Leo Bickelhaupt, St. Paul Open School
Objective
Students will review the distinction
between rights, privileges, and
responsibilities, and apply the concept of
human rights to their daily lives.
Introduction
Students should be told that they will be
working in groups to form a hypothetical
list of ten rules that could be used to
protect the rights of students in the state
of Minnesota, just as the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)
protects the rights of citizens all over the
world and the Bill of Rights protects
people living in the United States
(students should have been introduced to
the UDHR and/or the Bill of Rights before
beginning this activity). It would be useful
to review the definition of a "right" to
make sure that students don’t write a list
of "privileges" they would like to have. The
object is to create a reasonable list of ten
basic rights that students and teachers
could look to as a resource in the case of
classroom disputes.
Body
Day 1
I. In groups of two or three, students
should first brainstorm a list of at least 15
rights that they think are reasonable and
important for students in the classroom.
II. As a group, the students should review
their lists, and try to pick out the 10 most
important ones. In the review process,
students should make sure that what they
have written down is worded in such a
way that it comes across as rights and not
privileges (a right should protect an
individual, while not necessarily entitling
that individual to anything). The group
should try to come up with a working,
legible copy of their 10-point document.
Day 2
I. Students should convene with one other
group and offer feedback on their
classroom rights document. Which of the
rights seem most reasonable and/or
important? Which ones seem unimportant
or have wording problems?
II. After the feedback session, groups
should consider any final changes they
might want to make to their documents.
III. Once they have settled on a final
version, the teacher should direct the
groups to consider the responsibilities
that go hand in hand with each right. It is
helpful to model this by asking a few
students to offer a sample right and have
the class come up with a responsibility
that would accompany that right as a
group. Once the class seems to
understand the concept, each group
should compliment their original 10-point
document with a list of ten responsibilities
which they should hand in as a final
product.
Conclusion
It would be useful to follow up this activity
with a discussion of the relationship
between rights and responsibilities as
well as the potential advantages of having
an agreed upon written document to settle
disputes.
Leo Bickelhaupt teaches middle school
at St. Paul Open and was a Partners
Program summer teacher fellow in 1996.
Simulation Using Fire in the
Forest - A Role Play
Grand Rapids Middle School, Grade 6
Objectives:
Students will express their
views on an important or
controversial issue.
Students will examine
human rights from several
points of view.
Students will attempt to
develop alternative courses of
action.
Time: 2-3 class periods.
Resource: "Fire in the Forest"-- A
Critical Issue Role Play/Simulation,
Moorhead-Kennedy Institute, American
Forum, 45 John St., #1200, New York, NY
10038 phone: (212) 732-8606
Introduction:
This role play/simulation is set in the
Amazon rain forest in a hypothetical
region called Amazonia. The area is
inhabited by indigenous people called the
Aka-Hipa. The current trend of the
Amazonian government is to relocate
other groups of farmers and miners to the
Aka-Hipa land to further the way for
development. There is controversy over
the relocation. The settler group feels very
powerless in the first place because they
are already being moved around by the
government. Historically, the government
has not been concerned about rain forest
preservation, and this has caused a
problem for the indigenous people. In a
nutshell, the Aka-Hipa and the settlers are
in conflict, and now the government is
getting involved because of the influence
of an American "Greenpeace" type of
group, which has money available if steps
are taken towards the preservation of the
forest.
Body:
Assign students to a role in one of four
groups: Aka-Hipa, Settlers, Rescue
Group, or the Amazonian Government.
There are ample roles to fill in the role
play. One excellent way to make this issue
relevant to the lives your Minnesota
community would be to ask adult
community members to participate in the
role play. Some possible adults could
include administrators, school board
members, parents, community leaders,
etc.
Conclusion:
The main follow-up activity for this lesson
is class discussion. The students will
need to debrief either orally or in a written
context in order to put closure on the
simulation, especially if no consensus
was reached. Some possible debriefing
questions include:
What were the major views
presented in this simulation?
Another possibility for follow-up is to have
students write the rest of the story based
on the actions of their group. The students
could also find other examples in history
or current events, which parallel the
situation in the rain forest.
The Great Court Quiz Bowl
Expo Elementary, Grades 4-6
Age Level:
K-4, 5-8, 9-12: Each level may need to
have some adaptions of the lesson.
Objectives:Students will:
Learn vocabulary about the
court to prepare for mock trial.
Develop basic research
skills.
Work together in groups
and deal with competitive
situations in the workplace.
Time: Six class periods.
Materials:
1.List of terms: writ of habeaus
corpus, prosecutor, defense
attorney, witness, judge, jury,
plaintiff, hearsay, appeal,
indictment, small claims court,
beyond reasonable doubt, contempt
of court, acquit, hung jury, due
process, felony, misdemeanor,
bailiff, closing argument, objections,
sustain or over-rule objections, civil
trial or civil court, criminal trial or
criminal court, opening statement,
testimony, direct examination, cross
examination, grand jury, petit jury,
arraignment, mistrial verdict,
defendant, Bill of Rights,
Constitution, plead guilty, innocent
until proven guilty, court reporter.
2.Research Source with vocabulary
words, i.e. xeroxed articles,
encyclopedias, dictionaries,
government resource books.
