Phone Rules on Trial: Rights, Reasons, and Rhetoric

Learning Goals & Products

Learning Goals

Students will be able to frame an arguable inquiry question about school phone policy and plan an investigation of student rights, learning, safety, privacy, and fairness.

Students will be able to evaluate sources about school phone policies for credibility, relevance, sufficiency, bias, and corroboration.

Students will be able to analyze student, family, teacher, administrator, and community perspectives on phone-policy rights, responsibilities, benefits, and trade-offs.

Students will be able to construct an evidence-based school phone-policy argument with a precise claim, supporting reasons, cited evidence, explicit warrants, and a fair counterargument and rebuttal.

Students will be able to critique and revise phone-policy arguments by assessing claims, reasoning, evidence sufficiency, counterevidence, and irrelevant information.

Students will be able to defend a school phone-policy recommendation through collaborative discussion and courtroom-style speaking using relevant evidence, sound reasoning, attentive listening, and effective delivery.

Products

individual

Individual Phone-Policy Evidence Portfolio and Oral Defense

Each student submits an inquiry plan, evaluated evidence log, stakeholder analysis, claim-evidence-reasoning policy brief, counterargument and rebuttal, argument critique, and revision notes. Each student also delivers a brief live or recorded defense explaining and answering questions about the recommendation.

team

Revised School Phone-Policy Mock Trial and Panel Recommendation Brief

Teams use members’ individual research to conduct and revise a mock trial featuring opening statements, witness examinations, exhibits, rebuttals, closing arguments, and meaningful speaking roles for every member. They submit a synthesis brief comparing competing positions, identifying the strongest evidence, and presenting a policy recommendation to the panel.

