Trials 1

Trials 1: The Bill of Rights Cary Honig email: caryh@school-one.org

This site is fully updated for 2025

Welcome to the Trials 1 Homework Hub page. Hopefully, having an overview of what we will do and roughly when will make the class easier. This also allows me to make the suggested but not required readings available in a context that might make them more attractive. All of the assignments and due dates are available here, so I won't be making any extra copies for you. If you lose something or are absent, just about everything you need (other than the book and the play) are available here, and they're probably available online as well.

Students can take this class for English or history credit. The workload for English and history students is the same in this class. The syllabus linked immediately below provides the details of what we're reading and writing this trimester. Unless you're absent, the main home reading is The Scarlet Letter. If you're absent, you have to make up what we did in class that day. We'll work on some legal cases and the play at least mostly in class. We will read some of the articles along with the cases. Others are optional reading if you're interested in the topics.

Course Syllabus:

Syllabus 2025

Every student taking this class must read and sign the source policy and abide by it. Failure to do so will lead to no credit in the class. I am not interested in what anyone at wikipedia, Sparknotes or Harvard thinks about this literature. (The legal essays this trimester are based on scenarios created by me, so you won't find any answers online for those.) I am interested in what YOU think. You must think for yourself in this class. If you don't want to do that and perhaps occasionally struggle, don't take the class. You are always welcome to come discuss your ideas with me before writing if you are worried you are off track. I won't tell you what to write or think, but I am happy to ask you questions that might help you to focus or reorient. This is NOT a research class; it is a thinking, reading and writing class. Please respect that and trust that I respect ideas that may be flawed but original far more than ideas that are on more solid ground but that aren't yours. If you want to improve your reading, thinking and writing skills significantly this trimester (or want to earn credit), do not cheat, which is what looking for help online or elsewhere amounts to when I tell you not to do so.

Source Policy 25

For a guide to proper citation within text and bibliography (works cited), go to

https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/section/2/

Links under the weekly schedule are to note sheets we will use in class as well as to articles that are sometimes recommended but not required to add to your knowledge about what we are discussing in class.

Essays are due every other week and always on Wednesdays at class time except for essay 1, which will be due on Thursday. I will usually get first drafts back to you by the next class. Revisions should be done soon after being returned but MUST be completed by the following Wednesday unless an earlier date is specified at the end of the trimester. That gives you a full week to write and revise except for the first essay, and even then, you will have a week or most of week from when you sign up for the class and get the assignment. Most essays need revision until I approve them as complete, which means you must address both mechanical and content issues I indicate on your drafts or you will be revising multiple times. One way to avoid extra revisions is to see me for help well before the due date. You must always hand in the previous draft with my comments along with revisions.

Reading assignments are always due on Mondays by class time. You are welcome to read ahead and hand in your work ahead of time. This could lead to a relaxing end of the trimester or more time to work on other things then.

Therefore, you can expect a writing assignment to be due every Wednesday (either a draft or a revision) after the first two weeks when it's Thursday and a reading assignment due every Monday until late in the trimester.

Late work slows down the class for everyone, so don't do your work late. This class asks you to do a reading assignment and a writing assignment each week. That's not overwhelming unless you leave them until the night before they're due, and even then, it's doable if not pleasant. You should be spreading your work over much of the week to make it easy. Please don't offer excuses. On the fourth late assignment (and each class day an assignment is late counts as a late assignment), you will receive an extra essay. The first three should cover any excuse you might have or create. Should a student reach an eighth late assignment, s/he will not receive credit in this class regardless of the quality of the work. Should there be a truly valid excuse like a death or serious illness in the family, have your parent contact me beforehand so that we can work out a schedule.

