Thomas C. Leaf
Objective: Students will retell the classroom or school rules according to a contested topic such as hats, CD players, cell phones or food outside of the cafeteria. Students will then be subjected to an unfair situation whereas a few select students will be allowed to “break the rules” where everyone else must adhere to them. Students will then record the dictionary definition of “precedent” in their notebooks and then write a definition of precedent in their own words which will convey the meaning of the word.
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1. Methods and Materials: You will need a dictionary for at least every other student. You will also need a CD player with headphones and/or a cellular phone.
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2. Begin the period with a Daily Oral Language exercise that the students will begin as soon as the period bell rings.
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3. As students begin to work, quietly inform one or two students that they may be allowed to listen to their CD players or wear their hats then inform the class that everyone must take off their hats and put their CD players away. Allow the one or two students you’ve told otherwise to listen to music as loud as they want and just wait.
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4. Someone will eventually protest the legitimacy of this situation. Raise the issue with the class by asking them to give their reasons as to what is inequitable about the classroom and its rules.
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5. Have each student make a list of what his or her complaints are in the classroom and provide reasons for each item. List major categories of these items (i.e.: Students aren’t allowed to wear hats in class or CD players are not to be worn in class) on the board and conduct a vote of how many students support these “Resolutions”.
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6. Ask for reactions to the simulation. Allow the students some time to try and connect today’s simulation with real-world examples.
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7. In the time remaining, detail out dictionaries to either pairs or small groups and instruct the students to locate the word “precedent” and record its definition in their notes. Then each student is to synthesize this definition into his or her own words in terms of the day’s simulations. This assessment can be checked for class-work credit or given as a homework assignment.
Assessment
Informally assess which students pick up the fact that one student is allowed to break the rules or is granted an exception. This could be useful for later lessons as these students could perform strongly in small group discussion if they are so observant of “the rules”. A more formal assessment would be to match the student’s synthesized definition of precedent. Students can earn a score of 5 points for restating an accurate definition of the word “precedent” and correctly applies that definition to the simulation. A student can earn a score of 3 points if he or she synthesized a general definition of the word precedent and attempts to connect this definition to the day’s simulation. A student can earn a score of 1 point if he or she was present for the simulation but did not synthesize a definition.
