Novato Unified School District
Course Outline - English Course “b”
Course Title: English 10 - Reading and Writing in Law and Public Safety
Transcript Title: Eng10 Law & Public Safety
Transcript Abbreviation: Eng10 Law/PS (EEC202)
Pre-Requisite or Co-Requisite: English 9
Required: __X__ Recommended: _____ Co-requisite: ______ None: ______
Additional Pre-Requisite or Co-Requisite:
Required: _____ Recommended: _____ Co-requisite: ______ None: __X__
Honors or Advanced Placement (AP) Course:
___Yes
English Language Development Course?
___Yes __X__No
Grade Level:
9
__X__No
10
Is this course modeled after a course from another school?
____No
If Yes: Name of School: UC Curriculum Integration
Title of Course: English 10: Reading and Writing in Law and Public Safety
__X__Yes
Lead Teacher (s) writing this outline:
Damon Uriarte
Brief Course Description: (Student Friendly)
This course increases and deepens student knowledge of the content and skills of English-Language Arts
through the lens of a potential applicant in the law and public safety field. Students research the complex nature
of law and public safety professions in order to be prepared to enter their chosen field. Through research of
legal cases and through collaborative discussions, students develop complex knowledge regarding legal and
ethical dilemmas faced by those working in public safety positions. In addition to focusing on how these
dilemmas affect those working in public services, students examine the effects of the results of these dilemmas
on the public whom public safety professionals serve. By the end of the course, students also develop a
profound understanding of the physical and psychological demands on those who serve public safety roles.
Novato Unified School District
Course Outline - English Course “b”
Course Purpose (Includes course goals and major student outcomes)
 Students will expand their knowledge of cultural diversity and its effects on careers in public safety.
 Students will build cultural awareness in their community and learn how to work within a community
of diverse need.
 Students will understand how physical fitness and mental health apply to career path in law and public
safety.
 Students will identify and investigate legal demands and challenges within careers in law and public
safety from a legal perspective.
 Students will research and identify ethical issues associated with the law and public safety sectors.
Course Outline:
Unit 1: Cultural Diversity and its Effects on Careers in Public Safety
Students will use their knowledge of challenges within the various law enforcement and public safety careers
to build their understanding of cultural diversity and its effects on the careers. Students will annotate sources,
evaluate case studies, and participate in a Socratic Seminar in order to expand their knowledge of cultural
diversity and how that affects working in these sectors. Students will produce technical writing
(memorandums, reports, etc.) and keep a record of their findings and information. Students will communicate
with industry professionals in order to build their knowledge about the specific areas of which public service
employees need to be culturally aware, in their communities. Students will then create a public outreach
brochure to be used in a public service professional setting that addresses cultural awareness that
demonstrates the student’s understanding of cultural sensitivity while working in a diverse community; each
brochure will provide an overview of the diverse population and address a specific cultural conflict and the
student suggested resolution.
Resources:
● Short Story “The Trip” by Lalai Lalami
● Short Story “Two Kinds” by Amy Tan
● Short Story “Everyday Use for Your Grandmamma” by Alice Walker
● Novel Excerpt from The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
● POST workbook: Learning Domain 42- Cultural Diversity/Discrimination
● POST workbook: Learning Domain 38- Gang Awareness
Unit 2 - Working within a Community of Diverse Needs
Building upon their knowledge about cultural awareness in their community, students will delve more deeply
into the challenges faced in the professions due to diverse needs, such as homeless, LGBT, mentally ill, special
needs, and physically handicapped (Other suggested topics may include: language barriers, minors, foster care,
universal health precautions-illnesses that can be passed through blood/ exposure to body fluids). Students
will read, annotate, and discuss fiction and nonfiction pieces associated with working with diverse
communities in order to delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text.
Resources:
● Non-fiction Article “Court Needs Alternatives in Handling Mentally Ill” by Steve Lopez LA Times
Novato Unified School District
Course Outline - English Course “b”
●
●
●
October 5, 2013 (courtesy of Kelly Gallagher)
Short Story “Where Have You Gone, Charming Billy?” by Tim O’Brien TeacherTube videos
POST workbook: Learning Domain 3- Policing in the Community
POST workbook: Learning Domain 37- People with Disabilities
Unit 3 - Physical and Mental Fitness
After students have learned about the community challenges employees in the law and public safety field face
they will analyze scholarly journal articles to build their understanding of nutrition and preventative medical
care. Students will then examine Learning Domain 32 of the California Police Officer Standards and Training
(POST) program which addresses physical fitness and mental health, and apply to their career path, as well as
negative factors contributing to overall wellness. which can interfere with personal or professional
performance. As a result of their research, as well as physical/mental fitness related interviews conducted with
industry professionals, students will use their findings from scholarly informational texts to design a
collaborative web page using an accessible template (i.e. Google, One Drive, etc.).