Week 1: While you are beginning reading The Scarlet Letter, for which we will take some time in class on Thursday, we will begin our work by reviewing the class rules and beginning to discuss the Bill of Rights. This is crucial knowledge for the history section of the comp. as well as the rest of your life, so take good notes on the sheet I will provide. We will go over some background about the Puritans in preparation for our two main texts. We will begin reading The Scarlet Letter in class so I can help you with it, and we will hopefully have time to discuss the First Amendment in some depth. I'm linking a large number of articles about recent and interesting First Amendment cases that demonstrate how the simple words of the First Amendment get expanded by court cases that interpret them and then become law. Grammar: Usage

Classwork:

trials opening day quiz25

Initial class notes on the Constitution

Bill of Rights text

Bill of Rights notes

ACLU Defends NRA article and questons 23D

Puritan and witchcraft history notes

Scarlet Letter ch 1-2 questions

Great short video intro to The Bill of Rights from the National Constitution Center: https://constitutioncenter.org/education/constitution-101-curriculum

Recommended Reading:

Crucible production Review 2016

Louis Menand on McCarthy and the power of Falsehoods 20

Homework: This week's reading assignment requires that you read chapters 9-12 of The Scarlet Letter by Monday, September 22. If you read ahead as I suggested, you are now a happier camper than your peers. If not, hopefully you will learn from this error. I don't suggest leaving this to do in one night. If you do a chapter or two per night, it's very easy. Your second essay's revision is due Wednesday, September 24. See me ahead of time if you need help so that you only have to revise once.

Scarlet Letter ch 9-12 homework 25

Week 5: In class, we will be plowing ahead with The Crucible this week as well as discussing The Scarlet Letter reading everyone has done. We will work on our promotion of our class's issue to appropriate politicians. Hopefully, we'll spend some time discussing Pearl. Grammar: Commas with subordinate conjunctions

Classwork:

The Crucible Act II - IV notes.doc

Homework:

This week's reading assignment requires that you read chapters 13-15 of The Scarlet Letter by Monday, September 29 at class time. You have essay three due this week on Wednesday, October 3, and it requires you to quote and analyze both The Crucible and The Scarlet Letter.

Essay 3 - Proctor and Dimmesdale 25

Scarlet Letter ch 13-15 HW questions 25

Week 6: We should at least get through Act III of The Crucible this week. The notes are in last week's document. This act really focuses on the difficult ethical choices a number of characters must make, so there will be a lot to discuss. We will also continue to discuss The Scarlet Letter.

Grammar: Commas and Coordinating Conjunctions

Homework:

Your reading this week is chapters 16 and 17 of The Scarlet Letter, which is due on October 6 by class time. This week's essay revision (essay 3) is due by class time on Wedesday October 8. Don't forget to hand in the earlier draft with it. As noted, you can hand in the reading homework at the same time this week, but that's not an excuse for either of the assignments to be late as you had extra time rather than less.

Scarlet Letter 16-17 HW questions 25

Week 7: We should complete The Crucible this week. We will discuss the end of the play and how the events of the Salem Witch Trials affected the hold of Puritanism on New England and its connection to the Bill of Rights, which was created almost exactly 100 years later. We will continue discussing The Scarlet Letter. Grammar: Commas and Non-Essential Clauses

Homework:

Your reading homework this week is on chapters 18-20. It is due by Wednesday, October 15. If you don't want to do it on a holiday, do it earlier. This week's writing assignment is essay 4, which will be an in-class handwritten essay on Wednesday, October 15, focusing on both the play and the book. You have two extra days on the reading this week, but don't leave it until October 14!

Scarlet Letter 18-20 HW questions 25

Week 8:

If we have finished The Crucible, we will begin discussing First Amendment cases to understand both how the wording has expanded and how judges create and refine law. This material will be vital for your fifth essay and the extra essay should you be foolish enough to have earned that. We will also discuss the end of The Scarlet Letter. Grammar: Commas and initial words and phrases and comma review

Classwork:

1st A Speech Schenck case

1st A Speech Schenck case notes

1st A Speech Debs case

1st A Tinker case

1st A Tinker notes

1st A Wooley case

1st A Wooley case notes

1st A hate speech Chaplinsky case

1st A hate speech Chaplinsky case notes

1st A Protesters at Military Funerals ruling (Westboro Baptist Church) 18

Questions with military funerals 1st Amendment case article

1st A U Chicago Free Speech vs. Cyberbullying case 23

1st A Supreme Court limits laws banning cyber threats 23

Homework:

Your reading homework this week is to complete The Scarlet Letter, which means chapters 21-24. It is due Monday, October 20. This week's writing assignment is to revise essay 4 if required. The revision with the previous draft must be in by class time on Wednesday, October 22. Be sure to get help well ahead of that date if you need it.

