L4+Flanagan+Andrew

**UNIVERSITY OF MAINE AT FARMINGTON** **COLLEGE OF EDUCATION, HEALTH AND REHABILITATION**  **LESSON PLAN FORMAT** **__Teacher’s Name__: Mr. Flanagan __Date of Lesson__: 4** **__Grade Level__: 11 __Topic__: Having Perspective in Politics** **__Objectives__** Student will understand that there are certain individual rights, granted by the United States constitution. Student will know Special Interest Groups, Lobbyist, Supreme Court, Judicial Review, Marbury v. Madison Student will be able to do the ideals, purposes, principles, structures, and processes of constitutional government in the United States and in the American political system, as well as examples of other forms of government and political systems in the world. **__Maine Learning Results Alignment__** Maine Learning Results: Social Studies. B: Civic and Government B1: Knowledge, Concepts, Themes, and Patterns of Civics/Government Grade: 9-Diploma Students understand the ideals, purposes, principles, structures, and processes of constitutional government in the United States and in the American political system, as well as examples of other forms of government and political systems in the world. B: Evaluate current issues by applying democratic ideals and constitutional principles of government in the United States including checks and balances, federalism, and consent of the governed as put forth in the founding documents. **Rationale:** Students will research an assigned topic and see how it affects United States citizens, they need to defend it as if they are an activist **__Assessment__** **Formative (Assessment for Learning)** Students products will be graded using a pre-created rubric which will be given out with the assignment so that students can know what expectations they have to meet in order to be successful with this lesson. **Summative (Assessment of Learning)** Students will be asked to create a position paper on a pre-assigned topic and asked to defend their point of view on their "hot topics" sheet passed around at the beginning of the semester (see more in the teaching and learning sequence portion) **__Integration__** **Technology:** Students will be asked to use computers to research their topics using pre-selected websites in order to gain more information. They will be asked to post their papers on their class blog, so they can have conversations with other students about their topic and gain a deeper understanding by defending and teaching others more about their research. **Student:** Students will use their blogs like an open forum to discuss their political views, in order to draw a larger perspective from the other students in the classroom. **Teacher:** The teacher will facilitate the conversations, as well as play devil's advocate to push students to think more critically in their own defense. **English:** Students will continue on from previous lessons enhancing their ability to create drafts and peer revise others work. This way they will learn better writing techniques as well as give the students a chance to see samples of each other’s work. **__Groupings__** Students will be working individually for the research portion, as well as given their choice for partners when it comes to the peer revision portion of the papers. When it comes to the discussion portion of the papers, students will be paired with others of the opposite perspective to have a conversation about their topics. **__Differentiated Instruction__** **Strategies** **Verbal:** Interviews will be a great way to let verbal students to get their ideas organized after discussing the topic **Logical:** Statistics and graphic representations can be used within the paper to strengthen the paper's argument **Kinesthetic:** Students can act out their position and create a video, and also they can enjoy the interview process and moving around **Visual:** Images can be used within the paper, or student created fliers to help convey the message **Naturalist:** Students can choose any topic to defend (including environmental policy or animal testing) **Intrapersonal:** Students can learn more about a topic they find personally appealing and express their thoughts through writing **Interpersonal:** Students can go out and interview people with similar beliefs and report their findings within the paper **Musical:** Finding a piece of music with relative lyrics, or making their own song lyrics to help convey their feelings **Modifications/Accommodations** I will review students' IEPs, 504s or ELLIDEPs and make the appropriate modifications and accommodations. **Absences:** When a student can not complete the lesson because of an absence from the class, it is the student's responsibility to meet with me as soon as possible to discuss the materials that they missed. Class notes will also be available on the Class Wiki as well as important links used within class discussions that the student has missed. **Extensions:** Use of student's blogs allows them to take the paper and transform it into type-II technology by making the paper interactive and the ability to instantly edit and give feedback to other students. **__Materials, Resources and Technology__** A Laptop Nation Rifle Association Website The Brady Campaign Website Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation Website National Rights-To-Life Committee Website **__Source for Lesson Plan and Research__** [] - a website about the campaign for the rights to life, highly against abortion. [] - a website for the protection of the second amendment rights and fights for the rights of gun owners. [] - a website about the prevention of gun violence and regulating gun safety. [] -a website about the protection of the rights for gay men, lesbian women, bisexuals, and transgendered people. **__Maine Standards for Initial Teacher Certification and Rationale__** **//Standard 3 - Demonstrates a knowledge of the diverse ways in which students learn and develop by providing learning opportunities that support their intellectual, physical, emotional, social, and cultural development.