Constitution Day 2021
Teachers of Nevada’s students (in grades 5-12): If your school received federal funding this year, you’re probably aware that it’s required to provide some kind of lesson about the U.S. Constitution to your students. This year Project REAL is happy to help with a brand new (and free) resource!
The fully-scripted-if-you-want-it-to-be presentation begins with a review of basic legal concepts that help students understand ‘accidental crimes are still crimes’. Next, it provides examples of ‘surprise crimes’: things students can do that lead to them finding themselves in trouble with the law for, even if they don’t seem like ‘that big a deal’. This leads to a brief discussion of Miranda Rights and the history behind them. Finally, the presentation ties all the information together (and to Constitution Day) by explaining how Miranda Rights are rooted in the US Constitution’s Bill of Rights.
The presentation is designed to be easy-to-use with no training, though we’ll happily answer your questions if you have any. Simply skim the script and the slides, then present it this Friday, September 17 to your students.
If you are able to contact us by 8pm on Monday, September 13 with specific 45-60 minute windows of time you’d like us to try to schedule, we can also attempt to have one of Nevada’s judges present this material to your students over whatever video-conferencing app you use. Elementary School instructors are asked to schedule all classes at the same time (each classroom can broadcast the judge using a projector, ‘zooming in’ to the same chat so there’s roughly 90-150 students over 4-5 ‘attendee boxes’ in a single presentation) Middle School and High School instructors, we realize you have multiple sections and we will do what we can to schedule presenters to each of them. Please email your requests to mcarpenter@projectrealnv.org
You may preview the materials here:
The materials are available and applicable state-wide and more than meet the federal requirements for Constitution Day, but if you need just a little more nudging, The DA from Nevada’s most populated county by population has a brief message for you…
