Free Expression: Teaching & Learning Resources

The resources on this webpage are organized into three categories. The K-12 resources are for teachers, schools, parents, and kids. The General resources are for the general public. The online classes are free and are divided into general, brief overviews and more advanced tutorials.

Table of Contents

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K-12

• Bill of Rights Institute: Educator resources of a variety of Freedom of Speech topics.
• First Amendment Museum: Has a range of First Amendment resources for teachers.
  • Primary Sources
  • Teacher Lesson Plans
• “Freedom of Speech and Automatic Language – Examining the Pledge of Allegiance”: “This lesson has students explore freedom of speech by examining the Pledge of Allegiance from a historical and personal perspective and in relationship to fictional situations in novels.” 9-12 Level
  • ReadWriteThink: “[P]rovides educators, parents, and afterschool professionals with access to the highest quality practices in reading and language arts instruction by offering the very best in free materials.”
• “First Amendment Educational Resources” – Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression: “K-12 free speech curriculum modules help educators enrich and supplement their existing instruction on First Amendment and freedom of expression issues in K-12 classrooms.”
• National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC): Offers a range resources for educators.
  • Free Speech Lesson Plan: “Presentation discuss[ing] topics such as general American free speech jurisprudence, the Supreme Court cases which address the rights of public school students, and the free speech rights of students, teachers and other public employees.”
• NewseumED: Over 1000 free resources “to cultivate the First Amendment and media literacy skills essential to civic life. Learn how to authenticate, analyze and evaluate information from a variety of sources and put current events in historical context through standards-aligned lesson plans, videos, primary sources, virtual classes and programs.” The collection is sortable by six levels (3-5, 6-8, 9-12, College, Educator, Adult). Highlights include:
  • Free Speech Essentials: “Critical debates reveal the foundations, flare-ups and frontiers of this First Amendment freedom.”
  • Making a Change – The First Amendment and the Civil Rights Movement: “See how advocates for — and against — change in the civil rights era leveraged the five freedoms of the First Amendment to make their voices heard.”
  • You Can’t Say That in School? Allowed or Not Allowed: “Using laws and writings that influenced the development of the First Amendment, students “vote off” proposed amendments from the time period.”
• Student Clothing and the First Amendment” – Education World: “The First Amendment to the Constitution has generated controversy since its inclusion in the Bill of Rights. Schools have often found themselves squarely in the crosshairs of these controversies as students continually push the boundaries of free speech. In particular, student clothing has sparked debate since the 1960s for a variety of reasons.”
• “Teaching the First Amendment” – First Amendment Watch: Teaching guides exploring the First Amendment through contemporary conflicts.
• “The First Amendment in Schools” – National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC): “[C]ollection of materials on the topic of censorship in schools for the use of students, educators, and parents everywhere.”
• “What Does the Phrase ‘Freedom of Speech’ Really Mean?” – iCivics: Lesson plan exploring what types of speech does the First Amendment protect and not protect. Also examination of the Supreme Court’s rulings on five historic hate speech cases.
• “Youth Protest Rights Primer” – Comic Book Legal Defense Fund: “As millions of American students assert their First Amendment rights in protests across the country, Comic Book Legal Defense Fund and National Coalition Against Censorship are here to help protect students’ rights. Be Heard! is a free comic by cartoonist Kai Texel that outlines best practices to help kids assert their rights to speech, protest, assembly and petition, warns about risks, and provides resources to get more help. Read Be Heard! here and share it freely and broadly!”

General

• Banned Books Week: “[A] number of resources available to support Banned Books Week programming, promotion of the annual celebration of the right to read, and banned books themselves. Many of these resources can be used throughout the year, so you can celebrate the right to read every day!
• Cases on Freedom of Speech: Significant court decisions with overviews.
• Civic Online Reasoning: “[T]he ability to effectively search for, evaluate, and verify social and political information online. We use this term to highlight the civic aims of this work. The ability to evaluate online content has become a prerequisite for thoughtful democratic participation.”
• “Defending Free Expression – A Toolkit For Writers and Readers” – PEN America: “[H]elp authors, journalists, artists, and others who exercise creative expression mount a defense of their craft and core freedoms. We start by identifying the warning signs of a developing autocracy that is taking steps to curtail the rights of citizens. Then, we suggest specific actions writers and readers can take to protect our First Amendment rights. And finally, we share the advice of others with experience in countering anti-democratic forces hostile to free expression.”
  • Free Expression and Education: “[F]ree expression and education program works to reconcile these tensions by working with schools, colleges, and universities to ensure robust protections for academic freedom and freedom of speech are balanced with advancements in diversity and inclusion, as well efforts to redress legacies of discrimination and inequity. Our team of experts engage in research, advocacy, trainings, public events, and youth programming, and we have developed specialized resources for college administrators, faculty, and students.”
• First Amendment and Censorship – American Library Association (ALA): Resources related to the First Amendment, ALA statements and policies on censorship, and recommended reading.
• “First Amendment Encyclopedia” – The Free Speech Center: “[A]n unparalleled collection of more than 1,500 articles on First Amendment topics, court cases and history, written to be accessible by young people and the general public.”
• The First Amendment – Freedom of Speech, Religion, and the Press – FindLaw: History of the First Amendment and discussion of the separate components.
• Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE): Features individual lessons at various levels, but primarily university level and directed at college students
  • Research and Learn: An extensive library of resources and research on free speech, due process, and other civil liberties; searchable by resource type.
• “Hosting a Better Argument about Free Speech” – Better Arguments Project: Argument prompts and guidelines to respectfully discuss free speech.
  • Better Arguments Project has range of resources for respectful and deliberative debate.
• Intellectual Freedom Center – National Council of Teachers of English: Useful tools for educators in preventing and combating censorship.
• “Is Your Speech Free? – The First Amendment” – Civic Learning Initiative: Lesson plan on the First Amendment and the section of the First Amendment dealing with Free Speech.
• National Constitution Center: A private, nonprofit organization serving as America’s leading platform for constitutional education and debate.
  • Interactive Constitution: Learn about the text, history, and meaning of the U.S. Constitution from leading scholars of diverse legal and philosophical perspectives.
  • Freedom of Speech and of the Press: Read interpretations of the Constitution by experts.
• World Trends in Freedom of Expression and Media Development – UNESCO: “[A]nalyses trends in media freedom, pluralism, independence, and the safety of journalists. The Global Report, published every four years since 2014, provides a macro-level perspective that informs UNESCO Member States, international organizations, civil society groups, academia, and individuals seeking to understand the changing global media landscape. Issue briefs and other publications in the World Trends Report series offer additional insights into new and evolving challenges in the field of freedom of expression and media development.”

