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8th Grade  Project 4 weeks

Phone Rules on Trial: Rights, Reasons, and Rhetoric

Niki Patel Aatash Parikh
Niki Patel, Aatash Parikh
Updated
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.8.1
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.6-8.1
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.8.4
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.8.3
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.8.1
+ 5 more
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The Challenge

You face competing concerns around personal rights, privacy, safety, equitable access, and the effects of phone use on attention and communication. Conflicting evidence and perspectives make fair, enforceable phone policies difficult to evaluate.

Challenge Question

How might we improve our school’s phone policy so that students and staff can protect learning, safety, and student rights?

Standards

  • [Common Core] CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.8.1 - Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 8 topics, texts, and issues, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly.
  • [Common Core] CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.6-8.1 - Write arguments focused on discipline-specific content.
  • [Common Core] CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.8.4 - Present claims and findings, emphasizing salient points in a focused, coherent manner with relevant evidence, sound valid reasoning, and well-chosen details; use appropriate eye contact, adequate volume, and clear pronunciation.
  • [Common Core] CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.8.3 - Delineate a speaker's argument and specific claims, evaluating the soundness of the reasoning and relevance and sufficiency of the evidence and identifying when irrelevant evidence is introduced.
  • [Common Core] CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.8.1 - Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence.

Competencies

  • Learn with Purpose - Engage in discussion (LI.4)
  • Engage In Inquiry - Frame a question (EI.1)
  • Read The World - Engage and critique perspectives (RW.2)
  • Engage In Inquiry - Develop an inquiry plan (EI.2)
  • Engage In Inquiry - Select and evaluate sources (EI.3)

Learning Partners and Clients

The school principal or leadership team serves as the client by presenting the current phone policy and receiving the panel’s final recommendation. The student council partners with teams to gather student perspectives and identify concerns about rights, learning, safety, and fairness. A local school board member, education attorney, or youth advocate can provide feedback on evidence, reasoning, and courtroom-style speaking during mock-trial rehearsals.

Phase Overview

Phase Key Experiences
Discover
I can participate in a simulated phone-policy incident and question students and staff to identify who is affected, competing rights and responsibilities, and possible root causes.
Examine
I can frame an inquiry question and develop a plan for investigating the causes and effects of school phone policies. I can select and evaluate credible sources about student rights, learning, safety, and well-being to gather relevant evidence. I can compare student, family, teacher, and administrator perspectives and distinguish sound reasoning from weak or irrelevant evidence. I can discuss findings with my team and write an evidence-based claim that acknowledges counterarguments.
Engineer
I can develop a mock-trial case by preparing an evidence-based policy recommendation, opening statement, witness roles and examinations, exhibits, rebuttals, and closing argument that give every teammate a meaningful speaking role.
Do
I can conduct a practice mock trial, collect panel and peer feedback on the relevance of evidence, strength of reasoning, collaboration, and speaking skills, and use the results to revise our case.
Share
I can share our revised mock trial, policy recommendation, learning journey, and what I learned about myself as a researcher, teammate, and speaker with a panel of students, families, and school staff who will deliberate and issue a recommendation.