My co-author, Sanford Levinson, is a Constitutional scholar who teaches at the University of Texas and Harvard Law Schools. You can read about him and his other works here. But he doesn’t just complain about our Constitution. He actually helped write a new one! Read The Democracy Constitution. Watch him describe it here.
Discussion Guides and Teaching Activities
* To see how we wrote Fault Lines in the Constitution together, read our Q&A with Gayleen Rabakukk on Cynthia Leitich-Smith’s Cynsations blog.
* Peachtree’s Discussion Guide is packed with engaging questions, fun activities, and easy printables, including “I Am Constitutionally Literate” stickers!
* School Library Journal published terrific Teaching Ideas for social studies and humanities classrooms.
* Professor Robert Cohen and Stacie Brensilver Berman at New York University’s Steinhardt School prepared standards-based lesson plans with terrific resources and activities on the following topics:
- The Senate (Chapter 2)
- Gerrymandering (Chapter 5)
- Voting Rights (Chapter 8)
- The Electoral College (Chapter 12)
- Habeas Corpus (Chapter 19)
* Illinois Civics teachers developed super Support Materials.
* Use this video with your students to show how the Constitution relates to COVID-19, protests, and the Electoral College. Or, hand them this article in the Washington Post.
* Compare the US Constitution with Libertarian, Progressive, and Conservative Constitutions at The Constitution Drafting Project.
Math teachers: You can find lesson plans, explanations, videos, graphics, and activities galore at “Investigating Gerrymandering and the Math Behind Partisan Maps.”
Blog
Be sure to subscribe to our Fault Lines in the Constitution blog, which updates the book every month. (That’s how timely it is!)
If you would like to work with your students on their blogging (i.e., short opinion essay) skills, take a look at “Finding Faults by Following the Dots,” a blog we posted for a contest we ran.
Games!
The National Archives and Records Administration Education Office has developed terrific games related to the Constitution. Two of them relate directly to Fault Lines in the Constitution.
The Amendment Process Board Game is like Chutes and Ladders. Here are the Instructions.
Can You Change the Constitution? shows older students how difficult the process is, just as we describe in Chapter 18. For this game, you’ll need four 20-sided die. Here are the Game Cards.
Interviews
Many public radio stations interviewed Sandy and me about Fault Lines in the Constitution. Here are links to conversations that are particularly informative:
- “Constitutional Fault Lines in Uncertain Times” with Mitch on KPFA, October 6, 2020
- “Exploring the Constitution’s Flaws” with Jonathan Capeheart on the Leonard Lopate Show, WNYC, October 16, 2017
- “The Imperfect Nature of the Constitution” with John Baxter on Jefferson Public Radio, August 30, 2017
- “Ideasphere” with Guy Rathbun on PRX, August 31, 2017
- “David Pakman Show” with David Pakman, July 2019
- “The Best of Our Knowledge” with Bob Barrett on WAMC, September 21, 2017
- “Nightside with Dan Rea,” on WBZ, September 26, 2017
- “Talk Nation Radio” with David Swanson, October 3, 2017
- “Rising Up” with Sonali, October 5, 2017
- “Conversations” with Dan Skinner on Kansas Public Radio, December 27, 2017
- “Rag Radio” with Thorne Dreyer on KOOP, July 19, 2019
Presentations
Watch us at the National Archives, the National Book Festival, and the Harvard Law School.
Websites
These websites are especially useful:
Bibliography
- Books on the Constitution by Sandy Levinson, my co-author, include Framed: America’s 51 Constitutions and the Crisis of Governance and Our Undemocratic Constitution: Where the Constitution Goes Wrong (And How We the People Can Correct It)
- For deep background and great stories on what happened at the Constitutional Convention in 1787, we recommend Plain, Honest Men: The Making of the American Constitution by Richard Beeman.
- Don’t forget to read the Constitution itself!
