Summary
In this lesson, students will explore the protected rights all students have on school grounds based on the precedent set by 1969 Supreme Court case Tinker v. Des Moines. Students will analyze how this court case helped to clarify and extend students' First Amendment freedoms. They will then reflect on how those freedoms come with limitations.
Essential Question(s)
To what extent are students' First Amendment rights protected in school, and are those freedoms ever limited?
Snapshot
Engage
Students participate in a Fiction in the Facts activity using news headlines about incidents surrounding students’ rights on school grounds.
Explore
Students read about Supreme Court case Tinker v. Des Moines and pair it with a close reading strategy.
Explain
Students work in groups to complete a Claim, Evidence, and Reasoning (CER) chart to discuss the court’s ruling on the case.
Extend
In their groups, students read about the limitations set by the court’s ruling and participate in a Philosophical Chairs discussion to present their opinions.
Evaluate
Students reflect on their learning and complete a Two-Minute Paper.
Materials
Lesson Slides (attached)
Claim, Evidence, Reasoning (CER) handout (attached; one per student)
Is Freedom of Speech Absolute? handout (attached; one per student)
T-Chart handout (attached; one per student)
Tinker v. Des Moines (1969) handout (attached; one per student)
Highlighters
Pen/Pencil
Engage
10 Minute(s)
Use the attached Lesson Slides to guide the lesson. Display slide 2-3 to introduce the title and lesson objectives. Move to slide 4 and introduce the Fiction in the Facts instructional strategy to students.
Explain to students that they will be presented with a series of news headlines. For each headline, they will vote whether they believe the headline is factual or fictional. As they vote on the headlines, invite a few to share their reasoning. The following questions can be used to further the discussion:
What makes you think this headline is factual/fictional?
What topics or issues do you think the article might address?
How does this headline make you feel?
Use slides 5-8 to have students vote and record their responses for each slide. All headlines are factual; however, students should not be told this information at this point—they should make educated guesses based on what they think.
Once the class has discussed each headline and you have a record of how students voted, move to slide 9 and inform them that all four headlines are factual, describing real incidents that involved students in the United States. Pose the following questions to students:
Are you surprised these are all factual? If so, why?
Which one are you most surprised by that is factual? Once students have discussed the questions, display slide 10 and review the essential question with the class.
Explore
20 Minute(s)
Display slide 11. Explain to students that headline 4 is based on the incident that led to 1969 Supreme Court case Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District. Ask students if they were surprised when they learned this headline was factual.
Once students have shared their thoughts, explain to students that they are going to read about the court case and learn how it affected students’ rights on school grounds.
Pass out the attached Tinker v. Des Moines (1969) handout and a highlighter to each student.
Display slide 12 and introduce the Why-Lighting instructional strategy. Students will read the Tinker v. Des Moines (1969) handout and highlight or underline important text or passages that will help them answer the following question: How did this case help to clarify and extend students’ rights?
In the margins or on the back of the page students will explain the “why” of what they have highlighted and/or how it helps them answer the question.
Display slide 13 with the K20 Center 15 minutes timer and the question. Allow students to work until the end of the timer.
Once students have completed the reading and annotations, have students turn to their Elbow Partners and discuss which highlighted part stood out the most to them, and why. Then, invite a few to share their responses with the class.
Explain
15 Minute(s)
Display slide 14 and distribute a copy of the attached Claim, Evidence, Reasoning (CER) handout to each student. Inform them they will use the Claim, Evidence, Reasoning (CER) instructional strategy to dive deeper into the following question: How did this case help to clarify and extend students’ rights?
Students should use their annotations and notes from the Why-Lighting activity to help them complete the C-E-R.
Once students have had time to work, as a class, discuss what claims students have developed and their reasonings behind it. After a few students have shared, use slide 15 to explain the court’s ruling more in depth.
Discuss the Supreme Court’s ruling and explain how it favored the students in a 7–2 decision. This meant it overturned the earlier ruling in the lower courts (which had upheld the Des Moines schools’ ban on students’ armbands). Then, explain how the court concluded that prohibiting students from wearing the armbands at school violated their First Amendment rights. You may also want to review the majority opinion excerpts from the Tinker v. Des Moines (1969) reading to provide reasons that explain why the court ruled in favor of the students.
Extend
30 Minute(s)
Now that students have a shared understanding of how the Tinker V. Des Moines Supreme Court Case ruling helped clarify and extend students rights, explain that those rights are not always absolute.
Display slide 16 and introduce the Philosophical Chairs instructional strategy and pose the following statement to students: Freedom of speech and expression should be absolute/unlimited.
