Integrated Lesson Plan (Proposal)

For my integrated lesson plan, the teacher will be asking the students to become acclimated with the First Amendment's provision for Freedom of the Press, and how this was interpreted by the 1971 Supreme Court Case The United States v. The New York Times which arose after the Times obtained access to the controversial "Pentagon Papers."  The lesson's objective will be to have the students think critically about when it is legitimate, in the name of national security, to censor what is published by the press, and to think about how this runs in opposition to our safeguards for liberty and our desire for government transparency.  The lesson will also ask students to think about the ways in which modern technology may further effect the relationship between the government and the press (citing, for example, the U.S. government response to WikiLeaks' release of diplomatic cables last year).  In doing so, my lesson aims to address the NJ state curriculum standard that pertains to "Active Citizenship in the 21st Century" and that reads as follows:
D. History, Culture, and Perspectives
6.3.12.D.1
Analyze current laws involving individual rights and national security, and evaluate how the laws might be applied to a current case study that cites a violation of an individual's constitutional rights.    

(5-10 minutes)
Students may be prepared for a class discussion by reading about the "Pentagon Papers" controversy via a prior reading assignment in a textbook or at this website.  Or they may be informed with a quick viewing of a video at the beginning of the class available here.  To generate student interest, at the beginning of class, the teacher may show a clip from the film, All the President's Men, also available on YouTube.  The ultimate line, "Be careful how your write it," is meant to provoke thought about how journalists or those who speak in public must be careful about what they say when it comes to issues of national security.  Meanwhile, the teacher will be writing the definition for "prior restraint" on the board and, after showing the video clip, explain "prior restraint" to the class.

(10-15 minutes)
After this, students will be divided into groups of 3 or 4 and receive handouts that have a list of the following scenarios:

• A television network plans to broadcast soldiers’ flag-draped coffins being returned to the U.S.
• A magazine will feature an interview with and photographs of a seriously wounded soldier.
• A newspaper article will detail a major city’s response plan in case of a terrorist attack.
• A news report will contain a map of Iraq, illustrating American troop positions. 

Students will be asked to circle the items that they think would be "ok" to publish if they were a reporter.  In discussion with the class, each group will present their choices and reasons for each.

(10 minutes)
Returning discussion back to the Pentagon Papers, students will be posed with some of the following questions:
The Pentagon Papers was about the Vietnam War. How is that different from the actions of the press in current coverage of the Iraq war?
Given current technology, can prior restraint ever be effective?
In light of the recent WikiLeaks scandal, how does "prior restraint" apply in this case?  Is Julian Assange protected by the Freedom of the Press?

For the remainder of the period (if students have access to internet) or for homework (if resources don't exist in classroom), each group will be asked to look up a local news source (a newspaper, web site, or TV/radio station) and find the contact information for an editor or reporter.  Students will draft and ultimately send a professionally written e-mail to their contact, asking them when they decide or decide not to publish sensitive material, whether they deal with national security or sensitive local government topics.  Students will CC the teacher on their sent e-mail.

By using clips from YouTube, I believe that the use of mixed media should help gain the immediate attention of students.  Although this is not necessarily interactive, I believe that showing artifacts such as quick documentary clips or popular films might help illustrate a broader political and cultural context for the students.  As for the online research and e-mail assignment, I believe that integrating technology into the lesson in this manner will help sharpen students research skills, make them aware of what local publications or news outlets exist, and ask them to demonstrate ways to communicate professionally and effectively using electronic tools, i.e. e-mail.  In my mind, this is an important 21st century skill which will be useful to them throughout their adult lives and as long as e-mail remains a dominant form of communication.

To assess their understanding of the term "prior restraint" and its relation to the First Amendment, the teacher will look at the student responses to the initial handout, which they will turn in.  The teacher will also pay close attention to the students' oral discussion responses and class participation to assess their understanding of the concept.  The research and e-mail correspondence component will be assessed by viewing the student's e-mails to media professionals, and judging their performance against the assessment included in this rubric.  The teacher should be able to judge the student's learning by their articulation of the legal concepts embedded in the Freedom of the Press and "prior restraint," through their responses to the in-class handout, an in-class discussion, and their written letters to media professionals.  Ultimately, the lesson would hope to instruct students in an age where availability of publishing tools has expanded exponentially to include nearly all persons who have access to the internet.


Parts of this lesson plan were inspired by:
Doremus, J.  http://www.hsj.org/modules/lesson_plans/detail.cfm?LessonPlanId=53
University of Idaho's "Constitution Day".  http://www.uidaho.edu/class/constitutionday/consitutiondaylessons/lesson5/background