Rubric

Competency Progression Rubric Competency-first rubric

Category	Learning Goal	Level 1	Level 2	Level 3	Level 4	Level 5	Level 6
Learn with Purpose	Engage in discussion	When it’s my turn, I can share an idea or respond to the question or prompt. Project-specific: I can share a relevant idea or response about our school phone policy when it is my turn in discussion.	When it’s my turn, I can share my ideas or respond to the question or prompt. I can ask a question about the topic. Project-specific: I can share my ideas clearly, respond to the question or prompt, and ask a question that helps the group think more about the topic.	I can respond to a question or prompt in a way that shows my knowledge of and/or curiosity about the topic. I can pose a specific question related to the topic and demonstrate active listening (e.g., verbal and nonverbal affirmations, paraphrasing to show understanding, asking for clarification). Project-specific: I can respond to questions or prompts with ideas that show my understanding of the phone policy issue, and I can listen actively by using verbal or nonverbal signals, paraphrasing, or asking for clarification.	I can respond to a question or prompt in a way that shows my knowledge of and/or curiosity about the topic. I can pose questions about the topic to learn more about other people’s ideas while demonstrating active listening. I can practice building on the ideas of others (e.g., elaborating on the idea, connecting to related ideas or evidence). Project-specific: I can respond with ideas that show my knowledge of the topic, ask questions that help me learn from others’ perspectives, and build on others’ ideas by adding details, connections, or related evidence.	I can respond to a question, prompt, or comment in a way that shows my knowledge of and/or curiosity about the topic and that offers a new insight, perspective, or evidence-based connection. I can pose open-ended questions and use active listening to learn more about views/perspectives that differ from mine. I can build on the ideas of others and/or challenge them to enhance the discussion (e.g., asking probing questions, elevating minoritized perspectives, citing relevant evidence, addressing errors in data or logic). I can adjust my stance or opinion when presented with new information and/or perspectives and explain shifts in my thinking. Project-specific: I can contribute an original, evidence-based idea or connection, ask open-ended questions, and build on or respectfully challenge others’ ideas to strengthen the discussion I can use active listening to consider views that differ from mine and explain when new information changes my thinking.	I can respond to questions, prompts, or comments in a way that exhibits deep knowledge and/or curiosity about the topic and that offers new insight, perspective, or evidence-based connections. I can monitor and adjust my engagement style to contribute to a balanced and inclusive discussion. I can pose questions to build my understanding or broaden my perspective (e.g., prompt elaboration, surface underlying issues or interests) while maintaining an affirming and inclusive tone. I can build on the ideas of others and/or challenge them to deepen the discussion or help move it forward. I can adjust my stance or opinion when presented with new information and/or perspectives, demonstrate humility with new understandings, and acknowledge and explain shifts in my thinking. Project-specific: I can contribute deep, evidence-based insights and intentionally help create a balanced, inclusive discussion by adjusting my participation to support others’ voices I can ask questions that surface underlying issues, build on or challenge ideas to move the discussion forward, and clearly explain how new perspectives or evidence revise my stance.
Engage In Inquiry	Frame a question	I can pose a question I feel excited to explore about something I observe, experience, or wonder. I can share why it excites me and/or describe how it connects to my life, interests, or experiences. Project-specific: I can pose a question I am excited to explore about school phone rules, student rights, or how phones affect learning and communication I can share why the question matters to me or connects to my experiences at school.	I can share something I feel curious about. With guidance, I can pose a question to help me learn more about it. Project-specific: I can share something I am curious about and, with guidance, turn that curiosity into a question about school phone policies or their effects on students and staff I can explain what I want to learn more about.	I can pose a focused question or testable hypothesis that relates to a passion/interest, issue, or phenomenon that I am exploring. I can share what excites me about the question or topic and why it matters to me. Project-specific: I can pose a focused question about school phone policies, student rights, safety, or attention that connects to an interest or issue I am exploring I can explain why the question matters to me and what makes it worth investigating.	I can pose a focused question or testable hypothesis that relates to a passion/interest, issue, or phenomenon I am investigating for a defined purpose or outcome (e.g., compose a text, prepare for an experience or event, conduct an experiment). I can explore sources to build my understanding of the context for my inquiry (e.g., Who else has explored it? Why might others care about it? What related issues, events, or big ideas are important to my question?). Project-specific: I can pose a focused inquiry question about school phone policies for a defined purpose, such as preparing for a mock trial and policy recommendation I can use background sources to understand the context of my question, including who is affected, what others have already said, and what related ideas or concerns matter.	I can pose a focused question or testable hypothesis that relates to a passion/interest, issue, or phenomenon I am investigating for a defined purpose or outcome. I can frame my question to reflect the type of inquiry that aligns to my purpose (e.g., exploratory, causal, descriptive, qualitative, predictive). I can cite one or more relevant sources from my initial exploration of the issue or topic and provide a rationale for the importance or relevance of my inquiry. Project-specific: I can pose a focused inquiry question about school phone policies that matches my purpose, such as explaining causes, comparing perspectives, or evaluating effects I can cite relevant initial sources and explain why my question is important and worth investigating.	