For teachers and clubs
Forty-minute classroom pack
One case. One sheet. Four questions. A look at the local handbook. Built for a class, an after-school club, or a chapter with a sponsor in the room.
5 min
Open
Write the caption on the board. Students copy the question presented in one sentence. No speeches yet.
12 min
Read
Hand the one-pager. Read the facts aloud once. Students underline the holding in silence.
10 min
Four checks
Run the four questions on the sheet. Pair-share for two minutes, then take two answers per question.
8 min
Local rule
Open the district handbook or the state statute the class actually lives under. Ask: same institution, or a different document?
5 min
Close
Each student writes one sentence: what the Court held, and what the page does not decide. Collect the slips.
What to print
- Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School DistrictStudent speech in a public school
- New Jersey v. T.L.O.Searches by public-school officials
- Goss v. LopezNotice before a short public-school suspension
- In re GaultProcedure when a youth faces confinement
Kit
- One printed sheet per student (Tinker, T.L.O., or Goss).
- A copy of the school’s own student code, or a printed first page of it.
- A timer. Forty minutes is forty minutes.
- An extra adult in the room if the group is under 18 and you are not the classroom teacher.
- The Case of the Day page open if you want a second example.
Forty minutes. Then stop. The leftover argument is next week’s class.