Free Speech

Step-by-Step Guide

Introduction

Free speech is a central issue in American politics, one that people on all sides of the political spectrum have advocated for at different points in history. When people disagree about free speech, we can often trace their conflict back to different ideas about the essential purpose of freedom of speech. How can we best protect free speech? How do we distinguish between disagreement, bullying and hate speech? Are there areas of common ground to be found? This lesson will allow students to analyze the different modern perspectives on free speech, and express what free speech means to them.

Activity

First, students need to understand the issue’s viewpoints from across the political spectrum. Utilize the following resources to familiarize your students with the political discourse surrounding free speech. We suggest going through some of these links as a classroom, so that students establish a shared understanding of the issue. Alternatively, groups of students can try out each tool and report back to class. 

1. Free Speech Topic page on AllSides
   Give your students an overview of free speech as a historical issue. The AllSides Topic page provides important background information, as well as current news and opinions on the issue.
2. AllSides Red Blue Translator™
   The AllSides Balanced Dictionary reveals how different people from across the political spectrum think and feel about the same term or issue. For this lesson, you can utilize the following terms: Freedom of Speech, Hate Speech, and Civility.
3. AllSides Balanced Search:
   Find interesting news stories about free speech using the AllSides Balanced Search Engine. This search engine quickly and easily shows you recent articles that display different perspectives on an issue. Google and other search engines often only give you the most popular perspective, burying or leaving out alternative viewpoints.
   
   Engage in a conversation about Free Speech using this discussion guide from Living Room Conversations.

• Read the introductory paragraph for the Relationships First conversation and the conversation agreements. (Option: let different students read each agreement aloud.) Talk briefly about how you will spend the next 50 minutes (please adapt for whatever time period you have.)
• Organize students into groups of 5 for conversation
• Round one of this conversation should take about five minutes. Remind students that when answering the questions students may choose to answer one or more questions and do not need to answer all questions
• Round two is longer — take 10 to 15 minutes to answer one or two of the questions. Encourage students to pick the questions that interest them the most.
• Round three takes 5 to 10 minutes.

Conversation Tips:

• Everyone shares responsibility for guiding the conversation and is invited to help keep the conversation on track.
• If an area of interest has arisen that has taken the group off topic, ask the group if they would like to set aside the new topic for a separate conversation.
• If someone is dominating or disruptive, respectfully interrupt the situation, refer to the conversation agreements and invite everyone to get back on track with the current question so the group can complete the current conversation.

Optional Homework Assignments
Have students write a 300 word reflection after the Free Speech class discussion — what did they learn? Did they have any interesting disagreements? Why do they think respectful conversations matter?