Philosophy of Government, Day 2 - Class Recap

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Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This is where the United States Constitution was debated and signed. We did some debating today in class and will continue to do so next time!

Hi everyone,

Thanks for the excellent discussions today in class and for reading the blog! Here's what happened:

Learning Targets: 
Knowledge LT 2: I can demonstrate an understanding of the role of governments in current issues.
Knowledge LT 4: I can explain how different ideological movements and philosophies shape politics.

Soundtrack: “I Think of You" by Renaissance. Selected for today because 1) the philosophers we are talking about did a lot of thinking, and 2) the renaissance was an important period for changing views about how government should work. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 9/15/17:

News Brief – Edgar
Finish Notes

Philosopher Reading

Forced Choice

Homework: Read the blog! Next news brief: Olivia.

News Brief: Today's news brief was assigned to Edgar, who selected an article about this story to talk about: CNN.com - Trump, Dems move closer to deal on DACA. We talked for a while at the start of class about what DACA is, why President Trump said he is ending it, and what a potential deal to save DACA recipients might look like! Thanks, Edgar!

We also checked in about the weekend and if anything interesting was coming up.

Olivia was assigned the next news brief.

Finish Notes: This was wrapping up the notes from last class. I wanted to start looking at some of the philosophers of government during the Enlightenment period. Here's the PowerPoint we went through (we only did slides 6-8 today - just focus on those for now):

Google Drive: Philosophers of Government PowerPoint

Again, please review and be responsible for knowing the basics of what Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, and Montesquieu thought about government.

After the first set of notes, we watched this video (which had a LOT of concepts, I know) as another introduction to Government:

Quick, for sure, but good at asking some of the questions we will be looking into and stating the importance of government.

Next, we continued note taking with the political spectrum in class, which was most of this PowerPoint:

Google Drive - Political Spectrum PowerPoint

Please be familiar with the various different philosophies on the political spectrum, and where they are on the line from left to right, in relation to each other!

Here's the link to the Political Compass test at the end of the PowerPoint. Try it yourself!

Finish Notes/Philosopher Readings: After reviewing the PowerPoints from last class, I assigned this reading on Google Classroom about the four philosophers and a handout to answer with the reading, that asked you to summarize the different ideas for the purpose of government, the role of government in people's lives, and ideas that are included in the current U.S. government. Here they are again if you lost your copy or missed class today:

Google Drive: Philosophers of Government Reading

Google Drive: Philosophers of Government Handout

This is what we ended with today, as students were typing up responses using the Kami pdf editor on Google Classroom. We will go through the answers next week - again, this is more of a study guide for an upcoming quiz and not something you need to actually turn in.

That was it for the day! Have a great weekend!