Philosophy of Government, Day 1 - Class Recap

The ball of yarn that we used in class today for the Class Unity Activity! Thanks for participating in this!

Dear class,

I enjoyed getting to know you all a bit better today! We had a productive time with the yarn activity and learning more about the philosophy of government. Here's what happened in class today:

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.

Soundtrack: "Comin' From Where I'm From" by Anthony Hamilton. Because today, we talked about where we are from and how we got to be at Westview, via our family background. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 2/8/18:
News Brief - Terra
Citizenship Scores
Class Unity Activity
Philosophy

Homework: Read the blog and post a comment (if you have not already). Jackson J. has the next news brief.

News Brief: Terra had the news brief today, but was absent, so I filled in and selected an article about this story to talk about: CNN.com - Ryan believes he has the House votes to pass bipartisan budget deal. We discussed this story and what is currently happening in Congress regarding the possibility of passing a budget and also how it could impact the tricky issue of immigration.

Jackson J. was assigned to do the next news brief.

Citizenship: To start looking at our government, I played this video of high school students trying to answer questions about social studies:

We laughed at some of the responses, then I flipped the script and had the class try and citizenship test!

Here was the pre-test that I passed out in class. All sorts of good questions about how the U.S. government is structured and works.

Google Drive: United States Government Citizenship Test

Thanks for your focus and participation on this! I enjoyed going through the answers with everyone in class, as we learned a little more about the basics of the United States government.

Class Unity Activity: I always love this, for many reasons. One, because I love hearing about how everyone came to be in our classroom. Two, because of how the yarn connects us all. Three, because it helps the class (and me) learn names and a little about each other! Thank you for participating in this. It can get lengthy, I know, but I value it so much more than just lecturing for that time.

Philosophy: After this, 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.

That was it for the day! Thanks again - see you next class!

Introduction Day - Class Recap

The White House in Washington, D.C., 2011.

Hello everyone,

Thank you for doing your homework and visiting the blog! As I said in class, I think this is a really helpful resource for students, staff, and parents to be able to follow along with what is happening. After every class, I will write up a recap and post it. Most of the time, your only homework will be to read over the blog and be prepared for what is coming next in class. With that, let's get started!

Soundtrack: "Changes" by 2Pac. I always choose this song to start off a new class with, because I like the idea of our room being somewhat different from your other experiences in high school. This song also has all sorts of lyrics that relate to Government, like the line "instead of a War on Poverty, they got a War on Drugs, so the police can bother me." Check out the full lyrics here.

AGENDA 2/6/18:
Introductions/Attendance
Syllabus/Grades
The Blog
Letter to Class/Mr. Fritz
Create Ground Rules
News Briefs

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

Introductions/Attendance: At the start of class, I introduced myself and how the agenda on the whiteboard works. I am absolutely delighted to be your teacher at Westview this semester!

I took attendance and tried to ask everyone how they wanted me to address them. It will take me some time, but eventually, I will know everyone's names, I promise!

Syllabus/Grades: I know that this is not the most exciting content in class. I wanted to make sure to go over some of the real key points to the syllabus (like where I am, how to contact me, how your grade is decided, and the need to bring a binder to class). Here are electronic copies of the syllabus and rubrics:

Google Drive: Westview Government Syllabus 2017-18

Here is a link to the rubrics that will be used for the course and grades:

Google Drive: Westview Government Learning Targets and Rubrics

If you or your parents have any questions about any of this, please let me know!

The Blog/Google Classroom: As part of the syllabus, I introduced this website: the class blog! This is seriously so important for your success in this class. If you are staying up to date on here, reviewing what happened in class to get ready for the next meeting, and asking questions if you need help, I guarantee that you will be more successful than if you do not.

Also: I use Google Classroom a lot in Government, because we do not use a textbook. Please be sure to bring your Chromebook to our class!

Letter to Class/Mr. Fritz: After the syllabus talk was done, I passed out a letter that I wrote to the class, explaining all about who I am and what sort of expectations I have. Hopefully, most of it was interesting information! I like passing these out and signing them all individually. To me, it represents that I really am interested in everyone in my class.

After reading the letter aloud, I asked everyone to write back to me in a similar sort of fashion. I gave a bunch of possible questions to answer as prompts and about 20 minutes or so to complete the assignment. I LOVE reading these and writing back to everyone! Thank you for your effort - I can't wait to learn a little bit more about who you are!

Create Ground Rules: Ahh, yes. The awkward process. This was painfully slow for your class! The rules that you came up with and agreed to as an entire class are:

• Be Respectful
• Be Responsible
• Participate to Your Best Ability
• Ask for Help if Needed
• Try to Have a Positive Attitude

I will be working to make sure everyone, including myself, is following the ground rules! Thank you for participating in this exercise.

News Briefs: This is the current event style assignment that everyone will do at least once. To introduce why this is so important, we talked about last night's Iowa caucuses, in the nomination process for president. If you have had a previous class of mine, it is a little different - you actually have a write up to do. Here's a link to the format for the write up (it is also on the left side of this website, under the Ground Rules):

Google Drive - Government Current Event Forms

Alyssa volunteered to do the first News Brief, due at the start of next class. Thanks, everyone! See you next class!

Welcome to the Blog!

The dawn of a new day and semester over Westview!

Hello everyone,

Welcome to the Government blog for my class at Westview during the 2017-18 school year! Before I begin with posting updates via class recaps, let me give you a little introduction to this website.

First off, comments can be made on any post by anyone, and they can be anonymous (though I would really prefer that you leave your name, so that I can follow up with you in person) by selecting "Name/URL" on the right, underneath the comment box. Please try to use good spelling and grammar in your comments! I have to approve the comments before they are posted, so don't worry if you don't see your comment right away.

Secondly, because I will be putting up the class agenda and homework, as well as any interesting links (after class has met), I will attempt to give you ways to download the relevant files and documents you may have missed in class or would be interested in seeing again for your homework (or just because). For instance, here is the syllabus that I passed out in class.

Google Drive: Westview Government Syllabus 2017-18

Here is a link to the rubrics that will be used for the course and grades:

Google Drive: Westview Government Learning Targets and Rubrics

Finally, to contact me personally (other than leaving a comment - which I may or may not see immediately), please e-mail me at luke_fritz@beaverton.k12.or.us - this can always be found by clicking on "View My Complete Profile" on the right, where my picture is, then clicking on "Email" on the left sidebar. I will get back to you ASAP! Again, please use grammatically correct language and spelling, to the best of your ability. It really is appreciated and will go a long way for you in the future!

I know it might be a lot to take in, but hopefully we will all get used to it! I envision this blog as a place where you will be able to come to converse with your classmates and me, as well as get all the latest assignments, updates from class, and further information.

If you have any questions or comments, please never hesitate to let me know!

Welcome again - thanks for visiting. Please bookmark this site and come back soon! :-)