Workspace

Chapter 2 - Student Constitution of Rights

Description

This writing and collaboration activity is inspired by the United Nations document, Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The document is defined by 30 articles that will be models for discussions amongst 5 classrooms in New York, and 5 outside the United States. Classrooms will go through a series of questions that will guide thought processes and discussions in preparation and development for a Student Constitution of Rights document.

Each classroom has approximately 25 students that will be divided into 5 groups, to include 5 students per group. Each group in New York will team with another group outside the United States to work through a set of assigned articles – there will be a total of 5 teams. The following 3-step lesson plan will generate student opinions, evaluations, reflections, and final statements via process review and discussion boards on the Peace Diaries web site.

To review the United Nations document, Universal Declaration of Human Rights in your language, please click on the following link:
http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html



Lesson Plan

Step 1 - Form A Opinion

  • Each team, consisting of a group in New York City and another group outside the United States, will be assigned 6 articles.
  • Each student will choose an article that is most meaningful to him or her and write one paragraph about the article, addressing these questions:
  • How does this article relate to kids in your country? And, why is it important to include it in the Student Constitution of Rights document for all kids?
  • These questions provide a base for students that will define and evaluate personal beliefs and social and cultural orientation. The accumulated opinions will also illustrate similarities and differences to be defined by students in the next step of this activity.
  • Groups will meet and students will present their article and paragraph to their peers. The group will discuss how the articles could be further refined so the statement is just for kids.
  • Each group, New York and International, will exchange their 6 articles and paragraphs by email for review and discussion.
Step 2 – Discussion and Vote

At the end of discussions, members will vote as a team to select the team’s final 3 articles to be included in the Student Constitution of Rights.
Step 3 – The Student Constitution

When all five teams have finished voting, 15 new or refined articles with descriptive paragraphs will have been written for The Student Constitution of Rights.

Because five classrooms are participating in this exercise, five constitutions (e.g. Israel/New York, Ghana/New York, South Africa/New York, etc.) will be published in the Peace Diaries.



RESOURCE LINKS THAT INSPIRED THIS PROJECT

Inntegrated Curriculum in the Middle School. ERIC Digest
http://www.ed.gov/databases/ERIC_Digests/ed351095.htm


Peace Diaries
Peace Diaires is a 2002 copyright of Knowledge iTrust, Inc.