Resources:
● POST workbook: Learning Domain 32- Lifetime Fitness
http://www.cops.usdoj.gov/pdf/OSWG/e091120401-OSWGReport.pdf
● Sleep Disorders, Shift Work, and Officer Wellness
http://www.nij.gov/journals/270/Pages/officer-wellness.aspx
Unit 4 - Basic Legal Practices of Law and Public Safety Fields
In this unit, students will identify and investigate legal demands and challenges within their selected job fields
from a legal perspective. They will create an annotated bibliography detailing the below identified main
components of legal procedures of the criminal justice system. Students will then synthesize primary and
secondary documents, pieces of evidence, testimonies, etc. from various controversial court cases and use
generated knowledge and conclusions to create a proposal. Based on the work they have done and their
findings, students will construct an official letter to the appropriate student-identified audience addressing
relevant concerns and proposed changes/improvements for criminal proceedings or legislature; this will be
evident in the culminating assignment when students cite case evidence, laws involved and criminal
proceedings from the specific case they investigated, and presenting a clear argument with justification for
their position.
Resources:
● Something like Hope by Shawn Goodman
● Excerpt from Monster by Walter Dean Myers
● LexusNexus search engine for court cases
● Word Press Website for Video Sharing
● www.animoto.com
● http://www.ucs.louisiana.edu/~ras2777/adminlaw/casebrief.html
Case Studies:
● Kelly Thomas vs. Fullerton PD articles, videos, etc.
● Trayvon Martin case articles and supplemental sources
Novato Unified School District
Course Outline - English Course “b”
●
●
OJ Simpson case articles and supplemental sources
Ferguson articles and supplemental sources
Unit 5 - Ethics and Professionalism
Building on all knowledge gained throughout the year, students will research and identify multiple ethical
issues associated with the law and public safety sectors, (for example theft or mishandling of evidence), to gain
insights into ethical issues unique to their profession, as well as the impact on the profession and the public
they serve. Using the information gathered, students will create an incident report in accordance with industry
guidelines outlining one problematic incident/issue and use their incident report to prepare for and participate
in a Socratic Seminar on ethics and professionalism within the career sector. Students will gather information
from both the incident reports and Socratic Seminar, in order to create an argumentative research paper and
final culminating speech about the chosen ethical dilemmas within their chosen profession. At the culmination
of this unit and course, students will have gained an overarching understanding of the various demands, rigors,
and challenges facing an individual in the law and public safety sector.
Resources:
● Novels Anthem, To Kill a Mockingbird
● Short Story “The Man in the Water” by Roger Rosenblatt
● POST Workbook: Learning Domain 1- Leadership, Professionalism, and Ethics
● POST workbook: Learning Domain 18- Investigative Report Writing
● Charactercounts.org
● josephsoninstitute.org - Public Service and Policing Pages
Key Assignments:
Unit 1: Cultural Diversity and its Effects on Careers in Public Safety
Assignment 1: Analyze Fiction and Nonfiction Sources
Students will examine both fiction and nonfiction writings chosen by the teacher to explore aspects of culture
that are relevant to the function of careers in law and public safety fields. Students will look through these
pieces of evidence for cultural elements that may pose difficulties to an employee in the law and public safety
field. Students will document these findings while reading in note-taking format. Then, through determining
correlations between these teacher chosen texts, students will develop a suggested interaction protocol within
each cultural community given. Students will submit a professional set of guidelines which will serve as a
protocol when interacting within the cultural community they studied. Students will share this information
with class in the form of an informal informative speech. Students will listen to speeches and collect notes
from presenters/classmates.
Assignment 2: Annotation of Sources “Textual Evidence”
In order for students to be able to evaluate how various cultures view law enforcement, students will examine
case studies of diverse and dynamic cultures within their specific community. They will identify and select one
specific culture in their surrounding communities to look more closely at the customs, traditions, potential
stereotypes, special needs, religious aspects, race, and the impact it has on their chosen career path etc..
Novato Unified School District
Course Outline - English Course “b”
Students will share their findings on an online discussion, blog, or another applicable medium.This work
prepares students for the next assignment, in which students make recommendations for working with
different groups in a given public service field.
