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Occupy Wall Street

Key Concepts:  direct democracy, popular right to assemble, redress of grievances in a democratic order

Duration:  two (2) double-blocks (middle and high school), four (4) class periods (elementary school)

Goal:  Students will understand the social and political limits placed on central components of American democracy while differentiating between representative and direct democracy.

Objective:  Students will compare and contrast the current Occupy Wall St. protest tactic of establishing encampments in public spaces with similar tactics employed by the Bonus Army of 1932, noting similarities and differences in the means and ends of both groups.

Essential Question:  Does the occupation of public space offer a successful vehicle for protest, given the nature of representative democracy and the legal limits placed on the rights to assemble and petition for redress of grievances enshrined in the Bill of Rights?

Materials Needed

Non-tech: paper, poster board, colored pens and/or pencils

Resources

Computer access to Internet and Google suite; document camera, if necessary; OWS Primary and Secondary Sources

Wikipedia articles
OWS website, blog, and Twitter feed

Glossary

Vocabulary Preview

Links

CNN video discussion