Social Studies Lesson Plan

Overview:When talk show host Don Imus became the news, instead of reporting it, First Amendment were part of the discussion. Should his bosses have silenced him? Has he lost his right to free speech? Has he stepped over some invisible line and loses his right to use his voice? Is this a First Amendment issue, a question of pleasing the advertisers or something much more complicated than that? As senior scholar at the First Amendment Center Charles C. Haynes says, “The only thing worse than an uncivil society is a society where government legislates what is civil.”

Suggested time allotment: One week to explore the First Amendment and how far free speech can go. One week to prepare an explanation.

Objectives

Students will:

1. Read background about Don Imus and his comments about the Rutgers women’s basketball team. (Be sure to use credible sources like those below.)
2. Explore current interpretation of the First Amendment, including that of commercial speech.
3. Present the findings to class through multi-media, oral reports or a debate (e.g. He should have been fired or he should not have been?).

Curriculum Standards from the National Council for the Social Studies: Thematic Strands, from “Expectations of Excellence: Curriculum Standards for Social Studies.”
• VI - Power, authority and governance. Social studies programs should include experiences that provide for the study of how people create and change structures of power, authority, and governance… High school students develop their abilities in the use of abstract principles. They study the various systems that have been developed over the centuries to allocate and employ power and authority in the governing process.
• X – Civic ideals and practicies. Social studies programs should include experiences that provide for the study of the ideals, principles, and practices of citizenship in a democratic republic….High school students increasingly recognize the rights and responsibilities of citizens in identifying societal needs, setting directions for public policies, and working to support both individual dignity and the common good. They learn by experience how to participate in community service and political activities and how to use democratic process to influence public policy.

Resources and materials:
Web sites with information:
• The Poynter Institute for Media Studies explores what happened and what this means about media leadership in a column by Leadership & Management Group leads Jill Geilser in “Forget Focusing on Imus. What about News Leaders?” April 13, 2007.
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• Not everyone agrees on the course of action with Imus. A Washington Post poll shows who is on one side and who is on the other: “Poll: Race, Gender Divide Americans on Imus’ Firing,” by Jon Cohen and Jennifer Agiesta, April 16, 2007.
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• Read the CBS statement about why the network fired him, which ran April 12, 2007.
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• Before his firing, Imus tried to patch things up with Rev. Al Sharpton on his show, but that didn’t work either.
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• What about free speech? Charles C. Haynes, senior scholar at the Freedom Forum’s First Amendment Center, wriote, “Imus, coulter and the marketplace of offensive speech,” April 15, 2007.
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