Award winners of the AEJMC “Best Practices in Teaching the First Amendment” competition shared ideas Wednesday on how to make the five freedoms of speech, press, religion, petition and assembly stick in their students’ minds. The ideas were diverse but all stressed the importance of student engagement.

Three judges reviewed the 21 submissions and awarded a cash prize to the first-, second- and third-place winners.

First-place winner Nancy Cornwell, associate professor of mass communication at Linfield College, asked her students to pick a cause they believed in and to develop a way to express that belief through speech or the press. Her students submitted letters to local newspapers and passed out fliers on how to report sexual harassment and on “How to Make Porno” movies.

“I sensed a growing apathy about the First Amendment,” Cornwell said. “Students were asking, ‘Why does it matter? What can we do about it?’”

Her students submitted letters to local newspapers and student groups organized simultaneous pro-life and pro-choice rallies outside the local Planned Parenthood office.

Second-place winner George E. Padgett, associate professor of journalism in the School of Communication at Elon University, also focused on lessons that show the First Amendment is integral to the average citizen’s daily life. He assigned his students to develop ways to teach First Amendment basics to fifth-graders at nearby elementary schools.

“Our role as professors is not just to teach our college students, but to give back to the wider community,” Padgett said.

College students in Padgett’s class produced a series of skits, lasting about 50 minutes total, as well as brochures and a PowerPoint presentation.

At the beginning of the skit, a college student playing James Madison launched into a tirade about how the amendment he took so long to write is unknown to most American citizens. Later, the elementary students were taught about freedom of religion when, in the skit, a passerby complained about a woman praying in public.

Jennifer Jacobs Henderson, an assistant professor of communication at Trinity University, who won an honorable mention, used a role-playing exercise on a proposed zoning ordinance banning adult bookstores.

She assigned her students to portray various players in the scenario, including the homeowners’ association, adult bookstore owners and city council members.

Sandra Chance, chair of AEJMC’s Professional Freedom and Responsibility Committee and a professor of journalism at University of Florida, arranged the session. Chance was the 2004 Teacher of the Year.

“My great passion is First Amendment education and we came up with this idea of competition,” Chance said.