Academy Curricular Exchange
Columbia Education Center
Social Studies

TITLE:  CREATING A BILL OF RIGHTS

AUTHOR:  Jamie Fratello Staub, L.W. Higgins High School;
         Marrero, Louisiana

GRADE LEVEL:  Appropriate for grades 7-12.  This activity
can be used in Civics, U.S. History or Government classes.

OVERVIEW:  Students are asked to write a Bill of Rights for
a new democratic country.  This activity is designed to show
students the problems faced by the Founding Fathers.  This
activity should be conducted as an introduction to the study
of the creation of the Bill of Rights.

PURPOSE:  The primary purpose of this lesson is to have
students experience some of the difficulties faced by the
Founding Fathers.  Another purpose of this lesson is to see
what rights students feel are important.  The third purpose
of this lesson is to have students work cooperatively in
groups.

OBJECTIVE(s):  The students will be able to:
1.  Create a Bill of Rights for an imaginary country.
2.  Present the Bill of Rights to the class.
3.  Discuss problems faced by the group.

MATERIALS:
Teacher Materials = instructions

Student Materials = large paper or poster board, markers,
masking tape.

ACTIVITIES AND PROCEDURES:
1.   The class should be divided into groups of 3 to 5.
2.   The teacher gives instructions to the students that
     they are to pretend that each group is a new democratic
     country and that they must create a Bill of Rights for
     the country.
3.   Materials are distributed to each group.
4.   Students are given thirty minutes to construct the Bill
     of Rights.  (Students may decorate their Bill of Rights
     with a country name, flag etc.)
5.   Each group presents their Bill of Rights to the
     class.
6.   The class discusses the problems faced by the
     groups.
7.   Students tape their creations to the walls.

TYING IT ALL TOGETHER:
In the class discussion, it should be evident that the
students had to make compromises when they created their
Bill of Rights.  Following this activity, students should
begin to study the history behind the creation of the Bill
of Rights.

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