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 it is Friday! Lyrics here.

AGENDA 9/29/17:
News Brief - Bara
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: Gibeli.

News Brief: Today's article was brought in by Bara, who selected this story: CNN.com - Oregon is now the first state to mandate when workers get their schedules. We discussed this recent story and how the government can have a big impact on the schedule and life of average people. Thanks Bara! We also checked in about the upcoming weekend and Gibeli volunteered to do the next news brief.

Finish Sharing Nations: This was left over from our very short Wednesday 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 (probably next Thursday).

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!

Share Creation of a Nation - 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. 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 9/27/17:
News Brief – Nina
Create Nations
Share
The Constitution

Homework: Read the blog. Invite your parents to Back to School Night tonight! Next news brief: Bara.

News Brief: Nina had the news brief today and chose this article to talk about: Newsweek.com - TRUMP IMPEACHMENT VOTE COULD HAPPEN NEXT WEEK IN RESPONSE TO PRESIDENT'S NFL PROTEST COMMENTS. We discussed this story for a bit (especially in terms of how a President gets impeached and removed from office, in terms of the actual procedure) and also checked in about what we were up to outside of class, before moving on.

I also talked about the protests during the national anthem over the weekend, and talked about student rights regarding the ability to protest at school and athletic events: EdWeek.org - Students Have a Right to Protest During National Anthem, Pledge of Allegiance.

Bara volunteered to do 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: We did not get to this, due to a lack of time with the condensed schedule today, but as a heads up in advance, this is what we will do on Friday.

Google Drive - Constitution and Bill of Rights Handout

If you want to start to work on completing this outside of class, here is a copy of the Constitution to look at.

See you later this week!

Declaration of Independence/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 – Calvin
Review European Influences
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: Nina.

News Brief: Calvin had the news brief today, but was not in class, so I filled in and selected this article about this story to talk about: CNN.com - Tom Brady calls Trump's comments 'divisive,' backs protests. We discussed this story for a while at the start of class, as it was certainly an interesting weekend for sports and politics.

Nina was selected to do the next news brief.

Review 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, which was homework after last class. We reviewed it together at the start of class, before the quiz:

Google Drive - European Influences on the United States Government Reading

Google Drive - European Influences Reading Questions

Philosophy Quiz: Because I'm a nice guy, I gave the class a few 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!