6 ideas to celebrate the First Amendment during Scholastic Journalism Week
What do use today to celebrate the First Amendment?
It’s a great day for it. Here are some easy ideas to get you started.
1.
You could play a “man on the street” style game, where students interview students around the building asking them about their First Amendment freedoms and giving treats for correct answers. These can be recorded with a phone and can be shared on staff social media accounts or websites.
2.
You could decorate treats with the freedoms of the First Amendment on them (cookies, cupcakes, etc.) and pass them out to students. You could also do this with items like suckers or pencils and attach pieces of paper.
3.
You could hang posters or flyers around the school created by students that show of the First Five. You could also make this a scavenger hunt for students to find all five for a prize. The scavenger hunt style can be done in many ways. Maybe you add them into your school paper that day (if applicable), school announcements/broadcast or onto your website.
4.
Give away some T-shirts in your building or on your staff that show off the First Five.
5.
Host a Zoom call with a neighboring school’s program (or a program across the country!) to discuss what you’ve been able to do because of the First Five, challenges or obstacles you’ve been met with and/or best practices for continuing the work.
6.
Here’s a great video from student Clayton High School Staff in Missouri students talking about some important work that they’ve done and the reasons they were able to tell those stories (and how they approached them).
Find more ideas to celebrate the First Amendment and other Scholastic Journalism Week activities at JEA.org/SJW2022.
Lindsay Porter