//** **Rationale**: Those who need fun and excitement will be able to convey their "position" using whatever means they want, they can enhance their blog with their own content in order to make their position paper "come alive" for their potential audience. Those who learn best through structure and guided reading will be given set guides to help point them in the right direction while conducting research. Those who need to investigate and dig deeper into the material will be given the perfect opportunity to get involved deeply with the research portion of this lesson. Those who need that peer-to-peer interaction with fellow students will do well during the peer revision process with the initial drafts **//• Standard 4 - Plans instruction based upon knowledge of subject matter, students, curriculum goals, and learning and development theory.//** **Rationale**: This lesson is based of the "have perspective" facet which emerges students deep into the hot politic issues of the modern world and allows them to see the "points" of both sides of the spectrum, and allows them to make more informed decisions once they have all the facts. For more information about what the students will be writing their papers on see the contents included further in the lesson plan. **//• Standard 5 - Understands and uses a variety of instructional strategies and appropriate technology to meet students’ needs.//** **Rationale**: To make sure all learner’s needs are met through throughout this presentation, different technologies and creative control are given to the students so that they can interact with the information in a multitude of ways. This way every learner is accounted for and the diversity in the classroom can enhance the overall lesson, and so that everyone can get the most from the lesson. **Verbal:** Interviews will be a great way to let verbal students to get their ideas organized after discussing the topic **Logical:** Statistics and graphic representations can be used within the paper to strengthen the paper's argument **Kinesthetic:** Students can act out their position and create a video, and also they can enjoy the interview process and moving around **Visual:** Images can be used within the paper, or student created fliers to help convey the message **Naturalist:** Students can choose any topic to defend (including environmental policy or animal testing) **Intrapersonal:** Students can learn more about a topic they find personally appealing and express their thoughts through writing **Interpersonal:** Students can go out and interview people with similar beliefs and report their findings within the paper **Musical:** Finding a piece of music with relative lyrics, or making their own song lyrics to help convey their feelings **//• Standard 8 - Understands and uses a variety of formal and informal assessment strategies to evaluate and support the development of the learner.//** **Rationale**: **Formative (Assessment for Learning)** Students products will be graded using a pre-created rubric which will be given out with the assignment so that students can know what expectations they have to meet in order to be successful with this lesson. **Summative (Assessment of Learning)** Students will be asked to create a position paper on a pre-assigned topic and asked to defend their point of view on their "hot topics" sheet passed around at the beginning of the semester (see more in the teaching and learning sequence portion) **__Teaching and Learning Sequence__:** The Students will be placed into tables of 4 which will be facing each other, this is so that the students can be grouped into similar topics and so that partners can have engaging conversation while looking over and comparing notes. * Students will walk into the classroom and be shown a video on difference in opinion between two opposing points of view, which will lead to a discussion about effective ways to communicate opinion and getting your voice heard within the community **(20 minutes)** * At the start of the class the student’s names written on the board to see who their partners. Students will be placed into these groups based on their interest in topics they have been assigned and the partners will begin research on their topic **(40 Minutes)** * The a rough draft of the assignment for the next class will be explained and be given as homework to the students **(20 minutes)** * **(Day Two)** Students will be given a chance to peer feedback and revise their essays during the blocks, and also be allowed time to dig deeper into the research portion of the paper if they did not get enough information from the first class period or for homework. **(80 minutes)** Students will be given an experience in