Assignment 3: Public Outreach Brochure
Working in groups dedicated to examining different cultural populations, students will provide information
and suggestions for working in their selected fields (chosen by students either in their previous courses of
study or selected during this course from their research) with diverse populations. Potential
conflicts/situations and resolutions should be addressed in order to demonstrate the student's understanding
and knowledge of cultural diversity and sensitivity. Students will produce a brochure on their topic using
Standard English and writing conventions and showing evidence of planning and organization. Brochures
should be designed to become an actual deliverable helpful to an individual working in the law and public
safety careers.
Unit 2 - Working within a Community of Diverse Needs
Assignment 1: Annotation of Sources and Discussion Board
Students will annotate multimedia sources, readings, etc. on the topic of working with citizens/cultures with
specific needs such as: homeless, LGBT, mentally ill, special needs, and physically handicapped (Other topics
may include: language barriers, minors, foster care, universal health precautions-illnesses that can be passed
through blood/ exposure to body fluids). As they research, students participate in a discussion board about the
topics they are researching and texts they are annotating (mediums: online discussion boards, wikis, blog or
available form of discussion board) in order to integrate and evaluate the content they and their classmates
investigate, focusing their discussion/analysis on how two or more texts/points of view address similar themes
or topics. Students will also analyze and apply knowledge gathered to decipher and critique political cartoons
assessing how different cultures and diverse groups are portrayed and perceived by the public. Using the the
rhetorical triangle (ethos, pathos, logos), students will develop short written responses which detail the
cartoon author’s purpose as well as the intended impact on the audience. This work will demonstrate student
ability to analyze non-written sources while still applying knowledge gleaned from previous assignments
where students analyzed primarily written fiction and nonfiction sources. This skill will be directly relevant in
completing subsequent assignments in this unit, as well as for them as employees in real life fields of law and
public safety.
Assignment 2: Rhetorical Precis
Students will further analyze texts from the previous assignment which address the topic of being a law and
public safety employee working within culturally diverse communities. Using academic word choice and
evidence from the texts, students will determine the genre of the writing, citing stylistic choices made by the
author, in order to assess the author’s purpose for writing as well as the tone set by the author. After
determining author’s purpose and tone, the student must decide on the intended audience for the text.
Students use information contained in the rhetorical precis in order to participate in and provide evidence for
the following Socratic Seminar and performance task.
Novato Unified School District
Course Outline - English Course “b”
Assignment 3: Socratic Seminar
Students will participate in a Socratic Seminar on issues of working in law and public safety fields within a
diverse community demonstrating their understanding of themes, issues, and conflicts present in their
community as well as others. Leading questions for discussion may come from the situations depicted in the
previous annotations, discussion and rhetorical precis research. Students will collaborate together through the
Socratic Seminar to gain a deeper understanding, reveal misconceptions about the topics, and brainstorm
together possible solutions to those misconceptions - all which come up in the group discussion based off the
initial leading questions. Students will use deeper understanding derived from the Socratic Seminar to prepare
for the upcoming performance task.
Assignment 4: Argumentative Performance Task
Creating a resolution to a challenging scenario specific to the community’s diverse population, students will be
tasked with analyzing a given situation involving a law and public safety employee serving a diverse
community. Prior to writing their essay, students will analyze, annotate, and prepare their findings to use as
evidence from various teacher-compiled sources. Sources should include videos of related scenarios, articles
relating to scenarios, cartoons relating to scenarios, court documents relating to scenarios, and any other
pertinent evidence the teacher feels are useful for students to research as part of their performance task. An
example scenario might be addressing how a firefighter would approach responding to a call for a structural
fire where a severely handicapped victim resides. In their argumentative essay, students will have to validate
the concerns and conflicts of the scenario, discuss possible approaches and strategies that could be used in
handling the situation, and then identify the resolution they feel is the most appropriate. Students will need to
substantiate all claims with evidence and other writing techniques such as a counterargument. Students will
present their resolution to the given scenario in an well-formated formal argumentative essay.
Unit 3 - Physical and Mental Fitness
Assignment 1: Research and Interviews About Personal Health Issues
In order to become knowledgeable about the potential obstacles between completing high school and
entering a law or public safety field, students will research and analyze scholarly journal articles regarding
health preparedness, nutrition, avoidance of reckless behavior, and general well being. Using this research,
students generate interview questions and then interview both high school graduates as well as industry
professionals to gain insights into the personal and mental health associated with these professions. Students
will reflect on the importance of time between high school and entering an academy, as well as the physical
and mental challenges and the availability of support groups for families and professionals within the fields.
