Submitted by Dan Dunagan

Objectives:

Content:
Students will... 

• CON 1.  Demonstrate an understanding of the influence of the death penalty in the U.S.
• CON 2.  Demonstrate an understanding of how one early civilization regulated the use of the death penalty.
• CON 3.  Demonstrate an understanding that the U.S. Constitution does not specifically address the death penalty 
• CON 4.  Display an understanding of how the use of the death penalty has changed throughout the course of U.S. history.
  
  

Cultural:
Students will... 

• CUL 1.  Display an understanding of why ancient societies were more punitive and severe in their punishments.  
• CUL 2.  Demonstrate an understanding of the differences and similarities between the concepts of codification of laws (employed by Hammurabi) and jurisprudence (practiced by the U.S. judiciary).
  

Language: Content Obligatory
Students will... 

• Lang CO 1.  Use novel vocabulary related to capital punishment in order to describe basic concepts about the death penalty with nouns (la pena capital, el acusado, el castigo, las fianzas, las multas, el delito, etc.) and adjectives (culpable, inocente, civilizado, prohibido, etc.).  
• Lang CO 2.  Use regular and irregular future tense verbs (at times with the passive voice) to understand and express results with words such as se exigirán, se impondrán, se infligirán, será castigado, irá, hará, arrebatará, sufrirá, probará, volverá, podrá, and restituirá.

Language: Content Compatible
Students will... 

• Lang CC 1.  Use vocabulary to explain methods of execution such as la silla eléctrica, la guillotina, la inyección letal, pelotón de fusilamiento, and arrojarse al río.
• Land CC 2.  Use the preterite verb tense to describe past events with verbs such as exonerar, recomendar, extraditar, castigar, and sentenciar.
• Lang CC 3.& nbsp; Use adverbs, nouns, and prepositional phrases to describe chronological sequence with words such as primero, antes, después, hace algunos años, en el pasado, en el siglo, and década. 
• Lang CC 4.  Use passive voice to identify past actions with chunks such as fueron ejecutadas, fue ajusticiado, han sido ejecutadas, and fue fulminado.
• Lang CC 5.  Use expressions of agreement or disagreement to share and compare information with expressions such as tienes razón, te equivocas de, estoy a favor de, and estoy contra.

Learning Strategies / Social and Skills Development:
Students will... 

• LS 1.  Work cooperatively in groups
• LS 2.  Infer meaning from L2 texts
• LS 3.  Compare and contrast
• LS 4.  Use background knowledge to identify what is known
• LS 5.  Create a visual representation
  

Time Frame:

One 47-minute period

Materials Needed:

•  Appendix 1-1 - Attention grabber – True/False quiz on the use of the death penalty – Curiosidades sobre la pena de muerte.
•  Appendix 1-2 - Reading on Hammurabi’s Code of Laws El Código de Hammurabi
•  Appendix 1-3 - Copy of the 8th Amendment  
•  Appendix 1-4 – Reading on the history of the death penalty in the U.S.
  

Description of Assessment (Performance Project):

Purpose:
To understand the legal and historic roots of the death penalty in the United States

Preview Phase:

Targeted Standards & Objectives

Description of Activities

Standards 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 2.1, & 3.1 Objectives CON 1 LS 1 LS 2 Lang CO 1 Lang CC 4 Lang CC 5

Introduction to the death penalty in the U.S. – Students complete a seven-question, true-false quiz on the death penalty – Curiosidades sobre la Pena de Muerte. This is an attention grabbing exercise that should take approximately three minutes (Appendix 1-1). All of the questions are correct. Students compare their answers with the members of their groups (Students are assigned seats each quarter.  The seats are arranged in six groups of four to five students each).  As they share, the instructor walks from group to group, listening to the discussion.  After sharing for two to three minutes, the instructor reviews the answers with the entire class.  (Hall Haley & Austin, p. 109 – “Engage students in activities in which they work together and the teacher becomes the facilitator.”)

Focused Learning Phase:

Targeted Standards & Objectives	Description of Activities
Standards 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 2.1, 3.1, 4.2 Objectives CON 2 CUL 1-2 LS 1-5 Lang CO 2 Lang CC 1 Lang CC 5	Hand out the text El Código de Hammurabi (Appendix 1-2). The students read this document.  In their groups, they extract the following from the text:  two extreme laws and two sensible laws.  They write these four laws onto 3” X 4” sheets of paper that the teacher provides.  The students will have eight to ten minutes to complete this activity. Each group will then present its conclusions.  They will use the 3X4 sheet as a visual aid while they explain their conclusion.  This will last 10-12 minutes (One to two minutes per group).   As they present, the instructor asks which of these laws are still used today.  The instructor also asks if those laws are necessary.
Standards 1.1, 1.2, 2.1, 3.1, 4.2 Objectives CON 3 CUL 2 LS 2-4 Lang CO 1-2	Eighth Amendment – The instructor writes the one phrase of the Eighth Amendment on the board. The instructor then hands out a graphic organizer for the students to complete (see Appendix 1-3). The graphic organizer contains two questions:  Does the 8th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution allow the death penalty? How does the Constitution’s treatment of the death penalty differ from Hammurabi’s code?  Expository – Students take notes on the bottom of the graphic organizer while I explain that Hammurabi’s laws were codified.  The U.S. legal system is based on jurisprudence.  Although the Supreme Court did rule that the death penalty is permissible.  The Constitution leaves the decision of whether to allow the death penalty to the individual states.  If the method of carrying out the death penalty is deemed “cruel and unusual,” it can be denied by the state or federal courts.    The total expository and discussion of the 8th Amendment will last eight to ten minutes.

Expansion Phase: 

Targeted Standards & Objectives

Description of Activities

Standards 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 2.1, 3.1, 4.2 Objectives  CON 1, 3-4 LS 2 Lang CC 1-3

Each student receives a copy of Appendix 1-4 (Background reading on the history of the death penalty in the U.S.). Students will complete an interpretational activity using the reading.  They will create a timeline of at least ten significant occurrences related to the death penalty in the U.S.  For at all of these occurrences, the students will include a description of the event, the date, the significance, and a small drawing that forms part of the timeline.  The instructor has examples of past timelines to use as anchors.   The explanation of this activity will take the rest of the class period.

Assessment:

• Informal observation of student interaction and participation on the attention grabber true/false quiz.
• Informal observation of student interaction and participation on the activity related to El Código de Hamurabi.
• Informal observation of student answers on the interpretational activity dealing with the 8th Amendment. 
• Collect and review the Homework - timelines of the history of capital punishment in the U.S. history

Assessment - use a checklist to evaluate at least ten different events.  Each item must include:

• a drawing,
• a brief description of the event,
• the date of the event,
• an explanation of the event’s significance. 

Attachments:

NOTE: some attachments are in PDF form (get Acrobat Reader)

Appendix 1-1: True/False quiz on the history of the death penalty in the U.S.
Appendix 1-2: El Código de Hamurabi
Appendix 1-3: Graphic Organizer
Appendix 1-4: Background reading on the history of the death penalty in the U.S. 

A Lesson from the CoBaLTT Project
/cobaltt
Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition
University of Minnesota