I can formulate a focused question or testable hypothesis that addresses an enduring issue in a community or discipline and/or that builds on, challenges, or advances current thinking on the topic. I can frame my question to reflect the type of inquiry that aligns to my purpose. I can cite relevant sources and important concepts (e.g., theories, models, frameworks) to contextualize and/or justify my inquiry. Project-specific: I can formulate a focused inquiry question about school phone policies that addresses an important school community issue and can guide a clear line of investigation I can use relevant sources and key ideas from what I have learned to justify my question and explain how it builds on or responds to current thinking.
Read The World	Engage and critique perspectives	With guidance, I can give a summary of what a text (e.g., story, video, design) is about. I can share what I liked or didn’t like about the text and why. Project-specific: I can share a simple opinion about a text, claim, or perspective by saying what I like or question and giving a basic reason With guidance, I can identify a main idea or point and notice that different people may see the issue in different ways.	I can summarize a text and ask questions about the maker to better understand it. I can share what I liked and/or didn’t like about the text and why, and I can discuss how it connects to my own ideas or experiences. Project-specific: I can summarize a text or perspective and ask questions to better understand the speaker’s or author’s point of view and purpose I can explain what I agree or disagree with, connect it to my own experiences or ideas, and use a detail from the text or discussion to support my thinking.	I can summarize a text and ask questions about the maker to better understand the text and its purpose and context. I can share what I liked and/or didn’t like about a text and why, and I can discuss how my own ideas and experiences influence my opinion about the text. Project-specific: I can summarize a text or perspective and ask questions about the maker, purpose, and context to better understand why it was created I can explain how my own experiences, assumptions, and values shape my response, and I can compare my view with another perspective using evidence from the text or discussion.	I can describe and characterize the key themes or ideas of a text, drawing on details from the text, and/or its purpose and context. I can use questions about the text’s maker, supporting evidence, purpose, and context to evaluate its relevance and credibility. I can analyze and discuss how my own prior knowledge and experiences, beliefs, and values inform my understanding and evaluation of the text. Project-specific: I can describe the key ideas in a text or perspective and explain how details support those ideas I can evaluate how credible or relevant the text is by asking questions about its author, evidence, purpose, and context, and I can analyze how my prior knowledge, experiences, beliefs, and values influence my interpretation.	I can describe and characterize the key themes or ideas of a text and draw connections to past or present issues, events, or institutions (e.g., political, religious, cultural, racial). I can ask and answer questions about the text’s maker, supporting evidence, purpose, and/or context to evaluate the quality, integrity, relevance, and/or significance of the text. I can reflect on my own biases and discuss the limitations of my perspectives, evidence base, or analysis of the text. Project-specific: I can describe key ideas in a text or perspective and connect them to real issues, events, or institutions I can evaluate the quality, integrity, relevance, and significance of the text by questioning the maker, evidence, purpose, and context, and I can reflect on how my biases and the limits of my evidence affect my analysis.	I can describe and characterize the key themes or ideas of a text and their connections to issues of power and identity in broader social, cultural, political, and/or professional contexts. I can ask and answer questions about the text’s maker, supporting evidence, purpose, and context—including their relationship to other positions, experts, or sources—to evaluate the quality, integrity, relevance, and/or significance of the text. I can reflect on my own biases and discuss the limitations of my perspectives, evidence base, or analysis of a text. Project-specific: I can describe key ideas in a text or perspective and analyze how they connect to issues of power and identity in broader social, cultural, political, or professional contexts I can evaluate the quality, integrity, relevance, and significance of the text by comparing its evidence, purpose, and context with other positions, experts, or sources, and I can clearly reflect on my biases and the limits of my perspective and evidence.
Engage In Inquiry	Develop an inquiry plan	With guidance, I can plan a set of steps to explore my question. Project-specific: With guidance, I can plan a clear set of steps to investigate my question about school phone policies.	With guidance, I can choose an approach for exploring my question (e.g., online search, experiment, community member interviews) and explain why I chose that approach. With guidance, I can create a plan that includes how I will gather and record important information. Project-specific: With guidance, I can choose a research approach, such as a search, interview, or survey, and explain why it fits my question I can create a plan for gathering and recording important information about different viewpoints and evidence.	I can choose primary or secondary research methods for my inquiry plan that will help me explore my question. I can create a plan that includes how I will collect and analyze important information related to my question. With guidance, I can identify plan constraints (e.g., time, resources, etc.). If applicable, with guidance, I can get participant consent and practice confidentiality. Project-specific: I can choose primary or secondary research methods that help me explore my inquiry question about phone policies I can create a plan for collecting and analyzing relevant information, and with guidance, I can identify limits such as time, resources, or permissions.	