Introduction
Imagine that you are living in the late 18th century in what is now the United States. You have just lived through and possibly fought in the American Revolution, but the first form of government, The Articles of Confederation, did not do what they were intended and need to be changed.
Draw a T chart listing similarities and differences between the Articles of Confederation and the United States Constitution while watch this video:
Now ponder, what is the importance with the development of the United States Constitution? Think about rights that you think should be included and how the government should be ran.
Task
The first task is to watch the video linked above in the introduction.
After watching the video, you will need to read the U.S. Constitution that will be linked in the process tab. After reading the Constitution, you will be grouped/partnered with some of your peers to discuss the video and the actual Constitution that was just read. After this, the students would take an assessment on what they should have learned from the video and discussion among their partners.
Process
1. Watch the video.
2. After watching the video but before reading the United States Constitution, the reader should ask themselves these questions:
Who wrote this piece of writing?
Why was the Constitution written?
What did the authors include or exclude?
3. Read the U.S. Constitution (found here: https://constitution.congress.gov/constitution/)
4. Discuss the information presented in the video and from reading the U.S. Constitution.
5. Prepare to take an assessment demonstrating the comprehension of the topic.
Evaluation
While the students are partnered, I will be walking around the listening in and making sure the students are staying on task and also getting the points that they should see from the text and video.
The entire class will then discuss their findings and have the opportunity to express their opinions or interests from the document. This could be a good time to incorporate using a Socratic circle. Also, the T chart would come into use during these discussions as they would help the students with organizing their ideas.
After this was complete, the students would complete an assessment. The assessment would be of short answer/constructed response questions. The questions are as follows:
1. Who wrote the United States' Constitution?
2. Why was the U.S. Constitution written?
3. Why was the document important when it was written, and why is it still relevant in today's world?
Rubric:
1. 3 points-James Madison is credited although others helped
2. 3 points- It was written because the Articles of Confederation was not adequate in governing the United States and needed to be changed.
3. 4 points-The document outlined how the government of the United States was going to be ran. For example, it stated that there would be three branches of government: legislative, executive, and judicial branches. It is still relevant today since it is still what is being used.
Conclusion
The assessment would tell me if I can conclude or if I need to review the topic a little.
With the conclusion of this assignment, students can:
-list the main author of the United States Constitution
-describe why the Constitution was needed and written
-analyze the relevance to the world today
The experiment has been a success as it has been in use for over 225 years.