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 2/28/17:
News Brief – Mariah
Create Nations
Share
The Constitution

Homework: Read the blog. Watch the President's speech to the joint session of Congress tonight (link to watch online)! Next news brief: Taylor.

News Brief: Mariah had the news brief today, but was not in class today, so I filled in and talked about the article she chose and emailed me in advance about: CNN.com - White House: Feds will step up marijuana law enforcement. We discussed this story for a bit and also checked in about what we were up to over the weekend, before moving on.

Taylor was selected 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, 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. See you later this week!

Creation of a Nation - Class Recap

Crater Lake, which is Oregon's only National Park. Maybe a symbol of your new nation? Photo taken in August 2014.

Hi wonderful students,

Great to see you all again today! It was a quiz and work day in class. 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 4: I can explain how different ideological movements and philosophies shape politics.

Soundtrack: "If I Ruled the World" by Nas and Lauryn Hill. Selected for today because you were creating your own countries today in class!

AGENDA 2/24/16:
News Brief – Kendall
Philosophy Quiz
Declaration of Independence/Articles of Confederation
Creation of a Nation

Homework: Read the blog. Be ready to finish the Creation of a Nation activity next class. Next news brief: Mariah.

News Brief: Kendall had the news brief today and selected this article about this story to talk about: CNN.com - Supreme Court rules in favor of death row inmate. We discussed this story (as well as the right to a lawyer) for a while at the start of class.

Related to this, we discussed the recent transgender students directive from the Department of Justice and noted that the state of Oregon still has protections for transgender students.

Mariah was selected for the next news brief.

Philosophy Quiz: Because I'm a nice guy, I gave the class about five minutes to study for this (even though it was homework to do so). I haven't read the responses yet, but basically, if you knew the four philosophers from the first reading, and knew the basics of the European influences reading, you should have been fine. If you need to take this, please come find me before or after school.  I will grade these and get them back to you as soon as I can.

Declaration of Independence/Articles of Confederation: Next up, we had a brief lecture in class about the early foundations of the United States government and some of the forms of government in the world. To begin, we looked at the Declaration of Independence and at some of the reasons the United States "broke up" with Great Britain. After this, I had students write their own break up letter, using some of the same reasons outlined in the text of the Declaration of Independence.

Next, we moved on to learning about the first government of the United States. The Articles of Confederation was the first way that the country was organized, and we looked at how it was not good enough to really keep the states together in any coherent way. Here's the reading notes that I showed in class:

Google Drive: Forms of Government and Articles of Confederation

Please know the basics here for future use!

Creation of a Nation: The last activity we did today in class was to start thinking about 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 is the assignment, which we will finish working on next class and present. Again, I want every group to make a flag for their new country, because flags are awesome. Please see the document for specifics as to what each group member should do.

Google Drive - Creation of a Nation Assignment

Next class, we will continue with this and then move on to studying the Constitution. Thanks! See you next class!

Philosophy of Government, Day 3 - Class Recap

The Parthenon, which is a part of the Acropolis in Athens. We learned today about Greek democracy influencing the United States government! Photo taken in July, 2014.

Dear class,

I really enjoyed the debate today, again! Thank you for your participation in what we are working on in class. 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 4: I can explain how different ideological movements and philosophies shape politics.

Soundtrack: "GDFR" by Flo Rida. Selected for today because it was Going Down For Real when the United States declared independence from Great Britain.

AGENDA 2/22/17:
News Brief - Fatimah
Finish Forced Choice
European Influences
Declaration of Independence

Homework: Read the blog. Study for philosophy and European influences quiz next class. Next news brief: Kendall.

News Brief: Fatimah had the news brief today and selected this story to talk about: TheGuardian.com - IMF study warns free trade seen as benefiting 'only a fortunate few'. We discussed the International Monetary Fund for a little bit, along with this article.

Kendall has the next news brief. We also checked in about the weekend and what people were up to, before moving on.

Finish Forced Choice: I wanted to give the class time to finish some of the debate from last class. The questions were:

1. Giving up some of our rights (like our phones being listened to without a warrant) is necessary for our own protection.
2. Everyone in the United States should be able to have firearms if they want.
3. Government officials should have to approve/sign off on marriages that they are against on religious grounds.
4. Marijuana should be legalized everywhere for recreational use.
5. Public schools should strictly enforce a standardized dress code.
6. Organized prayer in public schools should be allowed.
7. The government of a country should be able to make decisions that the majority of the people do not support.
8. Should the motto “In God We Trust” be removed from our currency?
9. I agree with the death penalty option for convicted murderers.
10. People in power are always corrupt in some way.

Today, we did questions 3, 8, and 9 in class. Here are two articles that I brought into the conversation, if you are interested in reading more:

OregonLive.com - Can Oregon afford the death penalty?

SeattleTimes.com - ‘In God We Trust’ sign hangs in Clark County Council room

The prompt after the activity was this: Write a one page reflection on the activity. What was the most difficult or controversial question for you? Why? How do these sorts of questions relate to the study of government? What did you think of this activity?

The learning targets being assessed for this one are: Communication LT 1: I can communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing AND Knowledge LT 2: I can demonstrate an understanding of the role of governments in current issues.

If you did not finish this one page reflection in class, please treat it as homework. Thank you!

European Influences: In order to progress up to the Declaration of Independence, we first had to look at some of the key ideas that influenced the foundation of our country. This was a four page reading and some associated questions, that I gave some work time in class for. If you missed class, or lost your copy, here they are again to see and study for the quiz next class:

Google Drive - European Influences on the United States Government Reading

Google Drive - European Influences Reading Questions

Use this reading and your answers to study for the upcoming quiz!

Declaration of Independence: We ran out of time today in class to do this, so we will get back to it after the quiz next time.

Thanks for your work and effort in class, and for doing your homework in reading the blog! :-)