I can choose primary or secondary research methods that are most aligned to the purpose of my inquiry. I can create a feasible plan that defines the objectives and scope of my inquiry as well as identifies my data collection and analysis methods, stating how research ethics were considered. Project-specific: I can choose primary or secondary research methods that best match the purpose of my inquiry I can create a feasible plan that defines my goals, scope, data collection, and analysis methods, and I can explain how I considered research ethics.	I can choose or combine research methods that are most aligned to the purpose of my inquiry and demonstrate how my approach is informed by others’ similar inquiries. I can create a feasible plan that defines the objectives and scope of my inquiry as well as identifies my data collection and analysis methods, stating how research ethics were considered. I can articulate known limitations of the inquiry plan and develop strategies for addressing or mitigating them. Project-specific: I can choose or combine research methods that best match my inquiry purpose and show how my plan is informed by similar inquiries I can create a feasible plan that defines my goals, scope, data collection, and analysis methods, explain how I considered research ethics, and identify limitations with strategies to address them.	I can choose or combine research methods to fulfill the purpose of my inquiry and discuss how my inquiry fits within a broader disciplinary, professional, or community context or tradition and how it contributes to existing knowledge. I can create a feasible plan that defines the objectives and scope of my advanced or complex inquiry, attends to advanced research ethics (e.g., avoiding conflicts of interest, epistemic responsibility and research integrity, reflexivity and positionality, etc.), and explains data collection and analysis methods and procedures. I can articulate known limitations of the inquiry plan and develop strategies for addressing or mitigating them. Project-specific: I can choose or combine research methods to meet the purpose of my inquiry and explain how my plan fits into a broader community or disciplinary context I can create a feasible plan for an advanced inquiry, address research ethics and integrity, describe my data collection and analysis procedures, and identify limitations with strategies to reduce them.
Engage In Inquiry	Select and evaluate sources	With guidance, I can choose from provided sources to learn more about my question. With guidance, I can ask questions to learn more about the source. Project-specific: With guidance, I can choose from provided sources about school phone policies to help answer my question, and I can ask questions to better understand what each source says and why it matters.	With guidance, I can find some sources of information to help me answer my question. I can check basic information to ensure the sources will help me answer my question (e.g., topic focus, fiction vs. nonfiction). Project-specific: With guidance, I can find a few sources that connect to my question about phone policies and check basic information, such as whether the source matches my topic and whether it is nonfiction or a firsthand account.	With guidance, I can learn and practice basic search methods (e.g., keywords/categories, databases, websites) to find relevant sources for my inquiry. I can ask questions about my sources to help me determine if they are credible (e.g., When was it made? Who made it? Why was it made, and for whom? Who published it?). Project-specific: With guidance, I can use search methods like keywords, categories, websites, or databases to find relevant sources about student rights, safety, learning, and phone use, and I can ask who made each source, when it was made, why it was made, and who it was made for to help judge credibility.	I can use basic search methods to help me choose relevant and diverse sources for my inquiry. I can consider multiple factors about my sources to determine their credibility and usefulness to my inquiry (e.g., currency, authority, accuracy). Project-specific: I can use basic search methods to choose relevant and diverse sources for my inquiry, and I can evaluate each source for credibility and usefulness by considering factors such as currency, authority, accuracy, and connection to my question.	I can use criteria, relevant search methods, and tools to identify relevant and diverse sources for my inquiry in line with my purpose. I can analyze my sources along multiple dimensions to determine their credibility and usefulness to my inquiry (e.g., origin and context; evidence based; extent to which information can be verified by other reliable sources; financial interests). I can note important gaps or limitations in my sources. Project-specific: I can use criteria, search tools, and relevant search methods to identify relevant and diverse sources for my inquiry in line with my purpose, and I can analyze my sources for credibility and usefulness by considering origin and context, evidence, verifiability, and possible financial interests I can also identify important gaps or limitations in my sources.	I can use advanced search criteria (e.g., affiliate institutions, times cited) and advanced search methods and tools (e.g., academic journals, Boolean operators) to select relevant and diverse sources for my inquiry in line with my purpose. I can analyze my sources along multiple dimensions to determine their credibility and usefulness to my inquiry, noting important gaps or limitations in my sources. I can attend to the impacts of bias in my research methods and use strategies to pursue a more global perspective and/or culturally inclusive sources (e.g., international searches, local community research). Project-specific: I can use advanced search criteria and tools, such as academic journals, Boolean operators, times cited, and affiliate institutions, to select relevant and diverse sources for my inquiry in line with my purpose I can analyze sources for credibility, usefulness, gaps, and bias, and I can seek more global, culturally inclusive, or local perspectives when my research needs them.