Renton Technical College
Instructional Improvement
No. 1
August 2005
Volume 4,
The second word in our title is faculty and the focus is on items of interest in the technical college classroom.
This
includes what faculty are doing well in their programs, timesaving tips, and proven resources. We encourage
articles from faculty and will help you present an idea if writing isn’t your cup of tea. So don’t hide your light
under the proverbial bushel, let it shine. Contact us to share news we can all use.
Special Constitution Day
Issue
This special issue of Faculty Focus contains some resources and learning activities to help you plan
what
you will do in your classroom to teach about the U.S. Constitution sometime during the first week
of
school this fall quarter. The U.S. Constitution was signed on September 17, 1787 and that day is
now
“Constitution Day and Citizenship Day.” Congress has passed legislation that requires all
educational
institutions receiving federal funding to hold an educational program pertaining to the United States
Constitution on September 17th each year, or the week before or after if the 17th falls on a weekend.
For more information on this regulation see
http://www.ed.gov/legislation/FedRegister/other/2005-2/052405b.html
Make a Class Constitution
Here’s a model lesson plan to develop a class constitution based on the U. S. Constitution. This is an
interesting
way to establish your classroom management expectations.
http://www.teachervision.fen.com/page/2177.html?wtlAC=GS_2005-07-05,emailh&for_printing=1&detoured=1
Is it Constitutional?
This lesson plan contains a 10 item quiz that will make for on interesting discussion on what is or is not
constitutional.
http://www.teachervision.fen.com/page/2480.html
Go right to the Source
You can see a copy of the U.S. Constitution and other historically important documents on this Library of
Congress
repository for Constitutional documents and information.
http://www.memory.loc.gov/ammem/bdsds/bdsdhome.html. Another copy of the U.S. Constitution has
been
scanned and made available through the National Archives.
www.archives.gov/national_archives_experience/charters/constitution.html:
Webquests
If you want to get your students used to looking for items on the web, you could use this webquest on the
constitution.http://projects.edtech.sandi.net/marston/constitution/ Another webquest would lead them to
propose a new amendment to the constitutionhttp://ccollege.hccs.cc.tx.us/instru/govecon/amend.htm This
webquest on the Bill of Rights leads students to debate issues related to those first 10 Constitutional
Amendments.
Constitution Web Quest: http://www.lesd.k12.az.us/PV/specials/media/conindex.html
Additional web resources for activities:
The U.S. Constitution Resource Center bills itself as a one-stop shop for activities
related to the constitution.
http://tcnbp.tripod.com/ The National Constitution Center
http://www.constitutioncenter.org/ is another
storehouse of activities, information and translations of the US Constitution in
other languages. You can check an interactive timeline of American History,
featuring the constitution on the site:
http://www.constitutioncenter.org/timeline/
The National Archives also has some lesson ideas
http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/constitution-day/
Just for Fun
Fun quiz: You Decide - http://www.proteacher.com/cgibin/outsidesite.cgi?id=11008&external=http://esd.iu5.org/LessonPlans/ConstitutionEL/youdecide.htm&original=http://www.proteacher.com/090037.shtml&title=You%20Decide
Use the template on this website to print bookmarks for your students.
http://www.teach-nology.com/worksheets/soc_studies/constit/book/
Use a discussion of the “missing amendment” as a basis for talking about
information literacy and how
misinformation spreads. http://www.thirdamendment.com/missing.html
Write an acrostic poem about the Constitution using each of the letters of
Constitution as the first letter of
one of the lines of the poem. http://www.teachnology.com/worksheets/soc_studies/constit/poem/
Play Power Grab. Divide the class into teams, each of which has a copy of the
constitution. This fast
moving game will help students learn how to skim documents for important facts.
http://www.eduref.org/cgibin/printlessons.cgi/Virtual/Lessons/Social_Studies/US_Government/GOV0045.html
Other Activities
 Sign the Constitution Get a large poster-sized copy of the United States
constitution and have all the students sign it.
 Create a Bulletin Board Have the students practice using search engines
by finding graphics and articles for a bulletin board on the Constitution
 Create a Website Have the students create a website with images and
facts about the constitution.
 Compare Constitutions Noreen Light, suggests you can have students
compare the U.S. Constitution with the constitutions of other countries
represented in your classroom as a celebration of diversity.
Please let us know if you use any of these suggestions or have developed or
discovered others, so we can develop a resource to use to commemorate
future Constitution Days.
mailto: instructionalimprovement@RTC.edu
Quotable: “The constitution only gives people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it
yourself.” --Ben Franklin
For more information regarding the articles in the Faculty Focus or to give input or suggestions of things you would
like to see incorporated into this newsletter please contact the Office of Instructional Improvement
The mission of the Office of Instructional Improvement is to advance educational strategies, seek to improve the
quality of learning environments, and support RTC staff as they prepare a diverse student population for work.