Blogs and News Feeds

• ACLU: News and commentary from the American Civil Liberties Union.
• Deep Links: News and commentary from the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
• Free Speech Center: News from the Free Speech Center at Middle Tennesessee State university.
• Freedom Forum: Wide range of regularly updated news and featured resources including “Today’s Front Page” which shows the front pages of newspapers across the United States.
• FIRE News Desk: News and commentary from the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education.
• Index on Censorship: News and featured stories that focus on censored writers and artists, promote debate, and monitor threats to free speech.
• National Coalition Against Cenorship: News and commentary thats promotes “free expression in a just, egalitarian, diverse, and inclusive democracy.”
• National Constitution Center: “[B]rings you the latest discussions, debates, and analysis on the biggest constitutional issues of the day.”
• PEN America: News that “stands at the intersection of literature and human rights to protect free expression in the United States and worldwide.”

Podcasts

• At Liberty: From the ACLU, “explores the most pressing civil rights and civil liberties questions of our time.”
• We the People: “A weekly show of constitutional debate . . . where listeners can hear the best arguments on all sides of the constitutional issues at the center of American life.”

Online Classes

All the course below are free to take. Most have the option to pay for a certification.

Brief Overview

• Freedom of Expression – A Fundamental Right by Amnesty International: “This short course will equip you with the knowledge to understand and claim your right to freedom of expression, and the skills and confidence to take action to defend it. Learn from the experts at Amnesty International how to claim and defend your rights in this human rights course. You will be challenged to think critically and devise effective actions to defend the human rights of others. You will be able to adapt the human rights of freedom of expression, association and assembly to real life situations and come face-to-face with human rights activists on the front line of human rights defense.”
• Speaking Out for Freedom of Expression by Amnesty International: “By the end of this course you will be able to: 1. Explain what the right to freedom of expression is; 2. Outline common threats to freedom of expression; 3. Take action to defend and promote the right to freedom of expression.”

Advanced

• American Government – Constitutional Foundations via edX: “Learn how early American politics informed the U.S. Constitution and why its promise of liberty and equality has yet to be fully realized.”
• The Case for Radically Free Speech – FIRE: “In this course, you’ll learn about how the right to freedom of speech has evolved over human history, how it promotes peace in society and uplifts minority voices, and why censorship is never the answer to dissident speech.”
• Civil Liberties by Princeton University via edX: “Explore the moral basis of controversial claims of civil rights and liberties by carefully considering the evidence and reasons presented by notable thinkers and in groundbreaking Supreme Court opinions.”
• Constitutional Law – Individual Rights and Liberties by University of California, Irvine via Coursera: “Individual Rights and Liberties will highlight the construction and interpretation of the U.S. Constitution through the centuries with an emphasis on protections of individual liberties and the evolution of equal protection. You’ll learn the history behind the Constitution, cases that formed important precedent, and how changes in interpretation have been dependent on shifts in cultural and political climate as well as the composition of the Supreme Court.”
• The History of Free Speech – FIRE: “[T]his is a history course, not a bit of partisan activism. Like any good history course, we don’t start with the answer (“free speech is always clear and good”) and then develop a narrative that supports that answer. Instead, we start with much more open-ended questions, like “What is free speech?” and “How did ancient and premodern societies conceive of speech?” and “What modern developments have impacted free speech in the Western world?” Answering questions like these should give us some perspective on new free speech questions raised by 21st-century technologies. We hope you’ll find that the answers we put forward contain all the rigor, nuance, and possibility you’d expect.”