With a new school year starting, I wanted to share an opening activity that can be used in your law classroom. While I’d created this specifically for my grade 11 CLU3M class, it could be easily used with a grade 12 CLN4U classroom.
As a social studies teacher I often find myself reminding students that what they’re thinking of is actually specific to American legal traditions and that Canada is different. A common misconception that comes to mind is when students believe that voters directly elect the prime minister. This confusion led me to create an first or second day activity that has students thinking about what is actually an American legal concept, what is a Canadian legal concept and what is a legal concept shared by both.
In this activity, student groups will be given cards representing all the different terms. It is their job to work together (without using their computers or assistive technologies) and decide is it a Canadian legal term, an American legal term or something that is shared by both? I’ve included the answer key into the slideshow, but getting the students discussing their choices and categorizing it, is a great way to build upon collaboration skills especially for classrooms that do group activities like the mock trial.
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