For this unit, we will be drawing extensively from the Rights Matter curriculum, created by The Bill of Rights Education Project. From their website:

"The Bill of Rights Education Project, which is based at the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts,develops innovative strategies of citizenship education that are designed to make the Bill of Rights relevant to young people. Founded in November 1987 by its current director, Nancy Murray, the Project encourages teachers and middle and high school students to think critically about the difficult issues being debated in society and the courts, seeing this as essential to the future well-being of democracy."

To use these curriculum resources, you can download your own copy to annotate/print, or you can use the online version. The online version contains definitions, links to resources, and short quizzes.

Monday: Create a new column on your Padlet where you will record notes for this unit. In this column (either type, or write by hand and take a picture) write down everything you know about the Constitution, and questions that you have about it.

Book club assignment: read Never Caught chapters 12-15

Tuesday: The Haudenosaunee (Iroqois) Great Law of Peace

We often think about the Constitution as the beginning of democracy in the United States. That's not the case! Today you will learn about the Iroquois Confederacy.

Watch:

• Hiawatha Part 1

• Hiawatha Part 2

Write on Padlet: what did you learn?

want to learn more about Hiawatha and the Great Law of Peace? Optional:

• read Hiawatha and the Peacemaker, by Robbie Robertson

• read: Uplift, What is the Great Law of Peace?

• read New York Times article, "Iroquois Constitution: A Forerunner to Colonists' Democratic Principles"

Wednesday:

• Read A Young People's History of the United States,pg. 84-88

• Who wrote the Constitution? Whose input was considered? Draw a picture of what you imagine this room looked like. Think about who was included in this meeting, as well as who was excluded.

Thursday: "We the People?"

• • read chapter three, "Who Were 'We the People'? of the "Rights Matter" curriculum (pgs. 8-11)

    • • if using the online curriculum, explore the links highlighted in red

  • Watch "Structural Racism Theater Presents: A Pernicious Compromise"

Friday: Discussion, 1 pm on Zoom

Monday:

Book club assignment: read Never Caught chapters 16-19

Tuesday: An Overview of the US Constitution

• Watch one minute video, "The Articles of the US Constitution"

• Read chapter four, "The Blessings of Liberty", of the Rights Matter curriculum

  • • if using the online version, explore the links in red

Wednesday: Three Branches of Government

• watch: How is power divided in the United States government? - Belinda Stutzman

• watch: Griot B: Three Branches Superheroes

• play: Branches of Power game from iCivics

Think: The government is separated into three branches so that the branches can "keep each other in check" and make sure that one branch doesn't have too much power. Can you think of an example of the branches keeping each other in check recently? How have the branches worked together over the last four years? How have they been in conflict? How must they work together for impeachment proceedings?

Thursday: Local, State, and National Governments

Two very important principles that the Consitution lays out are the separation of powers between the three branches of government, like we learned yesterday, as well as the separation of state and national government. State governments have different responsbilities than the national government, but they can't make laws that contradict the national government.

Watch this video to learn about the responsibilities of state, county, and city governments in Texas.

Can you think of arguments you've seen between state and national governments recently? What about local and state governments? (Think about handling of and arguments about the pandemic!) Find one news article that you think gives an example of this argument, and post it to your Padlet. Be ready to share tomorrow.

Example: Abbott vs. Adler: The Fight for Austin's Future, Texas Monthy

Friday: Discussion, 1pm on Zoom

watch Khazir Khan's speech at the 2016 DNC

• Different people and different groups of people feel differently about the Constitution. Some, like Khan, uphold the Constitution as the opportunities of the American promise. Abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison called it "a Covenant with Death and an Agreement with Hell." Some people in power wield it as a weapon. How do you think we should view and use the Constitution?