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Five to six 50-minute sessions plus group work time
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| Overview |
 After reading the novel Nothing But The Truth, students discuss the protagonist Phillip and this right to free speech as well as their own rights. Students examine various Web sites to research First Amendment rights, especially as they relate to the situation in the novel. After their research,
students will compose a position statement regarding their opinion of whether
Philip’s rights were violated then work with small groups to strengthen their
statements and supporting evidence. Groups present position statement and supporting
evidence to the whole class and debate Philip’s civil rights as a culminating
activity.
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| From Theory to Practice |
In “Writing to Think Critically: The Seed of Social Action”, Randy Bomer states that “one of the goals many writing teachers share is that of enabling students, usually rendered voiceless in the world at large, to speak for social change in their writing” (2). Bomer declares that “we want students to view their writing as more than exercises for learning to write, as more than obedience to teacher instruction, but rather as a unique form of social action” (2).
Students begin to see writing as more than a teacher-directed exercise when they
can see how their writing relates to their lives and the world around them. This
world, however, is not divided into neat, fifty-minute segments like typical
high school classrooms are. The borders in the real world are messy, and often
the disciplines separated within a high school curriculum bleed into one another.
For this reason, it is useful to use an interdisciplinary approach that blends
two or more disciplines together. Social justice cannot be achieved through writing
alone; rather, a writer must understand the social, historic, and scientific
background of an issue.
Teachers can teach for social change by connecting their curriculum to other
disciplines centered around the issues that students care about and encouraging
them to explore ways in which they can affect this issue. One such issue
that affects all students is their freedom of verbal expression—what speech
is protected by the First Amendment? How is the nature of a particular expression
determined? Who has the final authority in issues of free speech?
Further Reading
Bomer, Randy. “Writing
to Think Critically: The Seeds of Social Action.” Voices
from the Middle 6.4 (May 1999): 2-8.
Tchudi, Stephen, and Stephen Lafer. “Interdisciplinary
English and the Contributions of English to an Interdisciplinary Curriculum.” English
Journal 86.7 (November 1997): 21-29.
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| Student Objectives |
Students will
- analyze the theme of a novel using both personal opinion and factual information
- engage with the novel by making personal connections to its themes
- use the Internet for research
- use a variety of technological and information resources (e.g., libraries,
databases, computer networks, video) to gather and synthesize information in
support of an opinion
- compose a position statement
- synthesize their position statements with those of two to four other students
- present, explain, and defend their position statements
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| Instructional Plan |
Resources
Preparation
- Students should have read the novel Nothing But The Truth.
- Decide when students will write their response to the first writing prompt.
In this lesson, students write the response after reading the book; however,
the prompt can be used as an anticipatory activity, before reading
the novel.
- Make copies or an overhead of the Position Statements Handout and
the Presentation Rubric.
- Familiarize yourself with the three
cases regarding free speech in public schools.
- Check the First
Amendment Web sites to ensure that all are appropriate
for us in your class. If desired, make an overhead or copies of the links so
that students can continue their research outside of class.
- Decide how much time to allot for each group’s presentation. If groups
keep their presentations in the 5-7 minute time limit, all the presentations
can be given in one day.
- Decide when to give presentations, ideally a week after their work with the
Persuasion
Map. Ideally, build at least one additional work day into the schedule
to provide enough time for students to plan and practice their work. Work time
in class is especially important to ensure that students can assemble easily
without having to arrange for special meetings outside of school hours. You
may also make arrangements for students to work in your classroom or the library
is they before school starts, during lunch, and after school.
- Test the Persuasion Map on
your computers to familiarize yourself with the tools and ensure that you have
the Flash plug-in installed. You can download the plug-in
from the technical support page.
Instruction and Activities
Session One:
Researching Free Speech in Schools
- In their journals or loose leaf, have students respond to the following
prompt as they enter the room, “Using your own experience and the events
in Nothing But The Truth, list the rights you feel you should, but
do not have, as a young adult.”
- Divide students into small groups and give each group a piece of chart paper
and some markers. Alternately, students can gather their responses on overhead
transparencies.
- Ask groups to discuss their responses to the prompt,
compiling a list of their rights or rights they think they should have on
the chart paper. Give students about five minutes for this work.
