Remember
September 11
(6-12)
A
Just World
(n34)
Subject
History
Objective
The
events of September 11 have certainly caused many
people to reassess the way they live their lives.
Some things that seem important in the past don’t
seem as important today. This activity asks students
to examine some important historical documents
to see the common approaches to the type of society
envisioned. Students will understand the values
that under gird the American sense of justice
and consider what characteristics would be important
in a world that operated just and fair.
Time
Needed
One
to two class periods
Materials
Several
important documents in American history. Major documents
that are the foundation of our nation can be found
in the NEA Patriot
Pack.
Lesson
This
Jigsaw cooperative learning activity should be
accomplished first by dividing the class into
5 groups (or as many groups as there are documents).
Give each group one of the documents. The group
should read the document and together answer the
questions, insuring that each group member understands
the answer to be able to explain to another group
of students. The teacher might want to make sure
the initial groups are balanced with stronger
and weaker students. The questions to answer are
as follows:
* What is the main idea of the document?
* What is the author’s concept of the qualities
that define the ideal government or society?
* How is the view similar to or different from
the way you see the world today?
* What values does the author of this document
believe are most important?
* Is there any view presented in the document
with which you disagree? Why?
* What are two questions generated by this document
that would be of value for us to discuss as a
large group?
Regroup students so that one person from each
group meets in a second group. As a result, there
will be one student who has read each of the documents
that have been examined. In these new groups,
students should share the information they have
learned about the five documents.
Once all members have shared, the new groups should
formulate responses to the following questions:
* What ideas do all these documents have in common?
* What are the major differences?
* Do these documents still have meaning for us
today? Why or why not?
* Are the values expressed in these documents
still valid for us in 2002? Why or why not?
* Are there ideas in these documents that we wish
were more prevalent today? Which ideas?
Debrief small group ideas as a class.