NCSS Thematic Strand: Civic Ideals and Practices

Minnesota Social Studies Standards:

9.1.1.4: Civic Skills: Apply civic reasoning and demonstrate civic skills for the purpose of
informed and engaged lifelong civic participation.
9.1.5.1: Public Policy: Analyze how public policy is shaped by governmental and non-
governmental institutions. Analyze how people and communities take action to solve problems
and shape public policy.
9.1.3.2: Rights and Responsibilities: Explain and evaluate rights, duties and responsibilities in a
democratic society.
Grade level: 9-12
Purpose, Background, & Context:
Purpose: For students to develop civic skills and dispositions and comprehend why civic
participation is needed for democratic societies.
Background: Civil disobedience has been used since before America was independent and is a
way for citizens to get elected officials' attention to change society. Civil disobedience is what
made it possible for America to break off from Britain and has been a way for citizens to force
America to live up to its promises made in the Constitution. The First Amendment gives us the
ability to speak out against the government because that is the key element to democracy, the
people must be able to speak. The Supreme Court applied the First Amendment to the states in
1925, meaning our right to speak out against the government is applied at the federal, state, and
local levels.
Context: The First Amendment provides citizens the right to protest government and social
issues. Citizens have a duty to respond to government inequalities and injustices in order to
uphold democratic values. Protesting is a way to participate in political life and is necessary to
hold our elected officials accountable.
Objectives:
Analyze civic engagement as an influence in the American political system.
Explain citizen's rights and duties in a democratic society.
Materials:
Text: Bus Boycott, Occupy Wall Street, Trail of Broken Treaties, Vietnam War Draft Resistance
Protests PowerPoint

Procedures:
In four groups of four, each group of students will read their given text describing an act of civil
disobedience. After reading, the group will discuss questions about their text becoming “experts”
on their event.
Students will then be organized into new groups with one “expert” from each event. New groups
will then teach their peers about their event using guiding questions.
After the groups are done discussing, the whole class will come together to discuss the small
group discoveries. Students will share about the effectiveness of using Civil disobedience as a
source of influence on the government using evidence from their readings and peer teachings.
Assessment:
In groups of 3-4, students will create a skit about a contemporary issue, and they will act out how
they would use civil disobedience as a form of protest.
Students will include when, where, and what act of civil disobedience is taking place and the
goal outcome along with a rationale for their actions and desired outcome.
Each student will then turn in a short three-paragraph paper about how protesting influences
government/society. Why does democracy depend on civic participation?
Extension/Adaptations:
 Text can be adapted to any reading level necessary.
 Text can be read with a partner instead of individually.
 Short papers can be video recorded instead of written.
 Students can be partnered with a peer to teach their topic in their new groups.