- Bring the class together and ask representatives
from each group can share their lists, either posting their list
on the wall or sharing it with an overhead projector.
- Using the lists generated
as a class, ask students to write for a few minutes about which of the rights
they listed are violated in Philip’s situation.
- After allowing students to gather their ideas, ask students to discuss Philip’s
situation and
their opinion of his rights (about 20 minutes or so).
- To stimulate discussion, consider sharing these quotations from the novel:
Philip: “It’s a free country.”
Dr. Palleni: “Nothing is free.” (74-5)
Dr. Palleni: “If a student creates a disturbance in a classroom, that’s
breaking a rule. An important rule. Students cannot break—cannot make
a disturbance in a classroom.” (83)
Mrs. Narwin: “He’s a student. I’m a teacher. Hands aren’t
meant to be even.” (177)
Session Two: Researching Free Speech in Schools
- Explain that during this session you will look for reference material and
research material relating to the the issues of free speech raised in Nothing
But the Truth.
- Begin the session with basic information about free speech, pointing first
to the Bill
of Rights and then to the information from the Handout on
Supreme Court Cases Regarding Free Speech in Schools.
- Point students to the First
Amendment Web sites. If you want to
allow students to continue research outside of class, provide them a copy
of the Web page or ask them to copy the addresses into their notebooks.
- Ask students to use the First
Amendment Web sites to find as much
information as they can about rights for young adults, focusing on free speech
rights related to schools. Depending on your students’ Internet capabilities,
you may want to narrow the search further.
- Ask students should keep track of the important points
found in their research, such as Supreme Court cases, examples from schools
throughout the country, public opinion, and so forth.
- If desired, explain that students can cut
and paste relevant information from Web pages to a Word document, explaining
why the information is important using a different font color, making sure
that they cite their sources.
- Have a 10 to 20 minute discussion of the information that students
find. A suggestion would be for each student to read one section of his/her
notes with both the Internet information and his/her evaluation of its importance.
Session Three:
Creating Position Statement Based on Analysis of Research
- Have students respond in writing to the following prompt, “Explain
whether or not you feel Phillip’s free speech rights were violated.”
- After allowing students to gather their ideas in writing, ask them
to discuss their answers as a class or in small groups. Encourage students
to engage specifically in issues that expose different opinions. Ask students
to point to evidence from the novel or from their research that supports their
beliefs.
- After students have had time to share their views, introduce position statements,
using the Position Statements Handout.
- Answer any questions that students have about how to write position statements.
If students need additional examples, work through the process of composing
position statements on another topic, such as funding for after-school activities
or the use of standardized testing.
- Once you're satisfied that students understand the task, ask students to
create a position statement that related to Phillip’s
free speech rights (or another topic) in the novel. Students’ goal during
this session is to gather ideas informally. Explain that they will work on
creating a more polished statement with support during the next session.
- As students work in their groups, circulate and monitor student progress,
encouraging them to brainstorm reasons for their position. Let them know a
few minutes before the work period will conclude so that they have time to
wrap up their thoughts.
- If desired, students can continue their work as homework. By the beginning
of the next class session, students should gathered the reasons supporting
their position—using their research, passages from the novel, and their
personal opinion.
Session Four: Continuation
- Introduce the Persuasion
Map Student Interactive to your students, demonstrating how to use
the tool. To provide a full example, work through the interactive using one
of the example topics from the previous session (e.g., a position on school
uniforms).
- Answer any questions about using the Persuasion
Map, then ask students to enter their information in order to construct
a position statement and a map of the related support. Ask students to complete
their maps as they finish.
- As students finish and printout their work, arrange them in groups based
on their position, placing all the students with the same position together.
Ask groups to combine their statements and support to create
the strongest argument possible. Groups will refine their statement and support
as more students finish and join the group.
- Once all students have finished with the Persuasion
Map and joined a group, explain that groups will present their position
statements and support orally during the next class session.
- Go over the Presentation Rubric, indicating the amount of
time each student needs to speak.
- Allow students the remainder of the class session to work on their presentations.
Additional Work Time (optional)
- If possible, allow students additional time to work on their group presentations
in class. At the beginning of work sessions, remind students of the assignment
and the requirements of the Presentation
Rubric.
