Learning Outcomes

By the end of this lesson, students will have learned:

• Collaboration: students will work together and learn from each other through discussion
• Civil conversation and conflict resolution: students will learn how to listen, understand and respect one another’s views, especially when there are differences of opinion and background.
• Research and analysis: students will have a deeper understanding of different perspectives (including their own, their classmates, and the country at large) through researching and discussing

See how this program complies with Common Core standards.

Suggested Curriculum / Class Plan

Homework Prior to Class

Students will read the Second Amendment and spend 10-20 min looking at the most recent news about Gun Control from different perspectives.
Read the NRA’s and NEA’s positions on guns in schools (included in References above).
Optional – Students will ask their parent(s)/caregiver(s) for their perspectives on gun control and take notes to share in class during discussion.

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In Class

If you’d like to have an in-class discussion, divide students into small groups, preferably with a mix of biases. (Educator may need to have students complete a simple bias quiz for homework 2 days prior so the Educator has a chance to evaluate relevant classroom biases, if a similar test has never been conducted previously.)
If you’d like to have an online discussion with a classroom that holds different political views, utilize the Mismatch platform.

Discussion Questions:
Pick and choose from the following list of discussion questions, and give students time to discuss them in small groups. If time permits, also have students come back into a larger class-wide discussion to share their thoughts.

Teacher reads the Second Amendment out loud then urges students to discuss:

• How do you interpret this amendment?
• What do you think the Founding Fathers were thinking when they wrote this?
• As the United States is different now than it was in the late 1700s, do you think it is still necessary?
• Why is the right to own guns so important to Americans, in particular?

Deeper Meaning questions:

• Where did you learn about guns? And what did you learn?
• What role have guns played in your life?
• What are your concerns about gun safety?
• Are gun issues on your top 10 list of concerns? Why or why not?

 

After discussing Gun Control in general, pivot to guns in schools with the following questions:

• What can schools do to keep students safe? What should they do?
• Do armed guards in schools make them safer against gun-related attacks or encourage more violence?

Final Questions to pose to students, either as homework or just as a wrap up:

• What is one important thing you thought was accomplished here?
• Is there a next step you would like to take based upon the conversation you just had?

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Optional Homework Assignments

• Have students write a 300 word reflection after the Gun Control class discussion — what did they learn? Did they have any interesting disagreements? Why do they think discussions about our environment matter?