Lesson Plans

Lesson 20 - Censorship

Objectives

Students will respond to the idea of censorship before and after they have experienced it.

Pre-Knowledge

The teacher will ask the students what their ideas of censorship are? Do they know of any examples of censorship that exist today? Why are things subjected to censorship?

Teacher Input

Day One:

The teacher will instruct the students to write a note to a friend or partner in the classroom. The can write about anything that they like. They should not tell that person anything that they wrote, or it will ruin the assignment. They should write names of other friends, places if possible. The teacher will then collect the notes once the students have finished. He/She will then inform the students that the notes will be delivered tomorrow.

Day Two:

When the students receive their notes back, they will see that several parts of those notes have been censored and that the names of people and places have been taken out, and also anything else in the note that was important. The teacher will then get reactions from the students on the idea and practice of censorship. Ask the students to imagine not being able to call that person that they wrote to and tell them what was missing from that note? Ask the students also, what could they do to get around the censors reading their letters?