The purpose of this unit was to combine the content from banned books and First Amendment Rights in an engaging forum for students. When we were planning the difficulties we had was to authentically combine the content from both subject areas.

The reading process project in combination with the banned books essay was a great assignment for students to become engaged with issues that surrounded banned books in a rigorous, yet engaging way.

However, when it came time for the mock trials, the project was set up in a way where First Amendment principles could be touched upon but not displayed in an in-depth manner. If we made a more specific goal to incorporate actual court procedures and had students focus the mock trials on arguing these principles more, the mock trials would have turned out much more authentic and true to life.

Despite the ways in which this project could have been improved, we felt that it was a great way to execute a unit on banned books. We asked students to read with intent, write a persuasive essay, and use the knowledge attained in an exhibition-like project through the mock trials. When the mock trials were completed, students were very proud of what they did and many students who felt like their public speaking skills were lacking proved themselves in front of their peers.

We would like to thank those teachers from CAT who were able to visit our classrooms during the mock trials and support the students by being an interested, engaged audience. Also, we give many thanks to Donors Choose for donating to us the banned books library.

Final Reflection

The purpose of this unit was to combine the content from banned books and First Amendment Rights in an engaging forum for students. When we were planning the difficulties we had was to authentically combine the content from both subject areas. The reading process project in combination with the banned books essay was a great assignment for students to become engaged with issues that surrounded banned books in a rigorous, yet engaging way. However, when it came time for the mock trials, the project was set up in a way where First Amendment principles could be touched upon but not displayed in an in-depth manner. If we made a more specific goal to incorporate actual court procedures and had students focus the mock trials on arguing these principles more, the mock trials would have turned out much more authentic and true to life. Despite the ways in which this project could have been improved, we felt that it was an extremely great way to execute a unit on banned books. We asked students to read with intent, write a persuasive essay, and use the knowledge attained in an exhibition-like project through the mock trials. When the mock trials were completed, students were very proud of what they did and many students who felt like their public speaking skills were lacking proved themselves in front of their peers. We would like to thank those teachers from CAT who were able to visit our classrooms during the mock trials and support the students by being an interested, engaged audience. Also, we give many thanks to Donors Choose for donating to us the banned books library.

Paul Koh | August 10, 2007