General Information

Students will study three Supreme Court decisions from the early 19^th century.  These early court decisions have a lasting impact to today through common law. During this unit, students will understand how laws are changeable depending on the court make-up and the time.

Standards Tapestry Files

After mastering the standards in this unit, students will be able to answer the following question and defend the statement:

• How do perceptions change over time?

• Laws are changeable depending on the thinking of the time

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Assessment Rationale

Standards	Presentation	Debate	Timeline	Journal	Homework
SS  8.1.12 SS  8.1.26 SS  8.1.30 SS  8.2.13	X	X	X	X X	X

Assessment Links

• Debate Rubric
• Presentation Rubric

Humanities-rich Resources

Type (book link, etc.)	Name	URL (if any)	Annotation (can include description and notes on how to use.
Text	Call To Freedom		Holt, Rinehart, Winston
Link	Our Documents	ourdocuments.gov
Document	13th Amendment (115-13th amendment)
Document	14th Amendment (115-14th amendment)
Document	Gibbons transcript (115-gibbonstranscript)
Document	Marbury transcript (115-marburytranscript)

Instructional Plan

Students will complete a variety of activities to pursue higher level thinking about the Supreme Court and judicial review.  Students will create a product displaying research to answer student produced questions.  They will also participate in a scripted play based on NJ vs. TLO and simulate an oral argument being held at the Supreme Court.

Instructional Day	Description
Day 1 Introduction	Notes over Supreme Court, intro to the project, share all three court cases and students will create questions on toilet paper (see activity on introduction notes). 115-Introduction Notes
Day 2 Library Research	Researching in groups of two 115-Perceptions over time handout
Day 3 Library and Computer Lab	Conclusion of research and begin to complete the finished product
Day 4 Computer Lab	Completion of the finished product
Day 5 Application of common law and judicial review	Use Plessy vs. Ferguson, Dred Scott case and Furman vs. Georgia timeline
Day 6 Complete day 5	Continued from Day 5
Day 7 Debate	Assign and unknown court case (NJ vs TLO) to be debated in class. Teacher resource for debate (only to be used by teacher for information).  Students will participate as an orator or judge (with application and interview for selection process)
Day 8 Essay	Assess student knowledge.  Additionally, students will be given a court case to show the ability of creating inquiry questions. Essay Questions
Day 9 Survey Students	Survey students about the activities and search for recommendations for next year. Survey
Day 10 If needed for research time or to complete debate

Instructional Plan Links

• Introduction Notes
• Perceptions over time Handout
• Timeline
• Survey

Classroom Implementation Notes

1.   Teacher Tips – The students were most excited about toilet papering my room which created a wonderful environment to introduce a research project.  Many students took upwards of fifty squares or more.  It was necessary to cap some groups so they were not writing questions for ten days.  Students had to create a minimum of ten squares so students would have at least three questions per court case.  I really had fun with this activity and it could be adapted to use in any project or review.  During the unit, I allowed students to choose their own groups but did have to encourage a few groups to be productive.  It would be advantageous to create the groups in advance.  Be sure to allow plenty of time in the library and I forbid the students from using the internet on the first day in the library to encourage the use of books.  It was very important to use the websites listed as well.  The essay is very broad and allows students to answer the questions based on what they researched.  Each group answered the questions costumed to their research.  They were allowed to use their notes taken during the library visits.

2.   Student Reactions – As mentioned before, students enjoyed toilet papering my room.  They worked hard in the library and all of the returned surveys suggest students enjoyed the project.  After talking with the classes, many said they liked the fact that they were in charge of their own research.  There was not a list of items they all had to do at the same time.  Each group created their own research path to follow.  Additionally, the performances on their essays suggest retention of more material.  Even a month after the unit, students could still recall detailed information about judicial review.

3.   Differentiated Instruction – This unit is designed to cater to all levels of learning.  Each group created the questions they were researching, thus, the questions were equal to learning levels.  Differentiation just naturally occurred.  The students, who needed enrichment, had very challenging questions to answer.  I did intervene within some groups who had special education students to encourage higher level thinking.  Meeting the needs of various learning levels is one major benefit of student-driven research.