Giving students historical perspective on their rights as citizens
Most students first discover their Constitutional rights as teenagers. Sometimes they learn about their duties as citizens through active civic participation, such as campaigning for an issue they care about deeply or advocating for themselves before a school board meeting. Most begin their civics education in the classroom. It can be difficult, however, for a student to truly grasp the meaning of these rights from the dense pages of a textbook. The Constitution Project aims to change that.
The Project has two separate components that work in tandem to provide students with a truly interactive educational experience. The first is the Documentary Group, which produces one short film every year on a different topic in American legal history or a key Supreme Court ruling. These films are then made available to teachers, in addition to other types of interactive media, in the Annenberg Classroom. The project is a part of the Leonore Annenberg Institute for Civics, a nonprofit and nonpartisan program that is part of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania.
Andrea Reidell, the project’s Director of Outreach and Curriculum, has said that the materials available on the website are primarily geared toward students in grades 6-12, with a particular focus on the high school grade levels. Older students, she says, are reaching a point in their lives where they will need to think about and try to resolve some of the issues that face them in their local communities. She hopes that the project will inspire them to act and realize that they can then continue their civic engagement on a larger level.
The process for choosing new lessons begins with the selection of a documentary topic. Each documentary is about 20 to 30 minutes long. Past films have centered on Supreme Court cases regarding equal pay for women, jury selection, and the Magna Carta, among other themes. The Documentary Group has also focused on American history more broadly with its Juneteenth film, titled Juneteenth: Exploring Freedom’s Stories, which was released earlier this year to celebrate the new federal holiday.
Susan Schaefer, a producer with the Documentary Group, said they take these broad ideas or centerpiece cases and conduct as much research as possible. They brainstorm to decide who the best speakers are on the issues and rely on their broad network of contacts to see who is interested in appearing in the films. Many well-known figures in American government, including the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, have shared their thoughts on key moments in the country’s history on screen. They then use graphics, photographs, and original documents along with sound bites from Constitutional experts to create a holistic film.
The goal of the documentaries is to prepare students to understand how they can make a difference in their own communities. Hearing directly from ordinary Americans who had their day in court defending their constitutional rights should inspire students to stand up for themselves when they encounter everyday injustices, too.
No film makes this as clear as two of the more recent documentaries, First Amendment: Student Freedom of Speech and First Amendment: New York Times v. Sullivan. Together, the documentaries trace the history of First Amendment jurisprudence from the 1960s to the present. Students can see how other teenagers have fought for their rights in schools, whether they fought for the right to protest the Vietnam War or the right to complain about a cheerleading coach on Snapchat. They can then comprehend how, through cases like New York Times v. Sullivan, these same principles apply on a national scale.
From there, the documentaries are shared on the Annenberg Classroom website, where teachers and students can view them individually or use them in larger lesson plans. The website contains a variety of resources for students and teachers, organized both by topic and by media type. Students can download books, play games, or view interactive timelines to learn more about Constitutional doctrines.
To create comprehensive lesson plans, the Annenberg Classroom recruits middle and high school teachers. Kathy Hagee, a high school teacher in San Anselmo, Calif., worked with the Annenberg Classroom to create a companion lesson plan for the Juneteenth film. The two-day lesson plan, titled “Battle for Emancipation and Full Citizenship: A Journey from Dred Scott to the 15th Amendment,” places the holiday in history. It explains how liberation in Texas was only one stop on the lengthy road to emancipation. The plan encourages teachers to help students ask questions, improve their analytical skills, and expand their historical knowledge.
Hagee’s lesson plan combines hands-on activities like handouts and reflection exercises with a deep analysis of primary sources and photographs. Students can work both in group projects and individually to learn about the newest federal holiday and one of the most significant events in the fight to end slavery in the United States. Her lesson plan includes a viewing guide for the Juneteenth documentary that allows students to fill in the blanks on an emancipation timeline. Her goal in creating the viewing guide, she says, is to help students absorb as much content as possible so they are best prepared to jump into the rest of the lesson.
Placing oneself in history is perhaps the quickest way to show someone that the past is not static — even though the Constitution was written over two hundred years ago, its principles are actively working to protect Americans today. The Constitution Project hopes to help teenagers become more in tune with the problems around them and to show them that they, too, can change the world.
To learn more about the Constitution Project, visit theconstitutionproject.com.