Joyce Rawlinson
Elementary School Teacher Dotham, Alabama
89004
AUDIENCE: First grade students
PURPOSE: As in the old adage "put a ring in a bull's nose and you can take him anywhere" so it is with children when they're told and never allowed to question. It has long been taboo for children to question authority but if we persist with this idea the strength of our country is weakened. This activity gives an opportunity to study, analyze, and discuss what changes, if any, should be made with their school laws.
TIME TO COMPLETE PROCEDURE: The time will range from two to three weeks for first graders to develop the necessary vocabulary and background information. Fifteen to twenty minutes per day will be the amount of time spent on the topic.
FIRST ACTIVITY
PROCEDURE:
The teacher will introduce the students to their new vocabulary which is listed on a chart: rules, laws, breaking the law, policeman, court, lawyer, judge, jury and uniform. Discuss the meaning of these words. List the children's definitions beside the words for later use.
List people who wear uniforms. Categorize these people in divisions of community helpers and others. Why are uniforms necessary for these people? Invite a policeman to the classroom to share some laws with the class. Also determine how we can all recognize a policeman. Learn a song about a policeman, share a poem, or write a language experience story of the policeman's visit with the class. Have the children draw themselves with a policeman illustrating a law the policeman shared with the class.
SECOND ACTIVITY
List the word respect on the vocabulary chart, developing a definition for this new word.
Read and discuss the book The Value of Respect: The Story of Abraham Lincoln. Bring out the idea of owning another person as a way of life during Abraham's time.
Use the following questions to discuss this way of life and determine if this was a good or bad idea:
What happened to change this way of life?
Should we always go along with everything we are told?
What could we do if we do not agree with what is happening? What could we do about a law that is not right?
THIRD ACTIVITY
Review the definitions of laws and rules.
Have an attorney come to the classroom and discuss the roles of judges, juries, and the court system to the class.
Establish where rules and laws are written.
Show the chart of established school rules. Use the following questions to discuss these rules with your students.
What is the reason for this rule?
Why do you suppose we have this as a school rule? (Example: for safety, for health, to protect our environment.)
Is the rule necessary?
Could you think of a better rule to replace this one?
Brainstorm with your class for a better rule. List any suggestions made by your students on the board. Discuss each suggestion and determine as a class if they think it is better than the one already recognized by the school.
FOURTH ACTIVITY
Review the rule the class decided to change from the previous day's lesson.
Ask: How do you think we could have this rule changed?
Let the class discuss what should be done. Have the class list ways to go about changing their rule to the new one that they have developed.
Read the story of Ralph Bunche from the Value Tales series to help the children establish a definition for responsibility. Establish through the questioning process whose responsibility it is to obey and enforce this new rule.
FIFTH ACTIVITY
To test our new rule for effectiveness have the class try out the rule to determine if it accomplishes the objective that the old rule maintained.
Role play situations that would also test the new rule. These situations will be written after the children have stated their new rule.
Discuss what was learned from each role playing situation.
Once the students have formalized their new rule, discuss what to do next for getting this rule changed.
SIXTH ACTIVITY
Elect a group of children to approach the principal with the suggestion for the new rule. Have the class dictate a letter to the principal asking him for his cooperation in letting them replace an old rule with one they think is better. Explain in the letter the procedures the children used to test out their new rule.
Follow up with any suggestions made by the principal.
Have the group report back to the class about their visit with the principal.
Have posters made by classmates to illustrate the new rule to be hung in the hallways later for the follow-up activity.
SEVENTH ACTIVITY
Use the following questions for debriefing of the class:
EVALUATION: The evaluation will come through class participation, the debriefing, and their individual effort made to follow this rule.
MATERIALS AND RESOURCES:
Policeman
Lawyer
Books:
The Value of Respect: The Story of Abraham Lincoln
A Value Tale by Ann Donegan Johnson
The Value of Responsibility: The Story of Ralph
Bunche
The Value of Fairness: The Story of Nellie Bly
Chart paper
Magic markers
Manila drawing paper
Song book:
Piggy Back Songs
More Piggy Back Songs
FOLLOW-UP: An interesting follow-up will be to take the posters the children made and put up in your hallways. After putting up the posters, have a committee of children go to other classrooms and discuss their work of changing a rule with other classes and possibly get other students and teachers involved in law and the process of change.