Separation of Powers

Materials: ~10 copies of the Constitution of the School Activity (see below); pencils 

This lesson assumes that the students have some familiarity/ background knowledge on the topic already, including: 

• The three branches of government established by the constitution (Executive, Legislative, Judiciary). 
• The main functions of each branch, especially as it relates to the law. 
  • Executive= Enforce the law 
  • Legislative= Write the law 
  • Judiciary= Interpret and rule on the law 
• A variety of ways that each branch checks the power of the other branches. 

*Note: If you need to review this information for this lesson, Here are two good videos to use: one or two. I recommend you do this between the “Warm-Up Question” and “The Constitution Activity” 

Warm-Up Question:

Is it better for one person to hold all the power to make and enforce the rules, or for lots of people to have a say? Why? 

• Recommended facilitation: Give silent thinking time. Then, have students turn-and-talk to a student next to them about what they think, encouraging student to give reasons for their opinions. Then, invite students to share out whole-class (either their own ideas or interesting thoughts they heard from their partner). 

The Constitution Activity 

The authors of the US constitution decided it was best if lots of people have a say, and different groups had different powers, to keep one person from becoming too powerful as the King! 

• Overview: In this activity, students will work in groups of 3-5 (depending on your class size) to create a constitution for the school. They will think about the different powers (roles and responsibilities) of different actors in the school community— Principals, Teachers, and Students. (If you want, you can introduce other branches, such as Parents, Office Staff, Janitors, etc., but you will need to make “Articles” for these additional branches.) 
• For each “branch” of the school, the students will determine 3-4 main “powers” and 1-2 ways that branch can check the other branches. Students should use the attachment in “Resources” to create their constitution. When they finish, have the students put their signatures at the bottom of the document to ratify their constitutions.
  1. Recommendation: Ask students to agree on a “scribe” or have them take turns in each section if more than one wants to write. 
  2. Recommendation: Scaffold the time for the students. Give them 5-7 minutes to work on the first article, then repeat for the other Articles to keep them on track. 
  3. Recommendation: If small groups will not work for your class, you can create your constitution as a whole class. 
• Once all groups have finished the articles, facilitate a class discussion around these questions:
  1. What are the different powers and checks on each branch in the school? 
  2. Why might we want to separate powers between more than one person in our school? In our government? 
  3. Philosophy Discussion Questions (you can end the lesson with these questions) 
     • What is the difference between using your power and abusing your power?
     • Whose responsibility is it to make sure someone is not abusing their power?
     • What are some other examples of checks and balances of power (other than the government and the school)?
     • Is it always a good idea to separate powers between more than one person?

Wrap-Up Question

(if you want to bring it back to content, otherwise wrap up with the philosophy discussion) 

Bringing it back to the framers of the constitution 

• What are some of the main considerations the framers of the constitution had in deciding how the US government should work?