Teaching the First Amendment Freedoms

In an opening lecture, I briefly listed the five freedoms Americans are guaranteed in the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. Then I moved on. I quizzed them the next week, and they didn’t do too well. They did a little better when I surprised them with a follow-up quiz. After that, it looks like they got the message. Every student correctly listed press, speech, assembly and religion.  Nobody listed “the right to bear arms” or “the right to bare arms.” One student got half credit for listing the freedom to “partition.” I spent zero time re-teaching this. They learned it on their own.