which they will be given a topic they must defend, and stand their own ground against their opposition. This skill of defending personal interests in an appropriate manner and also allows them to see the unalienable rights we all have as American citizens. This lesson will connect to real life by giving the students perspective about the world around them, and the rights and responsibilities we all have within society and how individuals can affect change within the community. This also gives the students a chance to practice the application of the ideals we have been discussing throughout the semester to give them real-world scenarios in which they can take with them after leaving the class. By using the video of differing perspectives within society as a hook, students can see the application of material in a visual representation. This allows them all to get to see the things we talk about in class represented in the public light. By displaying this information there is a good way to reach spatial learners, as well as auditory hooks for the video's musical portions (how effectively a video production includes songs to enhance the appeal of the clip) By including the discussion portion after the video and asking engaging questions students verbalize their opinion, effecting intrapersonal, interpersonal, and verbal learners. Naturalist, logical, and kinesthetic learners can be reached by modifying the activity to fit their interest (such as choice of topic) and the way team selection and the activity is conducted. **Where, Why, What, Hook, Tailors: Verbal, Visual, Musical, Intrapersonal, Interpersonal** When presenting new material to the students, the 10-2 rule shall be implemented during the "talking portion" of the lesson. During the discussion portion after the hook is presented is when students will learn terms such as "Special Interest Groups, Lobbyist, Supreme Court, Judicial Review, Marbury v. Madison." These terms will help students get a better understanding of what were talking about during these lessons, throughout the lecture there will be checking for understanding by asking students to provide feedback as well as asking questions about the material covered to see how much the students really know. **Equip, Tailors: Verbal, Interpersonal, Intrapersonal** **Day One:** Student's will come in, and be seating in order to watch a brief video about the differences between pro-choice and pro-life supporters during a demonstration. This will lead the class to how they felt emotionally after watching the clip, from here the class will discuss what they feel are very powerful tools in order to communicate their beliefs effectively. There will be a brief brainstorming activity about how to spread political beliefs through not violent terms and how there are different schools of thoughts in reaching more people to follow your ideals. Also during this part of the lesson state the goal of the importance of having perspective, and how important it is to have ideals, becoming involved, and speaking out within society. Then the students will be assigned their topics and whether they are for or against the topic. This will be determined based on the list of "hot topics" given to the students at the semester, one partner will be someone who strongly agrees with the topics, and the other will be someone who strongly disagrees with the topic. With this style of grouping, both perspectives will be forced to see things in another way and help each other with a deeper understanding of the topic. Once placed into these partnerships the students will begin to research with each other and find evidence to enhance their topic **Day Two:** On the second day, students will take the drafts that they constructed on the previous day and worked on for homework that night. They will get back into their partners and exchange feedback with their blog websites, as well as make revisions on their drafts from the previous lesson. For those who did not get enough research from the past lesson, they will be given extra time to finish the research portion on this day as well. After the process has been finished and the students submit their papers electronically to me, they will be given feedback forms to see how the process made them feel, and what they would change if given the opportunity to do the lesson again. They will also be given the chance to critique the effectiveness of their partnerships and how it either enhanced or took away from the process as a whole. **Explore, Experience, Revise, Rethink, Refine, Tailors: Verbal, Interpersonal, Intrapersonal, Visual, Musical** The revision portion of this lesson comes directly from the second day of the agenda, students are taking their rough drafts and expanding their research as well as giving each other feedback and providing peer edits. The students will be given a chance to turn in multiple drafts to receive more credit and so that they can get a better sense of effective writing to prepare them for higher education and other courses they are taking at the high school level. **Revise, Refine, Tailors: Interpersonal, Intrapersonal** **Content Notes** Brady Campaign On June 26, 2008, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a 5-4 opinion in District of Columbia v. Heller. Justice Scalia, writing for the majority, held that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess handguns