If there is no access to the technology needed for this lesson, try the following options:
Mini Lesson: Instead of showing students the animation, engage them in a discussion about the importance of collaborating with a group. You may want to provide students with a recent example of how members of Congress worked together to create laws.
Objectives
Students will learn how to work together as a group and build consensus.
Students will apply this skill to their issue research and choose a group position for their oral and multimedia presentation.
The class will watch an animation that explains the Fourth Amendment's right to protection from unreasonable searches. Students will work together in their research groups to build consensus on their issues. They will share their letters with their groups. Groups will decide how to turn their individual letters into a group presentation. Students will write speaking notes that they will use for the oral component of their presentation.
Focusing Question
How do you build consensus on important issues?
Mini Lesson
Creating a Group Presentation (15 min.)
Introduce the focusing question that guides this lesson. Connect this question to the previous lesson.
Show and discuss Program 5: Right to No Unreasonable Searches.
Explain to students the importance of working together to turn their individual letters into a group presentation.
Model for students how to build group consensus. Share examples of this process at work in the United States government. Model for students how to find common ground among different opinions on the same issue.
Distribute Handout 5.1a: Build Consensus. Explain to students how they can use this handout to build group consensus on their issues in the same way the United States government does.
Choose a group manager for each group. Make the group manager responsible for reporting to you on the progress of the group presentation in the next few lessons.
Today you are going to begin to create group presentations on your issues. You have all written letters to members of the U.S. government expressing your opinions on the issues.
Now, you will share your opinions with others in your groups and work together to build consensus on your issues before you begin to create your presentations. Some of you researched the Subway Searches issue that deals with the right to no unreasonable searches.
Now we are going to watch a short animation that reviews the right to no unreasonable searches. Then I will show you how to work with your group to build consensus on your issue.
Let’s talk about this animation.
Why is one lion concerned about riding the subway? Sample Response: He is concerned because he does not like that the police check his bags in the subway station.
Why does the other lion like the subway searches? Sample Response: The other lion thinks that the subway searches help keep us safer.
Do we have the right to privacy? Sample Response: Some people feel that we do have the right to privacy. Other people feel that our safety is more important than privacy.
Now you are ready to create your group presentations. The first thing you have to do is work with your group to come to consensus on your issue.
Let’s look at the way the U.S. government comes to consensus on important issues. There are 535 members in the Legislative Branch of our Federal Government. The Legislative Branch is made up of the House of Representatives and the Senate. When one member of the House or Senate has a law they wish to create, they write a bill. The bill is their idea for a law. Members of the House or Senate read the bill and debate it. Congresspeople make changes to the bill. Then they vote on it. If the Bill passes in both the House and the Senate it goes to a committee. The committee looks at the version passed by the House of Representatives and the version passed by the Senate. The members of the committee have to build consensus. They create a version of the bill that everyone is happy with. Only after they build consensus can the bill become a law.
The process of working with your group to form a position on your issue that pleases everyone is very similar to the way laws are created in our government. Everyone in the group should share their opinion and listen to the opinions of others. Then you should work together to form an opinion on your issue that you can all agree on.
Building consensus is important because it lets everyone’s voice be heard. Debating also helps make your position stronger.
Now, you are going to discuss your opinions on your issue in your group. You will then build consensus. Share your letters with your group members. As a group, decide who will be responsible for each part of the group presentation. The group presentation will consist of each of the paragraphs in the letter: an Introduction, Your Position, the Other Side, and a Conclusion. Each member of the group should write their part of the presentation on an index card. One member of the group should write the whole group presentation on loose-leaf paper.
Student Activity
Build Group Consensus (25 min.)
Students should share their opinions on their issues with members of their group.
Groups should decide on the position they will take when creating their group presentation. Groups should select which paragraph each group member will contribute to the oral and multimedia presentation from their individual letters. Students should use Handout 5.1a: Build Consensus as a guide.
Students should each write down the part of the letter that they will use for the presentation on an index card. One student in each group should write down the entire presentation script to submit at the end of the class.
Monitor group discussions. Observe students writing. Encourage students to write down the ideas they discuss as a group.
Provide students who struggle with group discussion some examples from other student discussions.
If necessary, limit the number of paragraphs that students will write during this class period and complete the activity over two class periods.
Lesson Summary
How do you build consensus on important issues? (5 min.)
Revisit the focusing question.
Ask students to share their most effective strategies for building consensus.
Ask students to share some of the challenges they experienced in trying to find a common viewpoint. Ask the class to brainstorm solutions to their challenges.
Homework Activity: One student from each group should be responsible for writing a final draft for the group presentation. Each student should write his or her individual part of the group presentation neatly on an index card.
How did you build consensus on your issues?
Sample Response: We discussed everyone's point of view on the issue. The position against the death penalty was more popular. Three of us are against it and one of us is in favor of it.
Our group was split down the middle. Two of us are in favor of subway searches and two of us are against them. We looked for one part of the issue that we all agreed on. We all agreed that people should not be searched based on the color of their skin, so we are going to make a recommendation that the government makes sure that this does not happen.
What challenges did you face when finding a common point of view and how did you deal with them?
Sample Response: Our group had difficulty finding something to agree on. We all have different ideas. We decided to brainstorm new ideas for how to keep people safe while allowing people to own guns.
Assessment
Use the written group presentation to assess students’ abilities to build consensus on their issue.
Use the index card completed by each student to assess each student’s ability to work in a group to build consensus.
