CLASSROOM LESSON 1:
Denduron Constitution
BOOK TITLE: The Merchant of Death
AUTHOR: D.J. MacHale
LESSON PLAN AUTHOR : Becky Carr
GRADE
LEVEL: 6-8
LESSON DURATION: 100-150 Minutes
OBJECTIVE
- Students will predict the future of Denduron based on text examination and using inference skills.
- Students will examine and identify the three parts to the US Constitution.
- Students will understand the reason for the forming of the Constitution.
- Students will discover the importance of written documents to the structure and regulation of organizations and communities.
- Students will create a constitution for Denduron to re-form the community
MATERIALS
MOTIVATION
- Before beginning this lesson students will have finished the novel, re-read from page 357 (“What’s going on over there?”…) through page 359 (“I truly hoped that they would make the most of it…”).
- Ask students, “After re-reading this part of the novel, what do you think needs to happen in Denduron now?” After some thought and discussion, guide students toward the conclusion that Denduron needs to be re-structured. Additionally, ask students when the United States may have been in a condition that it needed restructured. Discuss periods in history where this may have been the case.
NEW INFORMATION
- Show on an overhead the transparency, Preamble to the Constitution. Ask students if this looks familiar and what they already know about it.
- Explain that the preamble is a one sentence goal statement for our constitution.
- Examine with students the text terms: more perfect union, justice, domestic tranquility, general welfare, blessings of liberty, posterity. What do these terms mean to us?
- Show examples of the articles and amendments to the Constitution. Teach students that the constitution parts and explain that the articles set up the structure of our government and the amendments (The Bill of Rights) set up individual citizens rights regardless of status, gender, race, etc.
- Put the following questions on the board and have students discuss their answers in small groups. Walk around to facilitate higher level thinking and discussions.
- What should a government include in a constitution?
- How should an effective government be structured?
- Who should be in charge?
- Who has power and how much?
- What should citizens’ rights be?
- What are the differences to rights and privileges
PRACTICE/APPLICATION
- For application, students will create a constitution for the new Denduron. Tell them that Queen Kagan and Rellin have given them the responsibility of writing a constitution for a “new” Denduron which must include a goal statement (preamble), outline of government structure (articles), and a list of individual rights (amendments). Dendron Constitution Rough Draft
- Select groups of 3-5 students to create constitution. Students should be encouraged to work together since disagreeing ideas will occur; explain that these disagreements were certainly evident in the creation of our constitution. Additionally, viewing of our US Constitution could be useful, yet should be limited to discourage copying.
- Teacher should initial each section of worksheet to ensure students are understanding the expectation.
- When group has finished rough draft, give them two 81/2 x 11 pieces of paper to tape together. Using markers , students should neatly write their constitution out.
EVALUATION
- Informal evaluation should be done during class discussions and group discussions to evaluate participation.
CLOSURE
NCTE STANDARD 1
Students read a wide range of print and non-print texts to build an understanding of texts, of themselves, and of the cultures of the United States and the world; to acquire new information; to respond to the needs and demands of society and the workplace; and for personal fulfillment. Among these texts are fiction and nonfiction, classic and contemporary works.
NCTE STANDARD 3
Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts. They draw on their prior experience, their interactions with other readers and writers, their knowledge of word meaning and of other texts, their word identification strategies, and their understanding of textual features (e.g., sound-letter correspondence, sentence structure, context, graphics).
NCTE STANDARD 5
Students employ a wide range of strategies as they write and use different writing process elements appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes.
NCTE STANDARD 6
Students apply knowledge of language structure, language conventions (e.g., spelling and punctuation), media techniques, figurative language, and genre to create, critique, and discuss print and non-print texts.
NCTE STANDARD 7
Students conduct research on issues and interests by generating ideas and questions, and by posing problems. They gather, evaluate, and synthesize data from a variety of sources (e.g., print and non-print texts, artifacts, people) to communicate their discoveries in ways that suit their purpose and audience.
