Author:  Office of the U.S. Courts – Educational Resources

This highly interactive program combines the vampire craze and social media to give high school students the opportunity to wrestle with a current issue by participating in a trial and jury deliberations.The topic is The First Amendment and Social Media: Student Rights, Wrongs, and Responsibilities. The strength of the program is that it has something for every student’s abilities and aptitudes. Everyone has the opportunity to participate fully.  Scripts allow the activity to be done as an Oxford Debate or as a Scripted Trial.

Objectives

• Students will gain understanding of the issues surrounding Free Speech in the school setting.
• Students will form and present arguments based on a scenario and Free Speech law.
• Students will deliberate as a jury on the issues presented in debate or scripted trial.
• Students will gain understanding regarding courtroom procedure.

Source:

http://www.uscourts.gov/EducationalResources/ClassroomActivities/RealLifeScenarios/SocialMediaAndStudentSpeech.aspx ^[1]