Active
Use of the First Amendment (Middle School)
This lesson will teach students the content of the First Amendment
to the US Constitution, and how students can use the First Amendment
Freedoms to become active in their communities.
Affirmative
Action (High School)
What does "equality" mean? This lesson plan asks students to evaluate
how affirmative action program have been used in the past, and if
there is still a need for such programs.
Balancing
the Budget: The Budget Game (High
School) Printable
Version
This lesson provides an overview of how state and local government
bodies maintain a budget. In "The Budget Game" students are asked to
make the difficult decisions required to balance an actual government
budget.
Basic
Legal Research (High School) Printable
Version
This lesson should be taught after the lesson "How a Bill Becomes a
Law." Now that the students know how bills are passed, they are ready
to learn how to get information on specific bills and how they can impact
the legislative process.
Bill
of Rights (Middle School/ High School)
Printable
Version
This lesson asks students to explore and understand the words and practical
implications of the Bill of Rights. Should everyone have these rights,
or just a select few individuals?
Campaign
Finance: Implementing Control Systems - Campaign Contribution Limits
vs. Financial Disclosures (High School)
This lesson provides an overview of the role money plays in political
campaigns, and the increased access that big contributors potentially
have to candidates before and after an election. It also addresses basic
issues regarding campaign finance reform.
Campaign
Finance: The Role of Money in Politics (Middle
School/ High School) Printable
Version
This lesson provides an overview of the American election finance process,
and asks students to evaluate the pros and cons of the current election
finance system. Students perform their own class election requiring
candidates to raise funds from different interest groups.
Civil
Rights Post 9/11: Military Tribunals (High School) Printable
Version
Students will learn about the use of military tribunals after the terrorist
attacks of 9/11/01, and analyze the difference between military tribunals
and civilian criminal trials.
Class
Action Law Suits (High School)
This lesson provides an overview of class action lawsuits and the American
legal system.
The
Death Penalty & The Judicial System (High School)
This lesson plan will introduce the concept of the death penalty, discuss
the specifics of capital punishment in Illinois and allow students to
experience a mock capital punishment deliberation.
Domestic
Terrorism (High School)
This lesson plan stimulates classroom discussion on the issue of domestic
terrorism, political protest, and the First Amendment. The purpose of
this exercise is to raise awareness about the crime of domestic terrorism
and the effects the broad definition of this crime may have.
The
Fifth Amendment: Protection Through Procedure
(High School) Printable
Version
This lesson explores the meaning of "due process" as discussed in the
5th Amendment to the US Constitution, and how due process affects students'
daily lives. Students will also work through two case studies (hypothetical
situations based on actual cases).
The
First Amendment Unit (High School)
Printable
Version
This unit teaches students the content and meaning of the First Amendment
to the US Constitution through the use of case studies (hypothetical
situations based on actual cases). Students will explore their rights
as residents of the United States, as well as the reality that many
rights are limited and controversial.
Fitness
Plan for Democracy (Middle School/ High School) Printable
Version
This lesson plan asks students to evaluate their civic knowledge about
how their community operates. Do students know who their local governors
are, if there is a community newspaper or when the next mayoral election
is? Students assess their knowledge and keep a journal while they are
improving their skills.
The
Fourth Amendment: Search and Seizure (High School) Printable
Version
This lesson explores the meaning and application of the 4th Amendment
of the United States Constitution utilizing the Supreme Court case New
Jersey v. T.L.O. Students will study this case involving high school
students to explore how rights are limited, but not eliminated, when
students walk through the schoolhouse doors.
Freedom of Information
Act (High School) Printable
Version
Students will learn about the Illinois Freedom of Information Act and
its practical uses in community activism. Students draft their own Freedom
of Information Act requests.
Home Rule(High
School)
This lesson plan helps students understand what a home rule public
body is, and what increased tax, spending, and regulatory powers home
rule bodies have.
How
A Bill Becomes A Law (Middle School / High School) Printable
Version
This lesson provides an overview of how an idea becomes a law at the
national, state, and municipal levels. Students learn how citizens can
influence lawmaking.
How
to Draft a Bill (High School)
Students brainstorm ideas for laws and draft a bill from their idea.
Once bills are drafted, the class will determine which bill should be
made a law and conduct a mock passage.
Introduction
to Active Citizenship (High School) Printable
Version
Before students can become active in their communities, they need a
basic overview of the types of participation in which citizens engage.
This lesson provides students with an overview of activism in government
and communities. It requires students to identify different methods
of citizen participation, form and analyze local public policy, and
address policy concerns to actual decision-makers in government.
Judicial
Independence(High School)
This lesson plan explores issues that the United States Supreme Court
has decided and why it is important for the judicial branch of government
to remain independent.
