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Chris Buttimer, 8th Grade English Taking a Standing Essay |
Topic of the Week
Should secret wiretapping be legal? Target Words |
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Sample Lesson Clip 3 of 3 |
- Two students describe their differing opinions regarding secret wiretapping. - Student 1 strongly opposes wiretapping based on constitutionality. - Student 2 feels the government will use discretion so the invasion of privacy is minimized. - Students acknowledged that their opinions differ and describe how it feels to disagree with a classmate. - Student 2 described what she plans to write in her essay. - Student 1 also shares her essay-writing plans, including her feelings about a principle rather than a particular practice. - Each student restates her partner’s position using her own words, describing their differences in opinion. [clip length—5:08] STUDENT 1: Well, I think that, um, covert wiretapping should not be legal because, um, it’s unconstitutional. And if the government can, um, spy on its people then what else can it do? It’s kind of a risky situation to let the government have, um, let them do something like that, because it could lead to further, um, like, changes to the constitution. And um— yeah, for the most part, the constitution is an important document and, um, what it says is— should be followed, and that the government can just change it and do what they want, um, without even telling anybody is kind of frightening. Teacher : Mm-hm. STUDENT 1: Um, that’s pretty much it. Teacher: Great. Kaliani, how do you feel about wiretapping? STUDENT 2: Well, I’m kind of in the middle. But I more think it should be allowed. Um, uh, the government, ha— it has, like, all these different, like, sources of places it can find information from, and wiretapping is one of them. And I think that if people think that it’s invading their, like, personal space, but the government doesn’t really care what’s going on; they only care about, like, the terrorism and what other things they might find. Teacher: Mm-hm. STUDENT 2: And, um, it is kind of against, like, the constitution and our rights. But I still they— think they should do it to protect our country. Teacher: Great. Thank you. Um, it sounds like you two have slightly different positions. Is that true? STUDENT 1: Yeah. STUDENT 1: I think it’s fine. I mean, I would like to change their minds, but— STUDENT 1: I’m not too bothered. STUDENT 2: Well, uh, I— I kind of understand both opinions, so… Teacher: Mm-hm. STUDENT 2: …I kind of agree with some of the things she says. Teacher: Mm-hm. STUDENT 2: But I agree with the other side, also. Teacher: All right. Kaliani, what— what— either could you tell me what you’ve written or read what you’ve written, or tell me what you want to write? Anything. STUDENT 2: Um, well, I wrote that I believe that secret wiretapping should be legal. Um, the government has different sources of information to find information about terrorism. Wiretapping is one of them. If the government hears a suspicious, um, things through the phone conversations, they will, like, report it and do stuff about it. But the government does not want to eliminate the wiretapping from one of their sources. And they don’t care about other conversations like the, um, about people’s personal lives as much; they more care about the big things that can affect our country. STUDENT 2: And, uh, the opinion of people feeling like it invades their space is— I mean, the— the government’s not gonna— it’s not like they’re gonna tell anyone. So it’s like not that much of a big deal. ’Cause it’s been going on for a while now and no one really notices it that much. Teacher: Thank you. And could you do the same thing? STUDENT 1: Well, um, I— I understand that, um, they don’t listen in to other conversations that aren’t important to them. And it’s not as though they are taking infor— people’s private lives and using it against them. But um, it’s— the— what bothers me is that they could; that they have this and if it was approved, they could use it as they wanted to. And um, it seems as though they’re using it to find terrorists, but I mean, it could be used the wrong way. And it sort of bothers me. Um, also, I mean, they haven’t said anything. It is a secretive system. But it doesn’t seem as though they’ve found any huge nests of terrorists or… Teacher: Mm-hm. STUDENT 1: …stopped a attack using wiretapping. Teacher: Would you like to read any portion of what you wrote, or— STUDENT 1: Um, I think I said it pretty much. Teacher: Okay, great. Um, last question. Can you describe for me anything about her position that’s different from your position? Like basically, tell me what you think she thinks. STUDENT 1: Um, I think she— Kaliani thinks that, um, the government should be allowed to use wiretapping because it’s a tool in the fight for terror— against terrorism. And um, they don’t— they don’t invade people’s privacy. I mean, people could feel that way, but they don’t really care about other conversations. They don’t listen to them, so it’s not as though, um, our privacy is too endangered. Teacher: Great. And Kaliani, can you describe to me what you think her position is? STUDENT 2: Um, she is basically saying that, um, it should not be allowed. It’s like, against the constitution and that they are not really, like, finding anything, so there’s not really a point in them doing it. Teacher: Okay. Do you both— how do you feel the other person did? Do you think they got it pretty close? STUDENT 1: Oh, yeah. Teacher: And what do you think of that? STUDENT 2: Yeah. Teacher: Mm, great. You’re done. Thank you both very, very much.
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