The Bill of Rights in Action
The week before Winter Break, Mr. Larson called the 5th grade classes together to discuss some new Patton Rules that he was considering. He told the students that he was telling them first so that as the oldest and most mature students in the school, they could think about the rules and provide him with their thoughts in a few weeks. Mr. Larson was aware that the 5th grade classes had recently studied the first 10 Amendments to the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and knew that some of the rules did relate to these Amendments. Students quickly reacted negatively to the proposed rules and made a connection to what they had learned about the freedoms guaranteed by the Bill of Rights. We told the students that if they believed a rule might violate the Constitution, they needed to put together a reasoned clear explanation for Mr. Larson, complete with evidence from the Constitution. Students split up the rules and formed groups to study the Amendments with renewed vigor, even reading some U.S. Supreme Court decisions related to the proposed rules. They prepared Prezi or Google Slide presentations and in January, Mr. Larson met with each class to listen to the student's arguments and presentations. Finally, he met with the entire class again and told them he would not be implementing the rules as proposed, and he was impressed by their arguments and understanding of the Bill of Rights as it relates to students in school. He also believed the discussions that resulted from their presentations were valuable for further study and involvement of students in improving the behavior at Patton School.
Here are the proposed rules, some photos from the student presentations and links to their slides or Prezi's.
Proposed Rules
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