How the word "Harvard" gets my students to read
Even though most of them are not heading to college
A lesson to teach: James Madison, the ‘Federal Negative,’ and the Making of the U.S. Constitution: A “Case Method“ by Harvard’s Professor Moss
A couple years ago, when I was assigned to teach 12th grade Civics for the first time, I spent the summer in professional development. After nearly two decades of teaching World History, I was amazed how many resources there are for American history and Civics. No need to dig into esoteric books to find primary sources - they are right there on the internet for you, with a student-friendly summary and lesson plan to go with. Amazing.
The best professional development (BY FAR!) was by Professor David Moss who teaches at Harvard. For his workshop, I spent a couple hours reading and annotating his dense 15-pages essay on James Madison and the Constitution, muttering the whole time that there was no way my students would be able to read this. It would be way too hard for them.
And then, I participated in Professor Moss’s Zoom workshop. It was mind-blowing, seeing how he used the reading to teach the Constitution. I immediately decided that my students actually WERE going to read that essay, come hell or high water. The resulting discussion was too powerful for my students to miss.
And wouldn’t you know: For the past two years, hundreds of my students have been successfully reading a dense 15 page essay meant for Harvard students. I don’t teach AP. I’m at a Title I school that is delightfully chock-full of immigrants learning how to speak English as their 2nd or 3rd language.
They can read hard things.
We read it in class. We annotate every single hard-to-understand paragraph. I sit with small groups and explain the toughest bits. When things get hard, I remind students they are reading something by a Harvard professor. Yes, it is hard. Yes, they can do it. Students are SO PROUD of themselves for reading something that has the word “HARVARD” splashed across the front. That alone is motivation enough :)
Then we discuss.
Students said:
“Even though I hate seeing all those taxes taken out of my paycheck, now I have a love-hate relationship with taxes. I get why they are necessary
“States were running the government instead of the government running the states”
“The Articles of Confederation were chaotic. The United States were anything but united.”
In his workshop, Professor Moss models EXACTLY how to lead the discussion. Asking the right questions in the right order will lead to students pinpointing all the problems that the US was facing the the 1780s. Then he asks students how to solve each of these problems, one by one.
An example: One problem is that individual states were making trade deals with Britain. The British Empire was playing states off each other in order to get the best deal.
How can that problem be solved?
Easy! The US should make a rule saying that only Congress can make trade deals with foreign nations.
That rule goes on the board.
At the end of the discussion, a student-generated list of Congressional powers is on the board. Then, we compared that list to the US Constitution. The student’s list mirror the Constitution.
“Holy cow, you guys just wrote Section 8 of the Constitution!”
Normally, I share all my lessons and readings with you newsletter readers because I create them. However these reading and lesson plans however were created by Professor Moss and the Case Method Institute and are not mine to share.
But fear not! The next Zoom-based PD workshop with Professor Moss, specifically designed for teachers new to the case method, is scheduled for Friday, December 6, 2024 (with a possible option on November 15, depending on availability), from 11 AM to 5 PM ET. As always, everything is free of charge. You’ll be able to get all his readings and lesson plans by signing up for his workshop.
Social studies teachers can apply at this link, and explore further here:
Obviously, I highly recommend this for Civics and US history teachers. The reading I taught is but one example. Professor Moss has dozens of different Case Method readings. I’ve also taught one about the important of jury diversity, centered around a trial that took place in post-Reconstruction Virginia. I’ll write about that one later - I usually teach it in January and/or June. I’ve also just read most of the cases for my own pleasure/education. I wish I’d read them before I took my test for National Boards. It would have been a great way to study for the US section of the test.1
A place to explore: The National Constitution Center in Pennsylvania, of course!
Have I been there? Um…I don’t remember.
Have I been to Pennsylvania? Yes! Twice!
The first time I was in Pennsylvania was 15 years ago with my best friend. We looked for ghosts at Eastern State Penitentiary. We went on a haunted pub tour of Philadelphia. We ate cheesesteaks and took LOVE pictures.
We did go to Constitution Hall, but I remember being underwhelmed. I just couldn’t picture Benjamin Franklin and John Adams and Alexander Hamilton in the little wooden room that I was standing in with other tourists. I don’t remember if we actually went to the Constitution Center.
Sorry to my fellow history teachers. I wish this was an inspiring story about how I felt a swell of patriotism or democracy or SOMETHING, but nah. I just wanted to go eat more cheesesteak. Maybe if I’ve read Professor Moss’s work 15 years ago, before this trip, it would have hit different.
Or maybe not.
I went back to Philly a few years ago to attend the National Conference for Social Studies Teachers (highly recommend!!!), but I spent my one non-conference day running the Schuylkill River Loop Race instead of visiting the National Constitution Center. Honestly, no regrets. I’m trying to run a race in every state and I needed Pennsylvania.
Or maybe I avoided the Constitution Center because I was scared of feeling nothing again.
This might be the one instance in which I like teaching something better than traveling to it. Weird.
A book to read: Fault Line in the Constitution by Cynthia Levinson & Sanford Levinson
This is such a great book for when you want to pick up something, read just a few pages, and then set it down again. It’s super informative and a great entry point if you want an easy primer on the Article of Confederation and the Constitution. It’s written for a YA audience (there is also a graphic novel version), which is great for adults and students who want some easy-to-understand basics.
The book is separated into 5-6 page chapters, each following the same formula.
Each chapter begins with a story: A specific example of some weird thing that’s happened because of some Constitutional oddity
Then we step back into 1787 and learn what the Framers were likely thinking
A “What’s the Big Problem” section discusses how a Constitutional rule has caused problems
A “There Are Other Ways” section discusses how individual states and other countries deal with the issue
A “The Story Continues” blurb wraps up the chapter by revisiting the story that opened the chapter
Each chapter contains a few quotes from the Constitution and some graphics
Because each chapter is so similar, this book would make for a great jigsaw activity, where expert groups read a chapter and then share what they learned with their new jigsaw groups. This handout will help.
Happy teaching, traveling, reading, and thinking about the Constitution this week! See y’all next Sunday.
If you buy the book via the link above, I get a little kickback via Bookshop. You’ll be supporting me AND a local bookstore, so go you!
I did pass the National Boards! Go me! But I struggled with the US bits of the Component 1 test, since I’ve never taught the subject.
Great lesson for civics teachers in this drop! Nice.👍🏼