The Political Spectrum - Class Recap

The African American Civil War Memorial in Washington, D.C. The soldiers are carrying guns, which relates to the Second Amendment! Photo taken in 2010.

Hi everyone,

We had another good day in class today about the Second Amendment to the Constitution and looked at the political spectrum. Here's what happened:

Learning Targets Addressed:

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.
Knowledge LT 5: I can demonstrate an understanding of the principles, structures, and functions of different branches of U.S. government.

Soundtrack: "Say It Right" by Nelly Furtado. Selected for today because I was hoping students would have right answers on the Constitution test, and because we are continuing to learn about the Bill of Rights. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 2/29/16:
News Brief - Renee
Constitution Test
Political Spectrum
Second Amendment

Homework: Read the blog! Next news brief: Chase.
--
News Brief: I had the news brief today (because Renee was absent) we so discussed the past weekend, and looked forward to tomorrow's "Super Tuesday" primary election, which will go a long way in determining the Democratic and Republican nominees for president.

Chase volunteered for the next news brief.

Constitution Test: As promised! I hope that this went well for everyone. I will try to have them entered in the gradebook ASAP. The first 10 questions were about the philosophy of U.S. Government, and the second 10 questions were about the branches of government/checks of power.

Political Spectrum: I went over 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 I showed at the end of the PowerPoint. Try it yourself!

Second Amendment: To continue our look at the Bill of Rights, we started watching the "Gun Nation" episode of the "30 Days" documentary series. I asked students to note Pro and Con arguments for gun rights. We will finish watching this next class, and move on to looking in depth at some of the other amendments.

The Constitution, Day 2 - Class Recap

NOTE: There will be no blog recap for the 2/25 class meeting, since most students were preparing for the Smarter Balanced assessments in the Computer Lab, so we did not have a regular class.

Fireworks over Niagara Falls, in 2009. 

Hi everyone,

Thanks for continuing to work on getting to know the Constitution better! I know it may not be the most fun part of class, but it is so important for knowing the foundations of how our government works! Here's what we did today in class:

Learning Targets Addressed: 
Knowledge LT 2: I can demonstrate an understanding of the role of governments in current issues.
Knowledge LT 5: I can demonstrate an understanding of the principles, structures, and functions of different branches of U.S. government.

Soundtrack: "Don't Speak" by No Doubt. Selected for today because we were talking about the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, which is partially about freedom of speech. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 2/23/16:
News Brief - Khail K.
Review Constitution
The Bill of Rights
The First Amendment

Homework: Read the blog! Prepare for Constitution test on Monday by studying the handout answers! Smarter Balanced preparation for most juniors is next class. Forecasting is Thursday, so have your forms filled out! Next news brief: Renee (Monday).

News Brief: Khail K. had the news brief today and selected this story to talk about: CNN.com - NSA surveillance bill passes after weeks-long showdown. We talked about how this law has a direct relationship with the first question in Forced Choice that we did, and we also talked about how Apple has been asked to break into an iPhone that was used by one of the shooters in San Bernardino.

I also passed back graded work from so far in the year, which included news briefs, forced choice reflections, and the philosophy quiz. There will be an opportunity to retake the philosophy target in the Constitution quiz.

I had an update about what is going on in the presidential nomination process. For this, I showed these links:

NYTimes.com - 2016 Primary Results and Calendar

RealClearPolitics.com - Clinton vs. Trump Head to Head

We talked about the ongoing process and today's Nevada Republican caucus. Renee was selected for the next news brief.

Review Constitution: We continued looking at the Constitution packet I passed out last class, which had the Bill of Rights as a part of the last couple of pages. Please make sure to study the Constitution portion done for the test on Monday. If you missed class the last two times, here it is to download and fill out by reading the Constitution:

Google Drive: Understanding the Constitution Handout

As I said, here's the reward for checking the blog: a (tough, because I did not specifically ask you this in class) question from the Constitution test:

All of the following are included in the Preamble to the Constitution EXCEPT _____________.
a. establish justice c. the pursuit of happiness
b. provide for the common defense d.  promote the general welfare

The answer would be C.

Bill of Rights: We will come back to the Bill of Rights, since we were not able to have the time to look at them all, yet. We started with the first one!

The First Amendment: The end of class was given to Mr. Schmidt, our student teacher, to look at how the First Amendment impacts students at school. He went through this PowerPoint, and we discussed each case. Students also had a packet (pick up one in class only):

Google Drive - First Amendment Case Study PowerPoint

We looked at some specific examples of cases where students had questions about how far their rights go. We ended by looking at the famous "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" case, which we will continue to discuss next class. Thanks for your hard work! We will pick up with Smarter Balanced preparation next class!

The Constitution, Day 1 - Class Recap

The World War I Memorial Stonehenge replica in Goldendale, Washington, overlooking the Columbia River Gorge and Mt. Hood. Photo taken in 2015!

Hi everyone,

I enjoyed hearing about your new countries today in class, as we continued to look at the basics of how the United States government works and specifically, the Constitution. Here's what happened today:

Learning Targets:
Knowledge LT 2: I can demonstrate an understanding of the role of governments in current issues.
Knowledge LT 5: I can demonstrate an understanding of the principles, structures, and functions of different branches of U.S. government.

Soundtrack: "Power [Radio Edit]" by Kanye West. Selected for today because "no one man should have all that power" when it comes to government, which the Constitution made sure of!

AGENDA 2/19/16:
News Brief – Mo
Share Nations
The Constitution
Computer Lab N210

Homework: Read the blog. Next news brief: Khail K.

News Brief: Mo had the news brief today and selected this article to talk about: OregonLive.com - Oregon House passes minimum wage hike after turbulent debate, sending it to Kate Brown. We talked about the dramatic effect this will have on people that work minimum wage jobs (which many of the students in class do), and why some Republicans and Democrats might disagree with this new law. We also discussed the Republican primary in South Carolina tomorrow, along with the Democratic caucus in Nevada. It will be interesting to see what happens!

Khail K. volunteered for the next news brief.

Share Nations: Again, this was creating your own nation, which is a break away of some of the western states from the United States. In groups of 2 or 3, this was the assignment, which I had a few groups present in class: 

Google Drive - Creation of a Nation Assignment

I enjoyed listening to these presentations and hearing about your proposed ideas for what a new country should look like! Thank you for your effort on this.

The Constitution: Next, I passed out this handout/worksheet, which looks at different aspects of what makes up the United States Constitution:

Google Drive - Constitution and Bill of Rights Handout

We completed this in class by going to the computer lab. If you want to continue to work on completing this outside of class, here is a copy of the Constitution to look at.

Please keep this packet, as you will be using it to study for an upcoming test on the Constitution.