This week we are continuing to identify our ethos regarding citizenship. We are also going to explore the origins of the Natural Rights Philosophy, John Locke, and how American citizenship ideals were formed during the early stages of our nation. The students will take part in a simulation. This simulation requires them to talk out the issues of governing and rights. They will be asked to imagine they have been dropped off in a place that has never been inhabited and has all the natural resources they could need, then they need to decide how to survive, how to govern, how to make it work. Through this process, important questions will arise and, hopefully, some important answers will be given.
The students seemed to enjoy the discussion circle. Once they understood what was expected of them, they really started to take off with the whole experience. The one thing that I think they really started to understand was that being able to make the type of decision they were asked to make is extremely difficult. Many people have many different ideas on how to best accomplish a goal. Even the students who were reluctant to contribute had valuable input as the discussion moved along.
The only downfall to this type of lesson is that there simply was not enough time for the students to be able to finish. I was hesitant to extend the lesson beyond one day, but they literally had only about ten minutes that day to get started. That simply would not have the desired effect. So, I allowed them to take the whole next class day and keep going. It was during the second class day that they really started to pick up momentum. I imagine that what the students did was a bit of a microcosm to what the Constitutional Convention was like.
I cannot recommend enough, the importance of allowing students to discuss amongst themselves relevant issues in an academic setting. They did well with rules and structure and seemed to enjoy hearing from all the students first before those students with a lot to say could dominate the discussion. I am very pleased with how they acted and am proud of all of them for giving sincere effort.
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