for use in self-defense in a person’s home. However, he stressed that this right “is not unlimited.” Although the Court split 5-4 on the whether the right granted by the Second Amendment is tied to militia service, all nine Justices agreed that a wide variety of gun laws are “presumptively lawful.” The Court listed many types of laws that would not be barred by the Second Amendment and stated that this “list does not purport to be exhaustive.” * Bans on gun possession by dangerous persons such as felons and the mentally ill * Laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in “sensitive places” such as schools and government buildings * Laws imposing conditions and qualifications on gun sales, which could include background checks, licensing, and limits on bulk sales of handguns * Prohibitions on carrying concealed weapons * Prohibitions on dangerous weapons, such as machineguns and military-style semiautomatic assault weapons * Safe storage laws to prevent gun accidents. In 2005, almost eight young people aged 19 and under were killed a day in gun homicides, suicides and unintentional shootings in the United States. Many more were wounded. Clearly, our gun laws are not doing enough to protect children. Guns and domestic violence make a deadly combination. People with domestic violence misdemeanor convictions are not allowed to have guns. However, the loopholes in our background check system allow them to slip through the cracks, with deadly results. Gun violence is a drain on our communities. When medical costs, loss of productivity, mental health treatment and rehabilitation, legal and judicial costs are figured in, gun violence costs the US over $100 billion annually. Lots of guns with few gun control laws equals senseless gun deaths and injuries. Learn the basic facts about the number of firearms in the United States and its impact on public health and safety. All population groups in the United States suffer from gun deaths -- young, old, urban, rural, and all ethnic and racial groups. Some communities, including the urban African-American community, are particularly hard hit. NRA FABLE I: A gun in the home makes the home less safe. Firearms are used three to five times more often to stop crimes than to commit them,1 and accidents with firearms are at an all-time recorded low.2 In spite of this, anti-firearm activists insist that the very act of keeping a firearm in the home puts family members at risk, often claiming that a gun in the home is "43 times" more likely to be used to kill a family member than an intruder, based upon a study by anti-gun researchers of firearm-related deaths in homes in King County (Seattle), Washington.3 Although Arthur Kellermann and Donald Reay originally warned that their study was of a single non-representative county and noted that they failed to consider protective uses of firearms that did not result in criminals being killed, anti-gun groups and activists use the "43 times" claim without explaining the limitations of the study or how the ratio was derived. To produce the misleading ratio from the study, the only defensive or protective uses of firearms that were counted were those in which criminals were killed by would-be crime victims. This is the most serious of the study's flaws, since fatal shootings of criminals occur in only a fraction of 1% of protective firearm uses nationwide.4 Survey research by award-winning Florida State University criminologist Gary Kleck, has shown that firearms are used for protection as many as 2.5 million times annually.5 It should come as no surprise that Kleck's findings are reflexively dismissed by "gun control" groups, but a leading anti-gun criminologist was honest enough to acknowledge their validity. "I am as strong a gun-control advocate as can be found among the criminologists in this country," wrote the late Marvin E. Wolfgang. "I would eliminate all guns from the civilian population and maybe even from the police. . . . What troubles me is the article by Gary Kleck and Marc Gertz. The reason I am troubled is that they have provided an almost clear-cut case of methodologically sound research in support of something I have theoretically opposed for years, namely, the use of a gun in defense against a criminal perpetrator. . . . I do not like their conclusions that having a gun can be useful, but I cannot fault their methodology."6 While the "43 times" claim is commonly used to suggest that murders and accidents are likely to occur with guns kept at home, suicides accounted for 37 of every 43 firearm-related deaths in the King County study. Nationwide, 58% of firearm-related deaths are suicides,7 a problem which is not solved by gun laws aimed at denying firearms to criminals. "Gun control" advocates would have the public believe that armed citizens often accidentally kill family members, mistaking them for criminals. But such incidents constitute less than 2% of fatal firearms accidents, or about one for every 90,000 defensive gun uses.8 In spite of the demonstrated flaws in his research, Kellermann continued to promote the idea that a gun is inherently dangerous to own. In 1993, he and a number of colleagues presented a study that claimed to show that a home with a gun was much more likely to experience a homicide.9 This study, too, was seriously flawed. Kellermann studied only homes where homicides had taken place--ignoring the