Request Line: (870) 277-1080 [email protected]

    Your Community Radio Station is possible thanks to this supporter!  Become an underwriter.

    Constitution Day celebrated by local public schools
    constitution-day-celebrated-by-local-public-schools

    December 1, 2023

    Your Community Radio Station is possible thanks to this supporter!  Become an underwriter.

    Local public schools arrange activities for Constitution Day to teach students about the role of the Constitution in the development of the U.S.

    Delta Digital News Service

    Friday, Dec. 1, 2023

    By Avery Jones | Editor

    JONESBORO, Ark. – Constitution Day was on Sept. 17. The holiday celebrates the adoption of the U.S. Constitution. The day is especially important for public schools because they must recognize the day and use the opportunity to teach students about the Constitution according to a federal requirement. 

    Local schools in Jonesboro are no different and had some activities planned for Constitution Day. According to Jon Newman, an Advanced Placement U.S. History and Government teacher from The Academies at Jonesboro High School, his school didn’t have a school-wide event planned but each teacher covered the topic in their classrooms.

    Since Constitution Day was on a Sunday, Newman chose to recognize the day on Tuesday. He and his students were discussing the development of the Constitution. He also brought in Senator Dan Sullivan to talk about his role in the government and our state legislature’s role in the system that was created by the Constitution.

    According to Newman, the goal of this day in schools is to “help students to see how the document that established our current government was created out of a need that arose with Shay’s Rebellion.” He makes sure that he stresses to students the importance of how the Constitution was created to adapt to the country as it grew and changed.

    In past years, the high school used to invite the Arkansas National Guard to speak to all of the classes about the importance of the National Guard. However, because the requirements for what must be taught has increased, more teachers are unwilling to give up an entire day for such a presentation. Newman doesn’t mind occasionally using a day, though, to allow an elected official to come talk to his students.

    Newman says that his students usually respond pretty well to the day. Because of his classes’ subject matter, it’s easy to fit in the lesson.

    However, one problem that comes up for other classes not about history and government is that they have to pause their usual lessons to teach about the Constitution for only one day. This lesson can seem arbitrary to students since it doesn’t flow well with the usual subject matter.

    At Valley View Schools, the teachers are all doing different activities in their classrooms as well. Matt Mink, a social studies teacher at the junior high school, recognized Constitution Day on Monday the 18th. 

    He put together a “Constitution Day Escape Room” for his students. Each student works with a partner to decipher four clues which will provide a four-digit code. This code unlocks a lockbox that contains the “stolen” Constitution.

    Mink’s goal of this activity is to allow the students to experience something different and to learn from it while having fun. He and his class discussed the Constitution prior to the activity. Mink has been doing this activity for four or five years.

    “The students love this activity,” Mink said. “Once they figure out how to decipher each clue, it becomes real competitive. They all want to be the first ones done.”

     Melissa Mayfield, a history and government teacher at Valley View High School, also planned special activities for Constitution Day. The school rolled Constitution Day into Freedom Week, which is celebrated during the last week of September.

    The purpose of Freedom Week is to emphasize teachings on the development of the U.S. and its founding documents, including the Constitution. It’s an official holiday only in Arkansas, Florida, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. 

    The social studies department at Valley View High School, which Mayfield is a part of, planned a recital of the Bill of Rights during lunch on Sept. 25. It was recited by students from the American History and Government classes on the balcony that overlooks the school cafeteria.

    The students from Mayfield’s AP World History class made posters with the amendments on them to display in the hallways of the social studies department. Additionally, Mayfield taught about different constitutions from around the world and compared them to that of the U.S.

    Mayfield does the constitution comparison each year, but this is the first time that the social studies department has collaborated for the Bill of Rights recital. Mayfield said that in general, some students are more engaged than others. 

    The sophomores have a basic understanding of government structure, but haven’t extensively learned about the amendments. As a result, the teachings of Freedom Week focus on the individual rights that come from the Bill of Rights and comparing our government structure with that of other countries’.

    “I want students to understand our Constitution, but I also want them to see how it influenced the creation of other constitutions and how other documents, like the English Bill of Rights, influenced the creation of our state,” Mayfield said.

    -30-




    Avery Jones is a junior in the Department of English and Philosophy at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro. She can be reached at: [email protected]




    NOTE: Feature photo by Anthony Garand on Unsplash

    More here:
    Constitution Day celebrated by local public schools. Article may or may not reflect the views of KLEK 102.5 FM or The Voice of Arkansas Minority Advocacy Council

    0 0 votes
    Article Rating

    Your Community Radio Station is possible thanks to this supporter!  Become an underwriter.

    Your Community Radio Station is possible thanks to this supporter!  Become an underwriter.

    Related Articles

    Black LA firm Lendistry selected by California to Disburse $500 million in COVID Relief Funds
    Black LA firm Lendistry selected by California to Disburse $500 million in COVID Relief Funds

    [Photo: Everett K. Sands, Lendistry Founder and CEO via Lendistry.com] The state of California has selected Lendistry, a Black-led-and-operated financial firm in Los Angeles, to administer the disbursement of $500 Read more

    Harriet Tubman Inducted into Military Intelligence Corps Hall of Fame; Back on Track to Grace the $20 Bill
    Harriet Tubman Inducted into Military Intelligence Corps Hall of Fame; Back on Track to Grace the $20 Bill

    by Lori Lakin Hutcherson (@lakinhutcherson) On Veteran’s Day in 2018, I posted the following to the Good Black News Facebook Page with the photo above: This is Harriet Tubman in Read more

    Morehouse College and Spelman College Co-Create Center for Black Entrepreneurship with $10 Million in Funding from Bank of America
    Morehouse College and Spelman College Co-Create Center for Black Entrepreneurship with $10 Million in Funding from Bank of America

    According to jbhe.com, the Black Economic Alliance Foundation, HBCUs Spelman College, Morehouse College and Bank of America have announced plans to develop the Center for Black Entrepreneurship, the first-ever academic center to Read more

    Killer Mike’s Digital Banking Platform, Greenwood, Raises Nearly $40 million in Funding From Investors
    Killer Mike’s Digital Banking Platform, Greenwood, Raises Nearly $40 million in Funding From Investors

    [Photo: Killer Mike, Andrew Young, Ryan Glover via bankgreenwood.com] Greenwood, the digital banking platform introduced last year by co-founders activist/rapper Michael “Killer Mike” Render and Bounce TV President Ryan Glover, has Read more

    Comments

    Subscribe
    Notify of
    0 Comments
    Oldest
    Newest Most Voted
    Inline Feedbacks
    View all comments

    Your Community Radio Station is possible thanks to this supporter!  Become an underwriter.