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A Bill of Responsibilities
by
Fran O'Malley
The Democracy Project
Abstract
In this lesson students will design a Bill of Responsibilities
similar in design to the Bill of Rights in order to foster public
awareness of the responsibilities of American citizens.
Targeted Audience: Grades 6-8
Time to Complete: 1-2 class periods.
Benchmark Addressed: Civics 3 [Citizenship]
- Students will understand that American citizenship includes
responsibilities such as voting, jury duty, obeying the law,
service in the armed forces when required, and public service.
Prior Knowledge
It is helpful if students are able to identify some of their
rights as American citizens as well as where many of those rights
are listed i.e. the Bill of Rights.
Materials Needed
Procedures
1. Brainstorm: Ask students to identify rights that they
enjoy as American citizens. Write their responses on the board.
Ask them where they would find most of their rights explained.
2. Review: Remind the class that they probably spent considerable
time analyzing the Bill of Rights in fourth and fifth grade.
Because the memory of British tyranny was fresh in the minds
of those who wrote the Constitution, the Founding Fathers
were under a great deal of pressure to promise that a list
of individual rights would be added to the Constitution. This
was done by the First Congress in order to get some of the
states to ratify the Constitution. Our familiarity with the
Bill of Rights enables most Americans to identify quickly
their rights as citizens of the United States. Project a copy
of the 1st Ten Amendments onto the screen (see Transparency
1) and invite the students to examine how their rights
are described in the Bill of Rights.
3. Transition: Ask students define the term "responsibility."
Then ask them for examples of responsibilities.
4. Introduce today's lesson by telling the students that
citizenship carries with it responsibilities as well as rights.
Ask them why they think this is so. Then ask them why they
think Americans know less about their responsibilities as
citizens than about their rights as citizens.
5. Suggest to the students that one reason why people may
know less about their responsibilities is because they are
not as clearly outlined in as single document as their rights
are in the Bill of Rights. Tell them that their task in this
lesson is to correct this "oversight" by crafting
a "Bill of Responsibilities" that lists and explains
briefly the responsibilities of American citizenship. Ask
volunteers for examples of some responsibilities that may
be included.
6. Divide the class up into groups of 3-5 students. Distribute
pieces of parchment paper. Ask each group to create a "Bill
of Responsibilities" for the American people.
7. Have each group share their list with the rest of the
class.
8. Display Transparency
2 - Responsibilities of American Citizens (one responsibility
at a time). Tell the students that this list they are about
to view contains the major responsibilities that students
of their age are expected to identify and explain. Engage
students in a discussion of each responsibility on the Transparency.
Raise the following questions:
- Which responsibilities did they include/not include in
their own Bills of Responsibilities?
- Why were some excluded?
- Are there any that you believe should not be considered
responsibilities? If so, explain why.
Debriefing Questions
- What is a responsibility?
- What are some of the responsibilities of American citizens?
- Why is it important for citizens of any country to understand
their responsibilities?
- Why is it important for any country to have citizens who
understand and fulfill their responsibilities?
Extension
Have students create pocket sized copies of Bills of Responsibilities
that list the responsibilities found on Transparency 2 and ask
them to distribute them to students in school. By doing so they
will be meeting the last responsibility on the list which is
public service.
Transparency #1
Transparency #2
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