millions of homes with firearms where no harm is done--and used a control group unrepresentative of American households. By looking only at homes where homicides had occurred and failing to control for more pertinent variables, such as prior criminal record or histories of violence, Kellermann et al. skewed the results of this study. After reviewing the study, Prof. Kleck noted that Kellermann's methodology is analogous to proving that since diabetics are much more likely to possess insulin than non-diabetics, possession of insulin is a risk factor for diabetes. Even Dr. Kellermann admitted, "It is possible that reverse causation accounted for some of the association we observed between gun ownership and homicide." Northwestern University Law Professor Daniel D. Polsby went further, writing, "Indeed the point is stronger than that: 'reverse causation' may account for most of the association between gun ownership and homicide. Kellermann's data simply do not allow one to draw any conclusion."10 **FABLE III: NRA opposes all "reasonable" gun regulations.** Anti-gun activist groups claim that all of their proposals--including gun bans, prohibitive taxes, registration and licensing to name a few-- are "moderate and reasonable." Those who oppose such ideas, they say, are "unreasonable." And they claim that NRA opposes all gun laws. The truth is, NRA supports many gun laws, including federal and state laws that prohibit the possession of firearms by certain categories of people, such as convicted violent criminals, those prohibiting sales of firearms to juveniles, and those requiring instant criminal records checks on retail firearm purchasers.1 NRA has also assisted in writing gun laws. The 1986 federal law prohibiting the manufacture and importation of "armor piercing ammunition" adopted standards NRA helped write.2 When anti-gun groups accuse NRA of opposing the law, they lie. NRA, joined by the Justice Department and Treasury Department, opposed only earlier legislation because that legislation would have banned an enormous variety of hunting, target shooting and defensive ammunition.3 The sponsor of the earlier bill, Rep. Mario Biaggi (D-N.Y.), felt that his original goals were met by the NRA-backed bill that became law. "Our final legislative product was not some watered-down version of what we set out to do," Biaggi said on the floor of the House. "In the end, there was no compromise on the part of police safety." Similarly, the anti-gun lobby also continues to falsely claim that NRA opposed all efforts to ban "plastic guns." In truth, no "plastic" firearms existed then or now. NRA only opposed a bill that would have banned millions of commonplace handguns, and instead supported an alternative, the Hughes-McCollum bill. That 1988 legislation prohibited the development and production of any firearm that would be undetectable by airport detectors, and enhanced airport security systems to counter terrorism. In the end, the NRA-backed legislation passed Congress with wide bipartisan support and was signed into law by President Reagan. At the state level, NRA has worked with legislators to write laws requiring computerized "instant" criminal records checks on purchasers of firearms and those who carry firearms for protection in public. Because crime can be reduced by correcting deficiencies in criminal justice laws and policies, NRA has worked with legislators and citizens' groups in many states to increase the length of prison sentences for violent criminals, to sentence violent criminals to prison rather than probation, to prevent the parole of the most violent convicts, and to expand prison capacity. There is nothing "moderate" or "reasonable" about the agenda of anti-gun groups. Prohibiting people from keeping guns loaded at home for protection against criminals is not "moderate" (currently the law in the District of Columbia and inherent in legislation that would require guns at home to always be locked.) A prohibition or 1,000% tax on hunting, target shooting and personal protection ammunition is also not "moderate"4 nor is a 1,400% increase in firearm dealer licensing fees and fingerprinting people who buy miscellaneous handgun parts, such as springs and pins.5 When low-income Americans are the people most likely to be attacked by violent criminals,6 prohibiting guns inexpensive enough for them to afford for protection7 is not reasonable. It is also not reasonable to prohibit people who pass criminal records checks from buying two handguns in a given month8 or to prohibit them from carrying a gun for protection.9 And when computerized criminal records checks of gun buyers can be completed in only a matter of minutes, it is unreasonable to delay their firearm purchases with a week-long waiting period.10 The siren call to bow to the demand for "reasonable" gun control is not unique to the United States. In three nations that have much in common with the United States--Australia, Canada and Great Britain--gun owners did not unify to fight the incremental imposition of restrictive gun laws touted as "reasonable and necessary." As a result, firearms are severely restricted in Canada and Australia and almost entirely prohibited in Great Britain. British gun owners failed to resist the passage of "reasonable" gun laws and have seen their rights almost completely disappear in the space of a few decades.11 England changed from a