Making
a Difference: What is a Citizen and What Can Citizens Do?
(Middle School)
This lesson gives students an overview of different
kinds of citizen participation and requires them to evaluate the advantages
and disadvantages of those methods.
Students then get to actively participate and share their experiences
with their classmates.
Music
Censorship (Printable
Version)
This lesson plan will compel class discussion regarding censorship,
particularly in the music industry, and the first amendment.
Illinois
Ethics Act (Middle School / High School)
This lesson will introduce some of the main provisions in the Illinois
Ethics Act and allow students to act as the Ethics commission in determining
whether fact patterns result in a violation of the Act.
Jury Duty
(Middle School / High School) Printable
Version
This lesson provides an overview of the American jury system, and the
civic obligation to serve on a jury. Students perform a mock trial to
examine the need for a "jury of peers."
Open Meetings
Act (High School) Printable
Version
Students study the language of the Illinois Open Meetings Act, and
learn its practical application as a tool for civic participation. Activities
include attending public meetings and making public comments.
Personal
Financial Information: Protecting Your Privacy (High School)
Printable Version
Students will learn about different types of personal identification
information, how thieves use this information, and what a person can
do to protect him/herself from identity theft.
Politics and the Media
(Middle School / High School) Printable
Version
Lesson to be used after Young Citizens and Media Access Lesson plan
and one month before local, state or federal elections. Does the public
learn more about elections from television broadcasters or political
ads? Students examine the meaning of "public interest programming" as
seen in the area of campaign coverage, and evaluate the quality of information
provided by television programmers for the public.
Post 9/11
Due Process: The USA PATRIOT Act (Middle School) Printable
Version
This lesson plan stimulates classroom discussion on issues of security
and civil liberties. This exercise explores the sometimes-blurred line
between liberty and security is not always clear, and that liberty and
security are largely dependent on one another.
Post 9/11 Due Process:
The USA PATRIOT Act (High School) Printable
Version
This lesson plan stimulates classroom discussion on issues of security
and civil liberties. This exercise explores the sometimes-blurred line
between liberty and security is not always clear, and that liberty and
security are largely dependent on one another.
Reform
by Popular Movement (High School)
Many of the most significant events and reform in U.S. history were
the result of popular and social political movements. This lesson explores
popular movements and how they have changed the course of history.
Third
Party Presidential Candidate barriers to Accessing the Ballot (High
School)
This lesson plan explores the challenges third party candidates have
to getting and staying on the ballot.
The Preamble
to the Constitution (Middle School / High School) Printable
Version
This lesson explores the purpose and importance of the Preamble to
the United States Constitution, and asks students to create their own
Preamble.
Voir
Dire (Jury Selection)(High School)
This lesson plan provides an overview of the voir dire process (jury
selection), and set up an activity that mirrors jury selection for a
criminal trial.
Voter
Disenfranchisement (High School)
This lesson asks youth to evaluate what the right to vote means, why
people are allowed to vote, and why some people historically were not
allowed to vote. It ask students to explore why the right to vote was
initially denied to people because of race, gender, class, or age. It
also asks students to evaluate if those who have felony convictions
should be allowed to vote, as well as if absentee voting deadlines should
be extended for those on active military duty.
Voting
Systems: What's Fair? (High School)
Printable Version
This lesson explores different voting systems such as plurality voting,
cumulative voting, and proportional representation voting. Students
will hold an election with the results determined by each different
type of voting system, and will then be asked to evaluate the pros and
cons of each voting system.
Who Represents
You? (Middle School / High School)
Printable
Version
Students investigate who represents them at each level of government,
and identify the different roles government officials play depending
on their branch and level of government.
Young
Citizens and Media Access (High School) Printable
Version
Students examine the role of media in our society as a tool for activism.
By brainstorming issues of common concern, determining who are the decision-makers
for those issues, and examining what types of media affect those decision-makers,
students will develop a strategy to promote an issue about which they
care. Activities include writing letters to the editor of local newspapers.
Young
Citizens and Television Broadcasters (High
School) Printable
Version
Does the public know more about the characters in "Everybody Loves
Raymond" than what is happening in their own community? This lesson
asks students to survey local broadcast television coverage and analyze
programming broadcasted to the public.
Young
Voters (Middle School / High School) Printable
Version & Handout
This lesson aims to show students that they have a voice in government,
and that an organized student voice can be powerful. Even if students
are not old enough to vote, they can still participate in their local
communities. This lesson addresses the importance of voting, and demonstrates
the myriad of manners of civic participation.
Youth
Movements (Middle School / High School)
This lesson provides an overview of six youth movements in American
History: American Youth Congress, Mexican American Youth Organization,
Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, Youth International Party
or Yippie!, and Teach for America Free the Children. The lesson also
explores each movement’s methods for political and social change.
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