{"id":26592,"date":"2026-03-19T11:44:48","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T18:44:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/plato-philosophy.org\/?post_type=teachertoolkit&#038;p=26592"},"modified":"2026-03-20T09:46:40","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T16:46:40","slug":"keeping-power-in-check-1-separation-of-powers","status":"publish","type":"teachertoolkit","link":"https:\/\/plato-philosophy.org\/teachertoolkit\/keeping-power-in-check-1-separation-of-powers\/","title":{"rendered":"Keeping Power in Check #1"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Separation of Powers<\/h1>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Materials:<\/span> ~10 copies of the Constitution of the School Activity (see below); pencils&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This lesson assumes that the students have some familiarity\/ background knowledge on the topic already, including:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The three branches of government established by the constitution (Executive, Legislative, Judiciary).&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The main functions of each branch, especially as it relates to the law.&nbsp;\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Executive= Enforce the law&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Legislative= Write the law&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Judiciary= Interpret and rule on the law&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>A variety of ways that each branch checks the power of the other branches.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>*Note: If you need to review this information for this lesson, Here are two good videos to use: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=kv-RO1Ht1Uo\">one <\/a>or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=HuFR5XBYLfU\">two.<\/a> I recommend you do this between the \u201cWarm-Up Question\u201d and \u201cThe Constitution Activity\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Warm-Up Question:<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Is it better for one person to hold all the power to make and enforce the rules, or for lots of people to have a say? Why?&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Recommended facilitation:<\/span> Give silent thinking time. Then, have students turn-and-talk to a student next to them about what they think, encouraging student to give reasons for their opinions. Then, invite students to share out whole-class (either their own ideas or interesting thoughts they heard from their partner).&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>The Constitution Activity<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p><em>The authors of the US constitution decided it was best if lots of people have a say, and different groups had different powers, to keep one person from becoming too powerful as the King!&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Overview:<\/span> In this activity, students will work in groups of 3-5 (depending on your class size) to create a constitution for the school. They will think about the different powers (roles and responsibilities) of different actors in the school community\u2014 Principals,&nbsp;Teachers, and Students. (If you want, you can introduce other branches, such as Parents, Office Staff, Janitors, etc., but you will need to make \u201cArticles\u201d for these additional branches.)&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>For each \u201cbranch\u201d of the school, the students will determine 3-4 main \u201cpowers\u201d and 1-2 ways that branch can check the other branches. <strong>Students should use the attachment in \u201cResources\u201d to create their constitution. <\/strong>When they finish, have the students put their signatures at the bottom of the document to ratify their constitutions.\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Recommendation:<\/span> Ask students to agree on a \u201cscribe\u201d or have them take turns in each section if more than one wants to write.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Recommendation:<\/span> Scaffold the time for the students. Give them 5-7 minutes to work on the first article, then repeat for the other Articles to keep them on track.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Recommendation:<\/span> If small groups will not work for your class, you can create your constitution as a whole class.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Once all groups have finished the articles, facilitate a class discussion around these questions:\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em>What are the different powers and checks on each branch in the school?&nbsp;<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>Why might we want to separate powers between more than one person in our school? In our government?&nbsp;<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Philosophy Discussion Questions<\/span> (you can end the lesson with these questions)<em>&nbsp;<\/em>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em>What is the difference between using your power and abusing your power?<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>Whose responsibility is it to make sure someone is not abusing their power?<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>What are some other examples of checks and balances of power (other than the government and the school)?<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>Is it always a good idea to separate powers between more than one person?<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Wrap-Up Question<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>(if you want to bring it back to content, otherwise wrap up with the philosophy discussion)&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bringing it back to the framers of the constitution&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em>What are some of the main considerations the framers of the constitution had in deciding how the US government should work?&nbsp;<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Separation of Powers Materials: ~10 copies of the Constitution of the School Activity (see below); pencils&nbsp; This lesson assumes that the students have some familiarity\/ background knowledge on the topic already, including:&nbsp; *Note: If you need to review this information for this lesson, Here are two good videos to use: one or two. I recommend <a href=\"https:\/\/plato-philosophy.org\/teachertoolkit\/keeping-power-in-check-1-separation-of-powers\/\" class=\"more-link\">&#8230;<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Keeping Power in Check #1<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":26593,"template":"","toolkitcategory":[29,760],"gradelevel":[48,47,46],"topics":[577,813],"class_list":["post-26592","teachertoolkit","type-teachertoolkit","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","toolkitcategory-history-social-studies","toolkitcategory-social-and-political-philosophy","gradelevel-high-school-and-beyond","gradelevel-middle-school","gradelevel-primary-elementary","topics-government","topics-the-constitution"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Keeping Power in Check #1 - PLATO - Philosophy Learning and Teaching Organization<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Keeping Power in Check #1 - PLATO - Philosophy Learning and Teaching Organization\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Separation of Powers Materials: ~10 copies of the Constitution of the School Activity (see below); pencils&nbsp; This lesson assumes that the students have some familiarity\/ background knowledge on the topic already, including:&nbsp; *Note: If you need to review this information for this lesson, Here are two good videos to use: one or two. 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