nation with almost no restrictions on gun ownership and no crime, to a nation where all but certain rifles and shotguns are banned and crime is rising.12 The clear lesson for American gun owners is simple: if you don't fight for your liberties, you lose them. FABLE IV: "Gun control" laws prevent crime. So overwhelming is the evidence against this myth that it borders on the absurd for anti-gun groups to try to perpetuate it. There are thousands of federal, state and local gun laws. The Gun Control Act of 1968 (Public Law 90-618, 18 U.S.C. Chapter 44) alone prohibits persons convicted of, or under indictment for, crimes punishable by more than a year in prison, fugitives, illegal drug users, illegal aliens, mental incompetents and certain other classes of people from purchasing or possessing firearms. It prohibits mail order sales of firearms, prohibits sales of firearms between non-dealer residents of other states, prohibits retail sales of handguns to persons under age 21 and rifles and shotguns to persons under age 18 and prohibits the importation of firearms "not generally recognized as particularly suitable for or readily adaptable to sporting purposes." It also established the current firearms dealer licensing system. Consider the following gun control failures. (Unless otherwise noted, crime data are from the FBI, Uniform Crime Reports.) Washington, D.C.'s ban on handgun sales took effect in 1977 and by the 1990s the city's murder rate had tripled. During the years following the ban, most murders--and all firearm murders--in the city were committed with handguns.1 Chicago imposed handgun registration in 1968, and murders with handguns continued to rise. Its registration system in place, Chicago imposed a D.C.-style handgun ban in 1982, and over the next decade the annual number of handgun-related murders doubled.2 California increased its waiting period on retail and private sales of handguns from five to 15 days in 1975 (reduced to 10 days in 1996), outlawed "assault weapons" in 1989 and subjected rifles and shotguns to the waiting period in 1990. Yet since 1975, the state's annual murder rate has averaged 32% higher than the rate for the rest of the country. Maryland has imposed a waiting period and a gun purchase limit, banned several small handguns, restricted "assault weapons," and regulated private transfers of firearms even between family members and friends, yet for the last decade its murder rate has averaged 44% higher than the rate for the rest of the country, and its robbery rate has averaged highest among the states. The overall murder rate in the jurisdictions that have the most severe restrictions on firearms purchase and ownership--California, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Washington, D.C.--is 8% higher than the rate for the rest of the country. New York has had a handgun licensing law since 1911, yet until the New York City Police Department began a massive crackdown on crime in the mid-1990s, New York City's violent crime rate was among the highest of U.S. cities. The federal Gun Control Act of 1968 imposed unprecedented restrictions relating to firearms nationwide. Yet, compared to the five years before the law, the national murder rate averaged 50% higher during the five years after the law, 75% higher during the next five years, and 81% higher during the five years after that. States where the Brady Act's waiting period was imposed had worse violent crime trends than other states. Other failures of the federal waiting period law are noted in the discussion of Fable V. The record is clear: Gun control primarily impacts upon upstanding citizens, not criminals. Crime is reduced by holding criminals accountable for their actions. Increasing incarceration rates -- Between 1980-1994, the 10 states with the greatest increases in prison population experienced an average decrease of 13% in violent crime, while the 10 states with the smallest increases in prison population experienced an average 55% increase in violent crime.3 Put violent criminals behind bars and keep them there -- In 1991, 162,000 criminals placed on probation instead of being imprisoned committed 44,000 violent crimes during their probation. In 1991, criminals released on parole committed 46,000 violent crimes while under supervision in the community for an average of 13 months.4 Nineteen percent of persons involved in the felonious killings of law enforcement officers during the last decade were on probation or parole at the time of the officers' killings.5 Enforce the law against criminals with guns -- The success of Richmond, Virginia's Project Exile, strongly supported by NRA, has grabbed the attention of the Administration, Members of Congress, big city mayors and criminologists. Project Exile is a federal, state and local effort led by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Richmond that sentences felons convicted of illegally possessing guns to a minimum of five years in prison. Following the implementation of Project Exile, the city's firearm murder rate was cut by nearly 40%.6 Recognizing the program's success, Congress in 1998 approved $2.3 million to implement Project Exile in Philadelphia, Pa., and Camden County, N.J. In 2002, the Bush Department of Justice took the Project Exile concept nationwide, targeting violent felons with guns under Project Safe Neighborhoods. Handouts **Reflection:**