LESSON PLAN - An Untitled Story



LESSON PLAN Subject: Law 30

Time: 50 minutes

|Materials/Aids Required: Overheads- crime statistics, theories of criminal activity, factors that contribute to criminal activity, |

|neighborhood criminal activity reports, handout-why do people commit crimes. |

|Unit |Criminal Law |

|Topic |Why do people commit crimes? |

|Content |Understanding various theories of why people commit crimes, accepting or refuting theories of why people commit |

| |crimes. |

|Teaching Strategy |Guided discussion, group work. |

Objectives:

| |Given an in class discussion, all students will be able to work in small groups to complete a worksheet accepting or |

|1 |refuting theories of why people commit crimes. |

| |Given an in class discussion, all students will be able to work cooperatively in a small group while debating the merits |

|2 |and downfalls of a theory and coming to an agreement on if the group accepts or refutes the theory. . |

|Pre Requisite Learning: An understanding of crime and criminal law in Canada, The Criminal Code, and purposes of criminal law. |

Presentation:

|Set: |

|(Time: 0-3 minutes) Greet students. Ask students if there are any remaining questions or concerns from yesterday’s lesson. If so, |

|take a few minutes to review, address issues or offer clarification. Display crime statistics (see attached overhead). |

|Development: |

|1. (Time: 3-10 minutes) Display an overhead of theories regarding why people commit crimes (see attached overhead Theories of |

|Criminal Activity). Keep the theories covered until you are ready to reveal each one. As each theory is revealed to the class, |

|describe the main components of each theory and its solutions to criminal activities. |

|2. (Time: 10-15 minutes) Once all theories have been displayed, advise students that although much research has been done on the |

|nature of criminal activity there is no definite conclusion as to why people commit crimes. However there are some factors which |

|strongly contribute to criminal behaviour in Canada. Display an overhead of indicators of crime (see attached overhead Factors that|

|Contribute to Criminal Activity) Discuss each factor. Display statistics regarding males and females (see overhead Male and Female |

|Crimes statistics pages 12-15) Display statistics to|

|illustrate the crime in poorer areas of the city relative to areas on the outskirts of the city (see attached overheads North |

|Central Community Crime Report and University Park Community Crime Report) Advise students that they can comment on what they think|

|or what their experience is. Ask students what they have experienced in their life and neighborhood. |

|3. (Time: 15-30 minutes) Advise students that in a group they will be given a handout summarizing each of the theories of crime. In|

|groups they will A) Discuss their given theory B) Develop two reasons why you would agree with this theory. C) Develop two reasons |

|why you would refute/disagree with this theory. D) As a group decide which side they choose and offer an explanation why they chose|

|this side. Advise students that they will be discussing their ideas with the rest of the class. Write these instructions on the |

|board so students can refer to them as they work through the steps. As students are working in their groups circulate throughout |

|the groups to ensure that everyone is on task and contributing to the discussion. Ensure that students are being respectful of |

|other’s opinions and are presenting their opinions in a respectful manner. Give time checkpoints throughout the group work (example|

|you have 10 minutes left, you have three or four minutes left wrap up your discussion etc). |

|4. (Time: 30-42 minutes) Call all groups back to the class. Begin a discussion by asking groups which theory they strongly agreed |

|with. Hands can be shown and answers written on the board. Next ask groups which theory they strongly disagreed with. Again answers|

|can be recorded on the board. Going through each theory ask students what they accepted about the theory and what they rejected. |

|Ask students to justify their ideas. Allow students to share their thoughts and ideas about the theories. Remind students that they|

|need to be respectful and use appropriate vocabulary. |

|5. (Time: 42-45 minutes) Ask the students to wrap up their discussions. Ask students to do some research for homework. Advise |

|students that they each need to bring in an article (newspaper, internet, magazine etc) for the next class. The article must |

|pertain to a crime that has been committed. Advise students it is preferable to have an article that relates to a crime where the |

|judgment has yet to be determined. We will be using the articles to determine what we (as a class) think the punishment should be, |

|given each of the different theories. Advise students that they must be prepared to share a brief summary of the article with the |

|class. |

|Closure: |

|Time (45-50 minutes) In the last few minutes of class ask for volunteers to share something new that they learned today. Remind the|

|students that they need an article for class the next day. Thank the students for their contributions to the class discussions and |

|dismiss them. |

Evaluation:

|Obj. #1 |Students will work on a handout during class time. The handout is to be completed prior to the end of class. |

| |Answers will vary so grading of this assignment will be based on completion and the relevance of the rational |

| |to each theory. |

|Obj. #2 |While students are working in groups, observe and note their ability to offer opinions in their group and to |

| |listen respectfully to others’ opinions. |

|Target for Professional Growth: |

|My target for this lesson is to use an appropriate set and closure. I will do this by using statistics to gain students’ attention |

|at the beginning of the class and by reviewing what they have learned at the end of the class. |

|Common Essential Learnings: |

| |

|Personal & Social Values & Skills: Students will learn some of the theories that society has formulated to explain criminal |

|activity. They will also learn how society views punishment of criminal activity based on various theories. They will have the |

|opportunity to accept or refute what society has set out as its values regarding criminal activity. |

|Communication: Students are working in groups and must be able to debate their ideas in a cooperative manner. Students will learn |

|to listen to others ideas and to share their ideas with a group. |

.

|Classroom Management: |

| |

|Ensure that students get into groups in a timely manner. If there is an issue in this class with creating groups, have students |

|work In rows or with the people next to them. While students are working in groups circulate to each group to ensure that they are |

|on task. Allow all willing participants to share ideas/responses during class discussions. If there are unwilling participants, use|

|something that you know about them/their life to draw them into the conversation. |

| |

|One issue to address is the issue that some students may have been exposed to crime before, personally, as a victim or maybe |

|someone within their family has been involved in criminal activity. Students must be reminded to be respectful and understand this.|

|Knowing student history and something of their circumstances may allow you to address some of these issued beforehand with the |

|individual student. |

|Adaptations for groups: Group size will vary with the size of the class. Groups of three or four will work well. If the class size |

|is too large you can have 10 groups with 2 groups working on each theory. If the class is too small you can also have groups |

|working in partners and have them work on more than one theory. |

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