While co-chaperoning the Competition Civics state meet earlier this month (a favor to my hallway bestie, the team’s adviser), my stupidity was embarrassingly apparent. The weekend was filled with two dozen of my school’s sharpest seniors citing Constitutional case law as they debated with actual working lawyers and I pretty much stood around the periphery, pretending to know what in the world they were talking about. Sure, I’d nod and give a faux-thoughtful gesture whenever it seemed appropriate, but my lack of Constitutional knowledge was appalling.
By the end of lunch on the first day, my friend wisely put me in charge of running errands. Yeah.
To fill the chasm that is my brain, I decided to review the Amendments (Quick now, can you name all 27? Don’t feel bad – neither can I) when I came across an article from the New York Times highlighting precedent-setting cases on topics that impact teens. Finally, an article that was speaking my language, explaining legal issues in a way an ordinary dolt like me could actually understand.
And what do I do when I find something cool? I build it into a lesson to share with my students and my teacher tribe. If you want to learn about the laws that impact our kids, have been looking for some interesting informational text to slide into your curriculum, or just need a print-and-go emergency sub plan to keep on file, grab these high-interest FREE lesson materials that’ll work in any English, health, or civics class. They’re even Common Core-aligned, y’all.
Want more easy-prep lessons for a sub or yourself? Check out these other budget-friendly solutions, one lesson built on a 43-minute viewing of Edgar Allan Poe’s biography and another to use with a viewing of the short documentary Billions in Change.
Hope these materials help some folks.
Teach on, everyone!
Laura, thank you so much! You never disappoint. I always enjoy your lessons, but more importantly my students do. You make me look good! So thank you!
My pleasure, Mommyrhetoric! I love sharing great things that’ll make our students want to learn while making our teacher lives a little easier. That’s what I’m all about! 🙂
I have already downloaded and printed this. We are working on argument in English 9 this quarter and I teach a “supplemental English” course. This will be perfect for that class – and it will dovetail nicely into their unit in regular English 9 – which I also teach. The lover level readers in my supplemental class always seem to think the world doesn’t apply to them, but this will help them see how directly it does.
Love it, Julie! Glad this will slide so smoothly into what you’ve already planned. Success! Have a great week. 🙂