Englewood Elementary School Contact: Sis Litvin (Teacher) E-mail: litdayton@aol.com Activity Summary: Sis Litvin, a teacher in Englewood, Ohio, designed a five-week multi-discipline unit for her sixth graders based in the theme "Celebrate Your Freedom."  Students studied legal terms, the steps in a jury trial, and historical information.  They researched famous cases and gave oral presentations to the class. They visited the Montgomery County Juvenile Detention Center and the Court of Common Pleas to observer a trial in session. The Dayton Bar Association arranged for two attorneys to come to their classroom to answer questions. Students participated in a mock voir dire and watched the film Twelve Angry Men. The students acted out the scripts of three mock trials, including Jensen v. The White Star Line, a mock trial based on the sinking of the Titanic taken from the material on the web site of the Anderson Kill & Orick law firm. Sponsorship Entity: Englewood Elementary School People Benefiting: 20 sixth graders and 100 fourth-sixth graders indirectly. Volunteers: Two lawyers and various parents. Best Things about This Program: Students could work independently -- "Students researched cases, such as Brown v. Board of Education and Tinker v. Des Moines School District, and acts such as the 1964 Civil Rights Act or the Americans with Disabilities Act. They created their own visual aids to use in their presentations and afterwards the class discussed the issues involved, the struggle it took to obtain certain privileges, and the importance of having these freedoms." Students could be creative - "The students wrote poems based on newspaper articles, such as a story on a woman who lost custody of her children or an article about two families going to court over a dog. They created posters using the theme of Celebrate Your Freedom. In the Titanic mock trial, they took on the personalities of different people such as the captain, the survivors, the relatives of those who drowned, and the ship's crew." It takes a lot of student participation - "It's not just me standing up there talking. If you ask the kids what the best part was, they will say the Titanic trial because they were all a part of it." Secrets of Success: "Letting the kids take the leadership whenever possible. At the beginning of the unit, we discussed the possibilities and what they want to do. Of course, I had my own list of things, but they had their input and suggested many of the same ideas I had in my notes." How-to Advice "If we do the Titanic again, I would have to allow more time. The children had read Titanic Crossing the year before and, of course, they had all seen the movie. We spent so much time separating fact from fiction, however, that the student lawyers kept asking for postponements!" What We Learned: "In the future, I would let students from other classes get more involved, such as acting as jurors during the mock trials." Cost:   Under $50 Sample Programs Home | By Audience | By Location | By Sponsoring Organization