Compelling Question: Should freedom be sacrificed in the name of national security?

The topic area and text set for this unit focuses on the governance of upholding the 4th Amendment, and more specifically on the issues and controversies that surfaced when Eric Snowden blew the whistle on the National Security Agency’s (NSA) domestic surveillance program. The tension that exists between the government’s obligation to protect citizens’ rights as upheld by the US Constitution and its obligation to ensure the same citizens’ security is complex. The point where security and freedom are appropriately balanced is difficult to find and many possible perspectives and positions on this debate exist, which allows the teacher and students to approach and study the issue from many possible angles.

Text Sets

Compelling Question: How should criminals be punished in the United States?

The topic area and texts focus on the United States’ justice system and underlying questions regarding what makes a punishment necessary, effective, and ethical. Students will think critically about the value of punishment as retribution and deterrent, and will consider emerging theories such as restorative justice. They will look closely at the history of the United States’ penal system and its current rates of incarceration, and will apply gained knowledge to questions surrounding its juvenile justice system.

Text Sets

Compelling Question: What is our social responsibility to each other?

The topic area and texts focus on our duties to others, or our “Social Responsibility.” This issue area should involve in depth and thought provoking discussions on topics as diverse as relative vs. abject poverty, charity and philanthropy, altruism vs. self-interest, ethics, morality, religion, economics, policy, and human rights, among others. For some students, this may be their introduction to global poverty and the variety of perspectives addressing it. For others who have an understanding of these issues, these texts will challenge assumptions, present historic and novel arguments, and help enrich, strengthen, or even change their current positions.

Text Sets

A glossary of terms students should know while analyzing arguments.

This resource can be used along with the Delineating Arguments Tool to help students determine arguments and perspectives from a text.

This resource can be used along with the Delineating Arguments Tool to help students determine arguments and perspectives from a text.

This resource can be used along with the Delineating Arguments Tool to help students determine arguments and perspectives from a text.

This tool can be used as students read through the texts in the unit. It can be used as a formative assessment to assess students' ability to determine an author's argument/claim.

This tool should be used when students are evaluating an argument's strengths & weaknesses and to determine if an argument is compelling.