Elementary Education Program

Department of Teacher Education & Learning Sciences

Rights and Responsibilities Lesson Plan

Name: Sydney Neaves & Sara Savino

Grade: 4
Topic/Concept: Rights & Responsibilities
Materials/Resources:
● N.C. Constitution with selected rights
● deck of cards with rights and responsibilities to sort
● Document camera

Teaching Behavior Focus:

● Promote Collaboration

Learning Objectives (measurable):

● Students will be able to verbally differentiate the difference between a right and a
responsibility.
● Students will be able to sort and identify the rights and responsibilities within the North
Carolina constitution.
Standards:
● 4.C&G.2.2 Give examples of rights and responsibilities of citizens according to the North
Carolina Constitution.

Assessment Plan (How will you know that your students met the objective?):
Describe your assessment plan for the targeted learning objective(s). What specific
data/information will you use, and how will that data/information tell you that the students
have/have not met the objective?

● Card sort of examples of rights & responsibilities, where teachers will formatively assess
students by asking questions and prompting for explanations.
● Students will be given a deck of cards and paired into groups of 2. Where the students
will have the two headings of ‘Right’ and “Responsibility’ the students will then take the
other cards in their deck and determine if they are a right or a responsibility and place
each card under each heading. Working as a group to complete this and discussing with
each other and the teacher.
● The teacher should walk around the room and listen in to student talk, as well as ask
questions to assess students’ understanding of rights and responsibilities.
● Teacher will be able to assess if objectives are met by seeing if students can correctly sort
the cards as rights and responsibilities of citizens.

New Vocabulary:
 Elementary Education Program
Department of Teacher Education & Learning Sciences

● Right: rights are what every individual deserves so that we can live in a world that is fair
and just. “I have the right to speak without being interrupted”
● Responsibility: something that is your duty to do. It is something that affects other
people's lives.
“I have the responsibility not to interrupt or to allow anyone to be interrupted.”
● Constitution: a body of fundamental principles according to which a country, state, or
organization is governed.
● Citizen: Individual who lives in a certain area with certain rights and responsibilities
● Freedom: the right to act, speak and think as a person wants to
● Liberties: the right or power to act and choose freely

Real Time Lesson Plan

Hook/Engage/Launch: (5 minutes)
● Start the lesson by gathering students on the carpet and asking them what their
responsibilities are as students at Conn Elementary? Then ask them what are some rights
they have here at Conn Elementary? Discuss the rights and responsibilities of students.
● Next project the NC Constitution on the board.
○ Where the teacher will ask students if they recognize this and what they know
about the constitution.
○ Allow students to turn and talk about what they know about the constitution and
how it pertains to themselves.
○ Bring students back into class conversation- Ask students if they know what a
right is- explaining that a right is what every individual deserves so that we can
live in a world that is fair and just. for example “I have the right to speak without
being interrupted”.
○ Where with certain rights come responsibilities that we have as citizens, does
anyone know what a responsibility is?
○ Explain a responsibility is something that is your duty to do. It is something that
affects other people's lives. For example, “I have the responsibility not to interrupt
or to allow anyone to be interrupted.”
● Explore/Explain: (20 minutes)
○ Explain that as citizens, we have certain responsibilities that we have to uphold
because we are given these rights from our Constitution.
○ Today we are going to read specific rights of the North Carolina Constitution
together.
○ The teacher highlights a right found in the constitution and gives an example of a
responsibility that goes with that right. Explaining that the rights are stated for us
but meanwhile some responsibilities we have to infer.
○ For example, a right that could be highlighted is “Freedom of speech and of the
press are two of the great bulwarks of liberty and therefore shall never be
restrained, but every person shall be held responsible for their abuse.”
○ A responsibility that a teacher could add to this would be “We are responsible for
listening to others’ opinions and allowing them to speak, even when we disagree
with them.”
 Elementary Education Program
Department of Teacher Education & Learning Sciences

○ A right that could be highlighted is “The people have a right to the privilege of
education, and it is the duty of the State to guard and maintain that right.”
○ A responsibility that a teacher could add to this would be “We are responsible to
attend school and learn.”
○ Students are separated into groups. Different groups are given different excerpts
from the NC constitution.
○ The teacher can write the sentence stem on the board “Because we have this right,
we are responsible to/for…”
○ Students are instructed to find rights themselves within their excerpts and
highlight them. With each right they find, they should write a responsibility on a
sticky note that goes with that right.
Second Half of Explore/Explain:
● Hand students a deck of cards and pair them into groups of 2.
● Where the students will have the two headings of ‘Right’ and “Responsibility’ explain to
students they are to sort the cards and determine if the card represents a right or a
responsibility of a citizen. Working as a group to complete this and discussing with each
other and the teacher.
● The teacher should walk around the room and listen in to student talk, as well as ask
questions to assess students’ understanding of rights and responsibilities.
● The teacher will be able to assess if objectives are met by seeing if students can correctly
sort the cards as rights and responsibilities of citizens.

Discussion: (10 minutes)

● Bring the class back together for a whole group discussion.
● Ask students to raise their hands and share some rights that they found, and the
responsibilities they associated with them.
● Ask students to share which cards they put under rights and which under responsibilities.
● Students should explain their reasoning. Other students can agree or disagree
respectfully and explain why.
● Wrap up discussion reemphasizing what a right and a responsibility of a citizen is and
why we have these rights and responsibilities.
● Remind students that their rights are stated in the NC constitution.

Card Sort Printable

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1n5pDi1LbpiJlmw5j5tEgLwCCCzi8oZO1ukrixhYoYHY/e
dit?usp=sharing

NC Constitution Excerpts of Rights

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1tTRziz5aLUoHOJuMqVozJeGdX0lhEqNhaWV43NYFtrk
/edit?usp=sharing