was fierce, but I believe that there was learning achieved as well.