Miranda Rights Lesson Plan – Civics: Processes, Rules, and Laws

*Click to open and customize your own copy of the Miranda Rights Lesson Plan. 

This lesson accompanies the BrainPOP topic Miranda Rights, and supports the standard of examining the origins and purposes of rules, laws, and key U.S. constitutional provisions.

Step 1: ACTIVATE PRIOR KNOWLEDGE

Prompt students to brainstorm rights that the U.S. Constitution gives to American citizens. Ask:

• Why is it important to know your rights?
• How can knowing your rights impact your decisions? 

Step 2: BUILD KNOWLEDGE

• Read the description on the Miranda Rights topic page.
• Play the Movie, pausing to check for understanding.
• Assign  Related Reading. Have students read one of the articles. Partner them with someone who read a different article to share what they learned with each other.
  

Step 3: APPLY and ASSESS 

Assign Miranda Rights Challenge and Quiz, prompting students to apply essential literacy skills while demonstrating what they learned about this topic.

Step 4: DEEPEN and EXTEND

Students express what they learned about Miranda Rights while practicing essential literacy skills with one or more of the following activities. Differentiate by assigning ones that meet individual student needs.

• Make-a-Movie: Produce a PSA that describes the purpose and importance of Miranda Rights. .
• Make-a-Map: Create a concept map identifying the causes and effects of the Supreme Court’s decision in Miranda v. Arizona.
• Creative Coding: Code a game where players must determine whether statements about Miranda Rights are true or false.

More to Explore 

Do I Have a Right?: In this game, players run a constitutional law firm by matching clients with lawyers who fit their needs. 

Related BrainPOP Topics: Deepen understanding of origins and purposes of rules, laws, and key U.S. constitutional provisions with these topics: U.S. Constitution, Bill of Rights, Citizenship, and Brown v. Board of Education Topeka.

Teacher Support Resources:

• Pause Point Overview: Video tutorial showing how Pause Points actively engage students to stop, think, and express ideas. 
• Learning Activities Modifications: Strategies to meet ELL and other instructional and student needs.
• Learning Activities Support: Resources for best practices using BrainPOP.