Making Connections with the Bill of Rights: Lesson Plan for Middle School Social Studies

Class: Middle School Social Studies/Government/History/Etc.

Lesson: Making connections to the Bill of Rights

*Prior to lesson, students should have gone through and discussed the Bill of Rights and what it is*

Materials Needed: Each student should have a list of the Bill of Rights

Anticipatory Set: Teacher will review the amendments within the Bill of Rights, which were introduced the previous day. Teacher will review any difficult concepts to make sure students have basic understanding of each amendment.

Objectives: At the end of the lesson, students will have an understanding of why the Bill of Rights are in place, what it would be like without them, and why they are important.

Procedure/Input: Teacher will explain that the following activities will be used to discover the importance of the Bill of Rights and give us an idea of our lives without them. Teacher will make a connection to the Ancient Greeks and the City-States and ask students to be thinking of why the Greeks might have wanted individual rights such as those in the Bill of Rights.

Modeling (2-4 min): Teacher will describe a situation that violates an Amendment from the Bill of Rights. Teacher will refer back to the Bill of Rights and determine which right the scenario violates.

Teacher Scenario: You are at home watching TV when someone knocks on your door. Before you answer, the police burst into your home and begin to look through your things. When you ask what they are doing, they tell you that someone has accused you of doing something illegal and they are looking for evidence. When they are done, they take boxes of your things away. (Amendment 4)

Check for Understanding: Teacher will ask students to think of some ways their life (or the lives of someone) might be different without the 4th Amendment, violated in the teacher scenario. Students will be asked to "paint a picture" of what life would be like without this law in place.