3.Index cards and file boxes.
4.Printed numbers to keep score or
chalkboard and chalk.
5.List of questions about the terms.
Ex. What are the answers a witness
gives to the questions a lawyer asks
called? (list of sample questions
available from the Partners Project)
Introduction:
1.Choose 30 terms that the students
will define and prepare the research
source(s) students will use.
2.Divide students into teams of three.
Students will choose a name for
their team and label their team box
of index cards.
3.Over a couple of class periods, the
students research the terms using
the research source, encyclopedias
and other materials. The students
will write a definition for each term
on a separate index card. The
teams will place the index cards into
the file box.
4.Review the definitions with the
students.
5.Explain the rules of the quiz bowl
game before the day of the quiz
bowl.
Example:
a.There will be three rounds. Each
round will last fifteen minutes. Each
team will have exactly 30 seconds
to answer the question. The answer
must be completely correct.
b.First round: All teams (i.e.. eight
teams) will compete and may use
their index cards in the first round.
At the end of the first round, the four
teams with the most points will
advance to the second round.
c.Second round: The teams may use
their index cards. At the end of the
round, the two teams with the most
points will advance to the third
round.
d.Third round: The students must
answer the questions from memory.
At the end of the round, the team
with the most points wins.
Body: The Great Court Quiz Bowl
1.Elect one person to keep score.
Conclusion:
1.Discuss with students how they felt
and what they learned about the role
of each person from the court
vocabulary.
2.Discuss the role of attorneys and
how to win and lose gracefully.
Evaluation: How well students
participate in team work, quiz bowl, and
class discussion.
The Rights of Refugee Children
Jennifer Prestholdt, 1994 Partners Project
Fellow
Age Level: Grades 5-8
Time: 3-4 class periods.
Objectives:
This lesson plan is designed to educate
middle-schoolers about the plight of
refugee children. Refugee children
constitute approximately half of the world's
refugee population. Unaccompanied
refugee minors make up five to eight
percent of the world's refugee population.
This lesson can be used as part of a
larger unit on refugee rights.
Materials:
Universal Declaration of
Human Rights, Refugee
Convention, Convention on
the Rights of the Child.
The Diary of Anne Frank.
Anne was a refugee who was
hiding form the Nazis in the
Netherlands during WWII.
Many Jewish refugees died
because other countries
(including the U.S) refused to
accept them.
Additional Resources:
The Building Immigrant
Awareness and Support
(BIAS) Project of Minnesota
Advocates for Human Rights
has posters of refugee
children by the U.N. High
Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR) as well as posters
of the art by refugee children.
They also have annotated
bibliographies of youth and
adult readings. An additional
resource is the BIAS
Speakers Bureau at (612)
341-3302.
The Resource Center of the
Americas has youth
curriculum material on
refugee-producing countries.
The Human Rights
Documentation Center at the
University of Minnesota has
material about human rights
abuses in refugee-producing
countries. The Human Rights
Education Library has
additional curriculum
materials available for check
out.
Introduction:
Students read The Diary of Anne Frank.
Body:
Q: What is a refugee?
See Article 1 of the Refugee Convention
(Definition of a Refugee: a person outside
of their country of origin and unable to
return due to a well-founded fear of
persecution on the basis of race, religion,
nationality, membership in a particular
social group, or political opinion.) Discuss
why person might be forced to become a
refugee.
Q: What rights does a refugee child
have?
See Article 22 of the Convention of Rights
of the Child, the Refugee Convention and
Article 14 of the Universal Declaration.
(The most important right is the right not to
be returned to a place where one fears
persecution.)
Q: What would it feel like if you had to
leave your country?
Q: What would it feel like to be separated
from your parents, your family, your
friends?
Q: How do you think refugee children find
their parents again? Discuss how the
UNHCR Project ReUNite in the former
Yugoslavia and the International
Committee of the Red Cross have
programs to help parents find their
children again.
Q: What would it be like to be a refugee?
Talk about life in a refugee camp with no
opportunity to go to school and
inadequate food and water.
Q: Do you know any refugees?
If there are kids in the class that came to
this country as refugees, ask them
beforehand if they would like to talk about
their experiences.
Conclusion:
Discuss the Diary of Anne Frank. Why is it
important for the rights of refugees to be
protected?
Evaluation:
Students do the following activity:
Your mom wrote an editorial criticizing
government corruption, and now the
police want to throw her in jail. You have to
leave home immediately - and maybe
forever. You can only take five things with
you, and you must carry them yourself.
What do you take? Discuss their choices.
Karen Lyngdal Nelson, Teacher
Arlie Fundaun, Attorney
Kit Arnquist, Community Representative
How good were we at
listening to opposing points of
view?
Was it difficult to come up
with alternative courses of
action?
Is it reality that there are
times when consensus won't
be reached?
What happens now?
What kinds of human rights
violations take place in
situations like this?
How did it feel to play a
role?
How did it feel to play a role
that you may have been
opposed to?
Elective Courts Class
Karen Randall, Teacher
Michelle Garnett, Community
Representative
David Sips, Attorney
Lesson created by Wendy Casra
2.Review the above quiz bowl
instructions.
3.Conduct the quiz bowl, recycling the
questions from each round.