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: "Be Prepared" from The Lion King. 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.

AGENDA 3/7/18:
News Brief - Carlos
Constitution Test
Political Spectrum
Second Amendment

Homework: Read the blog! Next news brief: Joshua.
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News Brief: Carlos had the news brief today and selected this story to talk about with the class: CNN.com - Top economic adviser Gary Cohn leaves White House in wake of tariff rift. We discussed this story for a bit in class.

We also talked a bit about what we were up to outside of class, before moving on.

Joshua was selected 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 and let me know what you get!

Second Amendment: We will go into this in depth next class. See you then!

The Constitution, Day 2 - Class Recap

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 the First Amendment states that people have the freedom of speech. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 3/5/18:
News Brief - Emily W.
Bill of Rights
The First Amendment
Tinker v. Des Moines

Homework: Read the blog! Prepare for Constitution test next class by studying the handout answers! Next news brief: Carlos.

News Brief: Today's article was brought in by Emily W, who selected this story: OregonLive.com - Oregon officials agree to reduce the use of hotels as temporary homes for foster children. We discussed this recent story in terms of what is happening and why the Oregon state government would make this law. Thanks, Emily W! We also checked in about the last weekend and Carlos was assigned to do the next news brief.

The Bill of Rights/First Amendment: The first ten amendments to the Constitution are called the Bill of Rights. To start this part of class, I showed this clip from The Daily Show, looking at what some people working for FOX News had to say in regards to the Bill of Rights and the Boston Marathon bomber.

We continued looking at the Constitution packet we started working on through Google Classroom and Kami last class, which had the Bill of Rights as a part of the last couple of pages.

Please make sure to study the entire packet for the test next class. 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

Tinker v. Des Moines: This was about the First Amendment protections, and I had students take notes on their Chromebooks as I went through this PowerPoint on some interesting cases that relate to student rights:

Google Drive - First Amendment Case Studies

We looked at some specifics of the cases, including the speech in the Bethel case and an article about the reaction from 2009 when the Westview Prowl student newspaper published an article about sex on campus.

After going through the PowerPoint, I asked students to complete this handout:

Google Drive - Tinker v. Des Moines and Texas v. Johnson Cases

We went through these interesting cases and answers as a class - know them for future reference, please! See you next class!

The Constitution, Day 1 - Class Recap

One of my favorite photos from the total eclipse over Oregon in August of 2017! 

Hi everyone,

Thanks for continuing to work on getting to know the Constitution better! 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: "Friday I'm In Love" by The Cure. Selected for today for the obvious reason that tomorrow is Friday! Lyrics here.

AGENDA 3/1/18:
News Brief - Crystal
Finish Sharing Nations
The Constitution
The Bill of Rights

Homework: Read the blog! Keep studying the Constitution handout answers for an upcoming quiz! Next news brief: Emily W.

News Brief: Crystal was not in class today, so I filled in and selected this story: CNN.com - Dow plummets more than 500 points after Trump announces tariffs. We discussed this story from today and talked about the impact that the government can have on the economy. We also checked in about the upcoming weekend and Emily W. volunteered to do the next news brief.

Finish Sharing Nations: This was left over from our last class. Thank you for sharing your ideas for new countries, as well as your flags! I will put them up in the room for us to admire. :-)

The Constitution: Next, we tied the creation of a nation activity into the creation of our own United States Constitution by watching this Crash Course video:

Lots of similar themes as you were having to decide in the creation of your own country!

With that, 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 started this in class and will continue working on it next class. 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.

We ran out of time after this, so we will come back to looking in depth at the Bill of Rights next class. See you then!