- As students work in their groups, circulate and monitor student progress.
- If students need additional support for their positions, encourage them
to return to the resources used in Session Two.
- Let them know a
few minutes before the work period will conclude so that they have time to
wrap up their thoughts.
Session Five:
Discussing Phillip’s Rights
- Before the presentations begin, ask students to keep notes on the presentations,
consisting of the group’s position, their reasons, and the student’s
opinion of the argument. Ask students to use their notes to record any
questions they have for the group at then end of the presentation.
- Rotate through the groups, allowing each group the allotted time to present.
- When all the groups have presented, ask students to debate whether Phillip’s
rights were violated.
- If possible, arrange the desks in a circle for debate,
asking students to sit by people with the same viewpoint.
- To manage the class discussion, students can pass a sponge ball to someone
on the opposite side, with a hand raised, for a response. The responding speaker
should acknowledge the main point of the previous speaker, offer an opinion
on the point (not the person), and add something original.
- For homework, ask students to reflect on the entire activity, either in
their writer’s notebooks or on to be submitted separately. Student reflections
can focus on the following questions:
- Explain what surprised you the most from your research abut students’ rights.
- Explain how your research affected your opinion of Phillip’s situation.
- How have you been affected by rights you do or do not have as a student?
- In what ways are your experiences similar to Philip’s?
- How has Philip’s situation and your research shaped your view of fighting for your rights?
Extensions
- Use the students’ printout from the Persuasion
Map as a graphic organizer for a persuasive
essay on the novel.
- Tie the rights discussed in this lesson to another novel, such as Summer
of My German Soldier, Farewell to Manzanar, The Witch of Blackbird Pond,
Bat 6, or Speak.
Web Resources
- ACLU
Student’s Rights
http://www.aclu.org/studentsrights/index.html
- From the American Civil Liberties Union, this site provides specific information
on student rights and press releases on the current cases that ACLU is involved
in.
- Foundation for Individual Rights in Education
http://www.thefire.org/
- Contains information about First Amendment rights.
- Free Speech
http://www.thefire.org/cases/freespeech/
- Links to information about cases relating to free speech rights in schools.
- First Amendment Center
http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/Speech/studentexpression/Index.aspx
- Current information on the First Amendment in schools, touching on all aspects of the First Amendment.
- The Free Expression Policy Project
http://www.fepproject.org/
- Student advocates working to secure free expression rights. Includes a link to political speech in schools.
- A Guide to Nothing But The Truth
http://eolit.hrw.com/hlla/novelguides/ms/Mini-Guide.Avi.pdf
- This Holt Rinehart Winston guide provides a list of characters, chapter summaries, and related activities for the story.
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| Student Assessment/Reflections |
- As students discuss free speech and the situation in Nothing But The Truth,
listen for comments that indicate students are identifying specific evidence
from the story that connects to the information they have researched. The connections
that they make between the details in the novel and the details they choose
as their supporting reasons for their position will reveal their understanding
and engagement with the novel.
- Monitor student interaction and progress during group work to assess social skills and assist any students having problems with the project.
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Use the Presentation
Rubric to assess group presentations.
- Respond to the content
and quality of students’ thoughts in their final reflections on the project.
Look for indications that the student provides supporting evidence for the
reflections, thus applying the lessons learned from the work with the Persuasion
Map and position statements.
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1 - Students read a wide range of print and nonprint texts to build an understanding of texts, of themselves, and of the cultures of the United States and the world; to acquire new information; to respond to the needs and demands of society and the workplace; and for personal fulfillment. Among these texts are fiction and nonfiction, classic and contemporary works.
4 - Students adjust their use of spoken, written, and visual language (e.g., conventions, style, vocabulary) to communicate effectively with a variety of audiences and for different purposes.
5 - Students employ a wide range of strategies as they write and use different writing process elements appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes.
8 - Students use a variety of technological and information resources (e.g., libraries, databases, computer networks, video) to gather and synthesize information and to create and communicate knowledge.
12 - Students use spoken, written, and visual language to accomplish their own purposes (e.g., for learning, enjoyment, persuasion, and the exchange of information).
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