Unit 2: Lesson 1: Activity 2

The Constitution: A Bridge between Then and Now

^[1]

“The work of many minds, the Constitution stands as a model of cooperative statesmanship and the art of compromise.”^[2] 

Benchmarks:

11.5.8.8 - Delineate and evaluate the reasoning in seminal U.S. texts, including the application of constitutional principles and use of legal reasoning (e.g., in U.S. Supreme Court majority opinions and dissents) and the premises, purposes, and arguments in works of public advocacy (e.g., The Federalist, presidential addresses)

11.5.9.9 - Analyze seventeenth-, eighteenth-, and nineteenth-century foundational U.S. documents of historical and literary significance (including The Declaration of Independence, the Preamble to the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address) for their themes, purposes, and rhetorical features

Digital Citizenship 5.a - Students understand human, cultural, and societal issues related to technology and practice legal and ethical behavior.

Learning Targets:

I can…break down and judge the reasoning and arguments in foundational U.S. documents and analyze the themes, purposes, and rhetorical features of these documents.

I can...understand the human, cultural, and societal issues that relate to technology and use technology in ethical ways.

Essential Questions:

What are the main intentions present in the early governing U.S. documents and how do those documents reflect the public reaction to issues that were important in colonial U.S.?

What must I do in order to effectively present digital information to an audience with a wide variety of cultures, races, beliefs and values?

Summary:

In this activity, you will analyze how the Preamble to the Constitution and the Bill of Rights responded to the concerns of Colonial Americans and how we understand these documents today.

You Will Need:

approximately three 50-minute class periods

Internet access

a collaborative group

video or audio presentation tool

Activity Instructions:

 Step 1. Watch this video: Preamble^[3].

 Step 2. Read the Constitution^[4] transcript.

Step 3. Complete this chart:

 Step 4. 

Submit your chart.

 Step 5. 

Create a collaborative group. Imagine you are a marketing company and you have been hired to “sell” the Constitution to today’s citizens. Of course, most Americans already implicitly believe in its ideas, but your company must “re-make” it into something that is explicitly talked about and used in the “average” citizen’s daily activities. Your assignment is to create a one-minute television or radio commercial that makes the Constitution as popular as the “Just Do It” slogan^[5] for Nike. Your commercial should have an effective, unique slogan. It should highlight at least 5 specific details about the Constitution’s content. It should be lively and neat in its presentation, and it should include a call for action of some kind.

Step 6:

Select 1 team member to submit your commercial to the course discussion forum. Comment on at least 2 other team’s video.

Step 7:

Submit your commercial to your e-Portfolio. Include a 2-3 paragraph reflection with your artifact.