Scarlet Letter 21-24 HW questions

Week 9: We will continue to expand our First Amendment expertise including the perennial favorite Cohen v. California.

Grammar: Quotations and Punctuation

Classwork:

1st A Cohen case

1st A Cohen notes

1st A Pawtucket political sign law challenged 22 article and questions

T1 Pacifica case.doc

T1 Pacifica sheet.doc

Homework:

This week's reading homework is about recent controversy about disputes between gay rights and claims of freedom of religion in the area of adoption. It is due by Monday, October 27 at class time. The final essay of the trimester is due by Wednesday, October 29 by class time and asks you to use your knowledge of the First Amendment and cases that have interpreted it to assess a fact situation the way a lawyer would. Feel free to come talk to me about your ideas ahead of time.

Adam Hochschild on threats to free speech during WW1

Essay 5 - Freedom of Speech hypothetical 22

Week 10: We will be continuing our exploration of the First Amendment, hopefully moving on to religion. I know myself too well to think we'll be all caught up at this point, especially given the work we'll be doing earlier with Generation Citizen. Even if we get to the Barnette case this trimester, we will return to it to begin next trimester as it's a case about Civil Disobedience as much as about the First Amendment. Grammar: Colons

Classwork:

1st A speech and religion Barnette case

1st A Barnette notes

Colin Kaepernick and the Barnette case 17

1st A religion Hialeah animal sacrifice case

notes on Hialeah animal sacrifice case

Homework:

This week's reading homework is about recent controversy about disputes between gay rights and claims of freedom of religion in the area of adoption. It is due by Monday, November 3 at class time. This week's writing assignment for everyone is to revise essay 5. The revision with the previous draft must be in by class time on Wednesday, November 5. Be sure to get help well ahead of that date if you need it. You don't want extra revisions at this point of the trimester. Any re-revisions of previous essays must be completed satisfactorily by class time on November 3 in order to earn credit.

First Amendment and online harassment 23

First Amendment and onllne harassment questions

Week 11: This week will continue our conversations about the First Amendment and other Bill of Rights questions you may have.

Grammar: Semi-colons

Homework (only for the naughty):

Hopefully, you were smart and did not earn an extra essay, but if you did (due to 4-7 late assignments this trimester), here's the assignment. If you're not sure whether you owe it, check with me well before this deadline. It must be handed in by class on Monday, November 10 at 9 a.m. at the latest, and it must be fully revised by Thursday, November 13 at class time at the latest but hopefully sooner. There is no give on these dates: if you miss either deadline, you will not earn credit for the trimester. It would be smart to get it done well ahead of time.

Extra essay - Religion hypothetical 25

The only work I will consider accepting this week are revisions of the extra essay and re-revisions of essay 5 by first thing on Monday, November 7 or one re-revision of the extra essay on Wednesday, November 16 by class time with no more opportunity to revise for credit after that. If any work isn't completed to my satisfaction by this time, you won't earn credit, so don't even think about leaving work until the last minute or handing in anything substandard at this point. As always, you can see me ahead of time for help to avoid extra revisions and loss of credit due to unsatisfactory work.

Week 12: This week will conclude our conversations about the First Amendment and other Bill of Rights questions you may have. If we are done on early, we will watch the excellent film of The Crucible, but we usually need that time for discussion.

Grammar: Punctuation with however and though

This trimester's Bill of Rights notes should be retained as they will really help you on the history section of the competency exam, and they might be useful in your future legal scrapes.

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