Instruct students to decide if they agree or disagree with the statement. If they agree, they will move to one side of the room; if they disagree, they will move to the opposite side. An optional modification would be to have students stand/sit rather than move.
Once students have made their choice and moved accordingly, invite a few students on each side to take turns sharing their reasoning with the class. Encourage students to use agreement and disagreement statements as shown on the slide.
Instruct students to return to their seats and form small groups of 3-4. Move to slide 17 and distribute the attached Is Freedom of Speech Absolute and T-Chart handouts to each student. In their groups, students will read the handout and complete the T-Chart pros and cons list. Explain to students that the last section should be answered independently.
Once groups have completed their handouts, ask different groups to share items on their pros and cons list. Following the discussion, transition to slide 18 and have students once again vote on whether they agree or disagree with the statement, “Freedom of speech and expression should be absolute.” If anyone has changed their position, invite them to share their reasoning as to why and what swayed their opinion.
Evaluate
5 Minute(s)
Display slide 20 with the Two-Minute Paper instructional strategy. At this point, students should have an understanding that they have constitutional protections regarding speech and expression, but that these freedoms are not absolute.
To evaluate their learning, students will respond to the essential questions in two-minutes.
To what extent are students' First Amendment rights protected in school, and are those freedoms ever limited?
Instruct students to turn in their responses before they leave.
Resources
American Civil Liberties Union. (n.d.). Tinker v. Des Moines - Landmark Supreme Court ruling on behalf of student expression. https://www.aclu.org/documents/tinker-v-des-moines-landmark-supreme-court-ruling-behalf-student-expression
Beachum, L. (2020, January 24). Student will be barred from graduation unless he cuts his dreadlocks, school says. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2020/01/23/texas-dreadlocks-suspension/
Beachum, L. & The Washington Post. (2020, August 6). Georgia teens shared photos of maskless students in crowded hallways. Now they're suspended. The Seattle Times. https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/georgia-teens-shared-photos-of-maskless-students-in-crowded-hallways-now-theyre-suspended/
Burke, M. (2020, December 5). Male student given in-school suspension for wearing nail polish to Texas high school. NBC News. https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/male-student-given-school-suspension-wearing-nail-polish-texas-high-n1250110
K20 Center. (2021, September 21). 2 Minute Timer. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcEEAnwOt2c
K20 Center. (2021, September 21). 15 Minute Timer. YouTube. https://youtu.be/m3zT2IxZQaw?si=e5t6maSu94jBzCzF
K20 Center. (n.d.). Claim, Evidence, Reasoning (CER). Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/156
K20 Center. (n.d.). Elbow partners. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/116
K20 Center. (n.d.). Fiction in the facts. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/60
K20 Center. (n.d.). Philosophical Chairs. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/71
K20 Center. (n.d.). T-Chart. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/86
K20 Center. (n.d.). Two-Minute paper. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/152
K20 Center. (n.d.). Why-Lighting. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/128
Lannacci, N. (2017, February 24). Tinker v. Des Moines: Protecting student free speech. National Constitution Center. https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/tinker-v-des-moines-protecting-student-free-speech
Liptak, A. (2020, December 28). A cheerleader's vulgar message prompts a First Amendment showdown. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/28/us/supreme-court-schools-free-speech.html
Magarrell, J. (n.d.). D.M. schools ban wearing of Viet truce armbands. The Des Moines Register. https://docsteach.org/documents/document/schools-ban-armbands
Mandal, S. (n.d.). Fighting for students' rights through the courts. National Youth Rights Association. https://www.youthrights.org/issues/student-rights/court-cases/
Ried, K. (2018). Upholding Student Rights in the 20th Century: An Examination of Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District. Social Education, 82(2), 73–78. https://www.socialstudies.org/system/files/publications/articles/se_8302073.pdf
Supreme Court of the United States. (2021, June 23). Mahanoy Area School District v. B. L. (No. 20-255). https://www.oyez.org/cases/2020/20-255
Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, 393 U.S. 503 (1969). https://www.loc.gov/item/usrep393503/
Waples, K., Lamb, P., Piper, K., & Singh, B. (2019). Foundational documents and court cases reader. Bedford, Freeman, & Worth.
Waters, K. S. & Russell, W. B., III. (2008, May 7). The internet, schools, and the constitution: A historical analysis of court decisions. Online Submission. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED501249
Wikimedia Commons contributors. (n.d.). Peace Movement University of San Diego Alcalá 1970 [Photograph]. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Peace_movement_University_of_San_Diego_Alcal%C3%A1_1970.jpg
