INTRODUCTION

Children believe that there shouldn’t be any rules or guidelines established to determine what entertainment [dj1] (movies, television shows, video games, music, internet sites, etc.) they should watch, listen to, or play.

The purpose of this lesson is to help children identify the parameters of freedom speech. They will also learn about their rights given to them by the constitution. They will use this information to create a rating scale to judge a piece of entertainment.

TASK

1. Students will define “what is censorship?” in small groups.

2. Students will take “ Freedom of the Press:”What’s Your Opinion”(Handout 1a)

3. Students will look at the Visual:Where’s Speech and Press and discuss different forms of freedom of speech.

4. Students will identify the first amendment and rewrite the amendment into their own words. (Handout 1C)

Students will read the article “Parents Say Censoring Films Is Their Job, Not Politicians.’” Students will answer questions about the article.
Students will use websites to identify various uses and criteria of freedom of speech.
Students will use their understanding of the first amendment to make an oral presentation whether censorship is right or not based on freedom of speech.

PROCESS

1. Students will break into groups and discuss the term censorship

2. Students will complete handouts 1a, b c

3. Students will read the article “Parents Say Censoring Films Is Their Job, Not Politicians’,” focusing on the following questions:

What does it mean to censor?
How does “freedom of speech” enter into a consideration of censoring?
Who do you think should decide what children should be exposed to in the movies, on television, in music, and in electronic games?
What is the law?
Why do we need a law on “freedom of speech”.

4. Divide students into small groups and assign them web sites on freedom of speech to research.

5. Students will use the information to create an oral presentation to the group.

6. Students will reassemble into a whole group and create a rating scale to evaluate entertainment products suitable for children.

Resources

Websites on Censorship

http://www.ncac.org/

http://www.oneworld.org/index_oc/

http://www.aclu.org/issues/cyber/box.html

http://dir.yahoo.com/Society_and_Culture/Issues_and_Causes/Civil_Rights/Censorship/Censorship_and_the_Net/

Evaluation

RUBRIC	BELOW STANDARDS	MEETS STANDARDS	EXCEEDS STANDARDS
INFORMATION	INFORMATION NOT RELEVANT TO LESSON	INFORMATION RELEVANT TO LESSON	INFORMATION RELEVANT TO LESSON WITH RESOURCES
PRESENTATION	INCOHERENT LACK OF VISUALS GROUP WAS NOT ORGANIZED	HAS SOME UNDERSTANDING OF INFORMATION HAS VISUALS COHERENT MOST OF THE GROUP MEMBERS PARTICIPATED	COMPLETE UNDERSTANDING OF INFORMATION HAS VISUALS COHERENT GROUP WORKS WELL TOGETHER
CREATIVE RATING SYSTEM	NON CREATIVE UNFAIR	CREATIVE EXHIBITS SOME FAIRNESS	EXHIBITS STRONG CREATIVE ABILITY OBJECTIVE

Conclusion

In this WebQuest students will have created a ratings system that could be used to evaluate any kind of entertainment-whether movies, television, video games, or music-for its suitability for children. The rating scale would be helpful to both parents and children.

Besides the rating scale, students will be able to identify the freedom of speech section in the Constitution and how it is used in our society,