Students will compile a teacher-selected number of note cards bearing their collected research information
using correct citation format.
Assignment 2: Health and Fitness Management Plan
Students will evaluate their current health knowledge and status by completing the self-assessment provided
within the POST handbook (Learning Domain 32: Fitness for Life ), then use the gained information to
implement a realistic fitness plan that will aide them as they prepare to succeed in their selected field.
Novato Unified School District
Course Outline - English Course “b”
Assignment 3: Collaborative Web Page With Findings
After having compiled responses from interviews, information from articles, and reflecting on their individual
health and fitness management plans, students will collaborate and create a webpage including: a philosophy
for lifelong fitness, a discussion of mental challenges and demands associated with their selected fields, and
supplemental materials (i.e. links, books, reference material). Students will demonstrate their mastery of
informative writing by creating at least two informative articles which address topics pertinent to their
website. Student web pages will be tasked with maintaining a formal and consistent tone demonstrating their
understanding of author’s purpose and audience.
Unit 4 - Basic Legal Practices of Law and Public Safety Fields
Assignment 1: Annotated Bibliography
In preparation for analyzing court cases and constitutional construction involved with criminal justice and legal
systems, students will review and discuss various informational texts and documents gained through research
or provided by the teacher on the following topics: Due Process, 4th, 5th, 6th, and 14th Amendment Rights,
Miranda Rights, types of laws (infraction, misdemeanor, or felony)- consequences of these case laws (what
changes in the community as far as what is legal and what isn’t), and possible relevant court cases.Students
will create an annotated bibliography composed of the key information from the documents studied and
based on teacher’s annotated bibliography template and should incorporate an evaluation of jargon/language
used and differences between case law and statutory law.
Assignment 2: Video of Case Summary and Analysis
Using the research from the previous assignment, students will communicate, prove and disseminate their
findings and the relationships found between the intention of law and how it manifests itself in real life.
Students will form groups to create an informative group video on one of the following topics: Due Process,
4th, 5th, 6th and 14th Amendment Rights, Miranda Rights, types of laws (infraction, misdemeanor, or felony).
Videos will demonstrate the connection between the topic, intention of law, examples of application of law,
and how the law manifested itself in examples. Students will collaborate on the important elements they will
want to cover in their informative group video. After coming to a consensus, students will create a short
informative video (2-3 minutes) on the topic they have chosen. After completing the video, it will be shown in
class and compiled with other student videos to serve as a resource of illustrated case summary and analysis
for the class or younger students. Students will demonstrate in their video their mastery of presenting
information, findings, and supporting evidence so listeners are able to clearly follow their line of reasoning.
Creating their video medium also demonstrates student ability to make strategic use of digital media and
visual displays of data to express information and enhance understanding of presentations. The videos will be
then shared with an online audience and industry professionals.
Assignment 3: Argumentative Case Study - Miscarriage of Justice
Using the information gained from the previous assignments, students will apply their knowledge by analyzing
various primary and secondary sources from controversial court cases (e.g. Kelly Thomas Case, Ferguson, OJ
Simpson, Trayvon Martin, etc.) and will compile a dialectical journal where they organize their thoughts and
reactions to the outcomes of these cases. The students must distinguish between passive, aggressive, and
Novato Unified School District
Course Outline - English Course “b”
assertive behavior and describe how body language of all parties involved plays a role while interacting with
others. Students may decide throughout their research to focus on one or two specific viewpoints of those
involved with the court case in order to gain more depth of analysis on these topics instead of a survey of all
points of view. The students must identify potential factors that can contribute to a person’s microaggressions. Students should also evaluate how this analysis will affect their future career choice. Based on
how the student answered the previous questions, they must answer the prompt, “Do you think justice was
administered in this case? Why or why not? And defend your position”.
Assignment 4: Proposal Letter
Based on the information compiled in their annotated bibliography and their analysis of the primary and
secondary sources from controversial case studies (such as Kelly Thomas Case, Trayvon Martin Case, OJ
Simpson Case, Eric Garner Case, etc.), students will construct an official letter to the appropriate studentidentified audience addressing relevant concerns and proposed changes/improvements for criminal
proceedings or legislature. This prepares students for the culminating assignment when they cite case
evidence, laws involved and criminal proceedings from the specific case they investigated, and present a clear
argument with justification for their position.
Unit 5 - Ethics and Professionalism
Assignment 1: Research and Informative Essay
Students will use available resources to research and analyze various ethical issues in their selected
professional field (financial responsibility, bankruptcy, security evidence, integrity, personal behavior off duty).
