SCHOOL AND SOCIETY
ES 3950
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"Teaching
Strategies/Lesson Plans" Chapter
Ten
Another important
chapter and, by far, one of the more dense. Your job is to try to sift
through all of the court cases, making sure to clearly identify how/why
these cases affect teaching and education. The fact that courts are involved
with schooling should tell you something right from the start. Why are
courts involved? What role have the courts -- federal, local, state --
played in fashioning schools as we know them? What's been the history
behind the lawmaking? Has it been fair? To all? What has motivated courts
to get involved with schools? These are just some of the critical questions
to take a look at during your presentation.
Teaching strategies and suggestions include
Find a film, such as the
Breakfast Club,
that places students and educators in potentially combative situations.
Consider the scene in which the teacher becomes aggressive with Judd
Nelson's character. What would the law say about this? Judd Nelson's
character apparently serves weekend detention for hiding pot in his
locker. Is the penalty enough? Related issues such as locker searches,
bullying (Emilio Estavez's character is at weekend school for taping
another student's body). Use brief clip(s) to promote dialogue and to
introduce main ideas of the chapter.
Make overheads of the First
and Fourteenth Amendments. Also, consider putting the Establishment
Clause on an overhead as well. Put on overheads to illustrate exactly
how/why these amendments are crucial to this chapter. Connect the law and issues related to locker searches, strip searches, school newspapers, textbooks, etc.
Wear some t-shirts to class
the night that you teach. On your t-shirts, have something that might
get a student in trouble. Maybe it's a rock concert shirt; maybe it has a saying or slogan on it. Regardless,
use the t-shirt to introduce the issue of freedom of expression and
the law. Maybe you could find examples of shirts, cases, etc., and connect
your t-shirts to real-life cases.
The idea of religion and
schooling is a big issue in the chapter. The illustrate some of the
key issues, consider investigating the Scopes
Monkey Trial. How does this case connect to teaching? Also, consider
using parts of the film Inherit
the Wind (make sure to get the 1960 version in black and white)
to help illustrate some of the key debates, notably the scene in which
Spenser Tracy's character is cross-examining Fredric March's character.
The film is based loosely on the 1925 court case, and helps to draw
attention to a very real issue in schools today, namely the debate over
teaching evolution and creationism. You could use the film at the start
of presentation to grab attention, or somewhere in the middle as part
of a classrooms debate over religion and schools.
Explore the issues surrounding
gays, the Boy Scouts, 'NCLB,' and schools. You could take a look at
the documentary Scout's
Honor by Tom Shepard and use related clips. Consider: Why is
this an issue? What is the connection to public schools? Should there
be a connection? Why is the federal government involved in this issue?
How are schools affected? Kids? What is the message being sent?
Explore some of the key
issues in the chapter, such as drug testing, free
speech for students, school
uniforms, and locker
searches. What rights do students have? What rights should they
have? Why is clothing
such as big deal in schools? What about school prayer? What do supporters
and opponents
of the issue say? Can lockers be searched? Cars? What about the First
Amendment? Doesn't that apply to students? What about student newspapers?
Should they be censored? What is meant by 'prior review'? Shouldn't
student newspapers serve as venues for free speech and discussion
of critical issues? Find out more on the issues.
Check out some of the issues
regarding teacher's rights. What is some of the history behind the struggle for rights?
What rights do you have? Can your car be searched? What about relationships
with students? Parents? Administration? What about your personal life? How does school affect teachers? What can you say in your class? What can't you say? What if
you are challenged about your teaching? What is self-censorship?
What about suspensions? Your safety?
How does this issue tie into courts, content, and teaching?
Get ahold of some current information of how the law, schools, students, teachers' rights are being affected in the country.
Get ahold of a copy of a
teacher's contract or a student handbook from a local high school. Take
a look at what is going on. What can students do or not do in the school
according to the handbook? What rules are there? For students? Teachers?
Parents? How is the law tied into these rules?
Interview students on the
subject of censorship. Perhaps, talk to an editor for a high school
newspaper; maybe talk to students about dress codes. How do they feel?
How do students from different schools compare? Can you draw any conclusions
from your research? If so, what and why?
Revisit the issue of banning
books. Talk to librarians, teachers, etc., to get a sense of how
they feel about the issue. Share your results.