Official home of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Learn about American news, whats going on with the Supreme Court and new legislation, and more at this online interest group.
Text and full descriptive summary of the 5th Amendment to the Constitution. Reference accompanied by links to related material including, video, timeline, and news sources.
Have a question about the law? Go to this site dedicated to teaching children about the law and to encouraging law-abiding behavior. Topics include driving laws, "Teen trouble", drug and alcohol laws, and more.
Students can visualize how a bill becomes a law with this infographic that breaks the process down into 7 steps with pictures and explanations. [PDF]
Learning Adventures guide on how a bill becomes a law summarizes the legislative process and makes it understandable for students of all ages. With links to U.S. Government publications.
Students conduct a hands-on investigation to determine how matter, changing state, effects the property of weight. Students will collect data and graph their results. Resources include step by step instructions, a data worksheet, videos of the lesson in action, and examples of student work.
In the following video Paul Andersen explains how the nucleon number and charge is conserved in all nuclear reactions and radioactive decay. Fission, fusion, alpha decay, beta decay, and gamma decay all conserve the number of neutrons and protons, as well as charge. [8:27]
Mr. Andersen explains the law of superposition and the principle of original horizontality. He uses an animation to explain how rock layers can accumulate over time. [6:21]
This site from the Cornell University Law School provides an overview of constitutional law as it applies in the United States, with links to additional information.
Official site with information and resources relating to all aspects of environmental conservation: data, maps and laws. Specific environmental information by zip code provides immediate relevance to your world.
Seinfeld clip [4:44] from an episode that teaches us about the economic concept of demand, featuring Jerry and Elaine's crusade as they begin to get fat from the yogurt they are eating.
The 12th grade learning experience consists of 7 mostly month-long units aligned to the Common Core State Standards, with available course material for teachers and students easily accessible online. Over the course of the year there is a steady progression in text complexity levels, sophistication of writing tasks, speaking and listening activities, and increased opportunities for independent and collaborative work. Rubrics and student models accompany many writing assignments.Throughout the 12th grade year, in addition to the Common Read texts that the whole class reads together, students each select an Independent Reading book and engage with peers in group Book Talks. Language study is embedded in every 12th grade unit as students use annotation to closely review aspects of each text. Teacher resources provide additional materials to support each unit.
Students will consider the different ways that humor can be used by a writer to criticize people, practices, and institutions that he or she thinks are in need of serious reform. Students will read satirists ranging from classical Rome to modern day to examine how wit can be used to make important points about culture.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Students research an aspect of modern life that they would like to lampoon.
Students read from satirists across history to absorb the style and forms of humor and institutions satirized.
Students write their own satire, drawing on techniques of famous satirists to criticize their targets.
GUIDING QUESTIONS
These questions are a guide to stimulate thinking, discussion, and writing on the themes and ideas in the unit. For complete and thoughtful answers and for meaningful discussions, students must use evidence based on careful reading of the texts.
What is satire, and when is it too harsh?
How can humor and irony make you more persuasive?
What do you think is funny? How far would you go to satirize it?
Who gets more reaction—satirists or protestors?
In this lesson, students will conference with their teacher at some point and finish their satirical video. If Students have time, they can ask for input from another group one more time.
The laws that govern and the social norms that regulate society are not always fair, legal, moral, or ethical. What is a person to do about all this injustice? What are the hazards of righting injustices or changing social norms? And what are the dangers of doing nothing?
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Students read and annotate Antigone, “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” and Pygmalion.
Students write a literary analysis showing the effect of social class or the law on a character’s life.
GUIDING QUESTIONS
These questions are a guide to stimulate thinking, discussion, and writing on the themes and ideas in the unit. For complete and thoughtful answers and for meaningful discussions, students must use evidence based on careful reading of the texts.
How do social class and legal institutions shape literary characters’ lives (and presumably our lives)?
How does social class affect a person in dealing with the law (protect a person, hurt a person)?
How is social class determined in America and in other places in the world?
BENCHMARK ASSESSMENT: Cold Read
During this unit, on a day of your choosing, we recommend you administer a Cold Read to assess students’ reading comprehension. For this assessment, students read a text they have never seen before and then respond to multiple-choice and constructed-response questions. The assessment is not included in this course materials.
In this lesson, students finish reading, annotating, and discussing Antigone. Then they will meet in their Independent Reading Groups for the first time.
In this lesson, students will take the second in a series of three Cold Write assessments in the narrative genre. The Benchmark Assessment (Cold Write) is an unassisted and unrevised piece of writing with the purpose of providing a quick gauge of the student’s mastery of the characteristics of a given genre. Today’s Benchmark Assessment (Cold Write) measures and provides a benchmark of students’ mastery of narrative writing. They’ll also continue reading, annotating, and discussing “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.” Then they’ll focus on the charges made against Dr. King and how he refutes them.
In this lesson, students look at “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” again, focusing on Dr. King’s writing style. Then students will try to write a paragraph using his style of repeating passages or phrases to build a convincing argument.
Explore how civil liberties are protected under the Bill of Rights. Through a study of foundational documents like the Constitution and key Supreme Court cases like Barron v. Baltimore, New York Times v. The United States, and Roe v. Wade, learn about the ongoing debate about the scope and reach of the Bill of Rights. The episode covers issues like state's rights, the complexity of freedom of speech, due process of law, clear and probable danger, and libel. [14:04]
Informational site provides illustrated tutorial of light reflection. Also discusses the law of reflection.