Student research focus is to help students gain an understanding of the types of ethical dilemmas faced by
employees in their field, how such situations are handled, and the impacts from those situations on the
profession, employees, and public. Students will present their findings in an informative essay that examines
and conveys the complex ideas and information they gathered in their research.
Assignment 2: Incident Report
Students will select or create a situation based on the ethical issue (financial responsibility, bankruptcy,
security evidence, integrity, personal behavior off duty) that they addressed in the previous assignment that
they may encounter in their future job. Students will write an incident report on an ethical situation/dilemma.
The incident report must address the major elements of Who? What? Where? When? and Why? of the
situation. Students will present their incident report in a small group setting with the focus that their listeners
will be able to follow their line of reasoning, organization, and development of their incident report.
Assignment 3: Socratic Seminar and Reflection
Based on the research students have gathered and heard through peer presentations, students will write
leading questions for a Socratic Seminar. Leading questions should be focused on the ethics of the job(s), why
people act and respond in various ways to various situations, popular/scholarly quotations and a question
asking students to analyze the relevance of the quotations. Students will turn their Socratic Seminar leading
question suggestions into the teacher who will then select the best ones to be used for the Socratic Seminar.
Students will answer the selected leading questions to come to the Socratic Seminar prepared, and will then
Novato Unified School District
Course Outline - English Course “b”
participate in a Socratic Seminar on ethics in the law and public safety sector. Leading questions for discussion
may come from the situations depicted in the incident reports created by students in the previous assignment.
Students will use deeper understanding derived from the Socratic Seminar as a means to develop a focus for
upcoming assignments. Additionally, after the Socratic Seminar, students will write a personal reflection about
how, if in any way, their owns views on ethics have changed, been strengthened, or created due to their
participation in the Socratic Seminar with their classmates.
Assignment 4: Argumentative Research Paper
Using the information they have gathered from the previous assignments in this unit as well as previous units,
students will write an argumentative research paper on a focused profession and ethics related topic he/she is
passionate about. Students are tasked with identifying a topic, formulating a position with relevance to the law
and public safety field, and convincingly presenting evidence and reasoning for proposed solutions to the
issues. The argumentative research paper will need to demonstrate the student’s claim about their selected
issue through analysis of their research, substantive topics and/or texts the student has compiled. Valid
reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence gathered from a variety of print and digital sources should be
present and incorporated throughout the research paper. After completing the paper, the students will
present their professional resolution in the form of a “How To” speech to industry professionals and other
students about the ethical and professional dilemmas they may face within the field.
Assignment 5: “How To” Speech
Demonstrating a culminating understanding and mastery of the course content/material, students will decide
upon a profession related ethical topic to present in a formal “How To” Speech presented formally to a group
of their peers, instructors and industry professionals. The topic selected previously in Assignment 4 will be the
topic of their “How To” speech. Students must be able to relate the relevant and professional ethical dilemma
the student may face in their future career in a formal oratory demonstrating their ability to adapt their
written arguments into verbal speech format using formal English. This speech will inform others about the
necessity of ethics in the workplace, specifically in a job for Law and Public Safety. Students must make the
connection between the importance of ethical choices and the public they will be serving and clearly
demonstrate their understanding to their audience as they present their formal “How To” Speech to their
classmates, teacher, and possibly industry professionals.
Textbook(s): None
Supplemental Text:
● Police Officer’s Standards and Training (POST) workbook
● Novels Anthem, To Kill a Mockingbird
● Something like Hope by Shawn Goodman
● Excerpt from Monster by Walter Dean Myers
● Sleep Disorders, Shift Work, and Officer Wellness http://www.nij.gov/journals/270/Pages/officerwellness.aspx
● Non-fiction Article “Court Needs Alternatives in Handling Mentally Ill” by Steve Lopez LA Times
Novato Unified School District
Course Outline - English Course “b”
●
●
●
●
●
October 5, 2013 (courtesy of Kelly Gallagher)
Short Story “Where Have You Gone, Charming Billy?” by Tim O’Brien TeacherTube videos
Short Story “The Trip” by Lalai Lalami
Short Story “Two Kinds” by Amy Tan
Short Story “Everyday Use for Your Grandmamma” by Alice Walker
Novel Excerpt from The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
Instructional Methods and/or Strategies
● Project Based Learning
● Student Centered Instructional Strategies
Assessment Methods and/or Tools
Performance assessments
Case Studies
Written Products
Presentations