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This lesson is designed to foster discussion amongst students about the fundamental purpose of government, and its role in the daily lives of its citizens. Students are asked whether they will support a petition to ban rap music—this sparks an interest almost immediately as it is a topic that many students have strong feelings about. The students work in self-selected groups to discuss their opinions about government, and whether or not the government should have the right to tell people what music to listen to. The students also consider what the primary role of government should be concerning censorship and individual liberties. This lesson lends itself perfectly to a “fishbowl” activity. Students in the center of the bowl are able to discuss the scenarios and have dialogue within the group. The rest of the class can participate by using backchannels such as the school space chat feature to contribute comments and feedback during the discussion. This allows for all students in the class to be active participants.
TIPC Ratings
Entry – The teacher provides all print resources to the students. Having the students construct some questions themselves and finding answers to those questions online prior to the fishbowl activity would help elevate this score.
Approaching – Communication is evident throughout this lesson. Students are working in self-selected groups, utilizing the School Space chat feature, and posting reflections to a blog post. Students are collaborating purposefully without direct supervision., and the teacher supports students as they engage challenges purposefully.
Ideal– This lesson is truly an authentic task that is taking a present day issue that is relevant to the students and relating it to past primary documents. The students are engaged in a type of Socratic seminar in order to debate a hot topic. This has the potential to score in the ideal category had the students performed more independent research.
Approaching The self selection of group members and the fishbowl activity put the ownership and learning outcomes in the hands of the students. The students had numerous opportunitis to synthesize and communicate critical thinking skills to address an authentic task. The students reflected on their learning via a discussion forum in Space Space. A suggestion would be to have the students create a final product of their choosing to illustrate and share what they had gained from this activity.
Student Artifact
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