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Lesson-Civil-Rights-Reporting-Out

Students will identify and analyze a contemporary civil rights issue, practicing public communication and civic engagement. The lesson includes defining civil rights, brainstorming issues, creating an information campaign, and presenting findings for feedback. Optional activities include hosting a civil rights expo and evaluating historical civil rights methods at the Newseum.

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Joyce
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9 views

Lesson-Civil-Rights-Reporting-Out

Students will identify and analyze a contemporary civil rights issue, practicing public communication and civic engagement. The lesson includes defining civil rights, brainstorming issues, creating an information campaign, and presenting findings for feedback. Optional activities include hosting a civil rights expo and evaluating historical civil rights methods at the Newseum.

Uploaded by

Joyce
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Students will identify, analyze and report about a contemporary civil rights issue.

They will
practice communicating in public venues and taking informed action in preparation for a lifelong
practice of civic engagement.

GRADE LEVEL: Middle and high school

TIME: More than 90 minutes

MATERIALS: Analyzing an Issue and Information Campaign worksheets (download),


Consumer’s Questions handout (optional download), Internet access

PREPARE
1. Make copies of the worksheets, one per student.

DO
(Note: For more support, see expanded procedure in downloadable lesson plan.)
1. Ask students to define civil rights, based on previous class discussions.
2. After a common definition is established, brainstorm contemporary local, regional and
national civil rights issues.
3. Have the class choose an issue to analyze. Find a recent article and analyze it as a class
with the Analyzing an Issue worksheet.
4. Next pair the students and have them select a modern civil rights issue and use the second
worksheet to create an information campaign.
5. Last, have students share their information campaign and ask for feedback. After they revise
their plans they should implement them and report the outcomes of their work to the class.

DISCUSS
Have students share their work and discuss their findings.
 Reflect on what the students learned, and what, if anything, they would do differently to
reach their goals.

OPTIONAL EXTENSION ACTIVITIES


1. Civil Rights Expo: Get the community involved! Have students plan and host a “civil rights
expo” to share their projects with others at school, in their neighborhoods and beyond. Make
sure students ask for reactions and feedback from their guests, which they can use to revise
their projects. Students may want to invite their school paper, local media outlets and
historical societies to the expo as well.

2. At the Newseum: Visit the exhibit called “Make Some Noise: Students and the Civil Rights
Movement.” Ask your students to evaluate the ways in which young people got involved in
the movement. Which methods or approaches worked? Which did not? Why? Students
should then review and revise their Information Campaigns worksheet to reflect lessons
learned from their predecessors’ campaign results.
Extended Procedure
1. Begin by asking students to define civil rights, based on previous class discussions.
Younger students in particular may wish to look again at the Making a Change EDCollection
for ideas and historical examples. In short, civil rights allow individuals to be full and equal
participants in society. In this collection, we define civil rights as social, economic, legal and
political liberties, many of which are guaranteed by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
The ability to exercise these rights gives people access to social goods and services, such
as the pursuit of employment and access to the legal process, and a voice in our
democracy.

2. Once a common definition has been established, invite the class to brainstorm examples of
contemporary local, regional or national civil rights issues. Encourage students to justify
their answers. How do they know their examples are civil rights issues? How do the
contemporary issues stem from or connect to historical issues the class studied earlier?
Some examples might include: federal benefits for married homosexual couples (see Loving
v. Virginia [1967] for precedents on marriage rights), access to public amenities for the
physically disabled (connection with Morgan v. Virginia [1946] for access to public
transportation), access to quality schools (see Brown v. Topeka Board of Education [1954]).

3. As a class, choose one issue to analyze. Find a recent article in print or online about your
issue and use the Analyzing an Issue worksheet to deconstruct the facts and opinions about
the issue. You may wish to use the Consumer’s Questions handout to guide your
discussion.

4. Next, have students find a partner and select a contemporary civil rights issue about which
they would like to inform others. Pairs research their topic, as they practiced as a class.
Then, using the Information Campaign worksheet and their class list of journalism best
practices for reference from Lesson 1, Reporting Then, students develop a plan of action to
exercise their freedom of the press to inform others about their issue.

5. Once students have developed a plan of action, ask them to present their information
campaign to the class for feedback. Guide students to examine the strengths and potential
weaknesses of the plan and offer suggestions for improvement. Give students time to revise
their plans, either in class or at home, and then implement them.
6. Finally, have students present the outcomes of their work to the class. Guide a discussion
that allows students to reflect on what they learned, and what, if anything, they would do
differently to reach their goals.
Civil Rights Resources List
Suggested resources for researching current civil rights issues:
 ABC News Topic Page: http://abcnews.go.com/topics/news/issues/civil-rights.htm
 Annenberg Classroom:
http://www.annenbergclassroom.org/speakouts.aspx?name=what-are-the-civil- rights-
issues-of-today&AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1
 Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division: http://www.justice.gov/otj/civilrights.htm
 Equal Rights Center:
http://www.equalrightscenter.org/site/PageServer?pagename=issues_main
 The Leadership Conference: http://www.civilrights.org/issues/

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