Legislative Branch, Day 2 - Class Recap

This image of the US Capitol Building is actually the background for this blog! Photo taken in 2010.

Dear class,

Today, we talked your Bill of Rights Quiz scores! We also started up with looking at the Oregon congressional delegation. Here's the recap for today:

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 levels of U.S. government.

Soundtrack: "Abc" by The Jackson 5. Selected for today because counting 1-2-3 of the Amendments in the Bill of Rights would have helped last class on the quiz! Lyrics here.

AGENDA 10/17/17:
News Brief – Mr. Fritz
Review Quiz
Oregon Reps in Congress
Work Time

Homework: Read the blog. Continue working on the Oregon representatives handout (we will have a bit of time next class to finish/review). Next news brief: Nic.

News Brief: I had the news brief today (due to Kayla being out) and selected this article to talk about: NYTimes.com - Senators Reach Deal to Fund Subsidies to Health Insurers. We talked about this article and the issue of what is going on with the Affordable Care Act (also known as Obamacare) and what President Trump has done to stop as much of it as possible.

Nic was randomly selected for the next news brief.

Review Quiz: After the news, we talked about the Bill of Rights test from last class. We went through the answers together. If you need to retake this (or any other quiz/test), let's figure out a time outside of class to do this. Updated grades are posted online on StudentVUE.

Oregon Representatives: Next, it was time to learn more about who serves Oregon as representatives in Congress at the federal level. Here is the handout that I passed out in class/was on Google Classroom for students to edit using Kami:

Google Drive - Oregon Representatives in Congress Handout

The main point here is to know who our representatives are and what they believe. It is important that we know who represents us in Congress, and what their ideas are!

Work Time: For the rest of the class, we were working with the Chromebooks in class on the Oregon representatives handout.

Thanks for your work on this! See you next class, when we will be creating legislation of our own!

Bill of Rights Quiz and Legislative Overview - Class Recap

The United States Capitol Building, which is where Congress (the Legislative Branch of the US) meets. Photo taken in 2011.

Hi everyone,

Another quiz today! I hope it went well for everyone. Thanks again for your hard work! We also got started with a unit on the legislative branch. Here's what happened today:

Learning Targets Addressed:
Knowledge LT 1: I can demonstrate an understanding of the interplay between citizens and their governments.
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 levels of U.S. government.

Soundtrack: "At the Beginning" from Anastasia. Selected for today because we are the start of a new unit: the Legislative Branch. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 10/13/17:
News Brief - David
Bill of Rights Quiz
Legislative Branch Overview
Work Time

Homework: Read the blog. Study how a bill becomes a law handout! Next news brief: Kayla.

News Brief: David had the news brief today and selected an article about this story: CNN.com - Trump: We cannot aid Puerto Rico 'forever'. We checked in about this story, and some of the specifics as to what is happening with the response to the recent hurricanes.

Thanks, David! Kayla has the next news brief.

We also checked in about the weekend and what people were up to, before moving on.

Bill of Rights Quiz: We prepared for this the past few classes, as well as a bit during class today, before the quiz. Thank you for giving your best effort on this! We will go over the results together next class.

Legislative Branch Overview/Work Time: This was a handout that went through some of through some of the specifics of the legislative process, like what the legislative branch does and who makes it up. Please review the flow chart on page two, specifically. You will eventually be tested on that and we are going to work through that process together in a simulation later this week:

Google Drive - How a Bill Becomes a Law Handout

Before we did some review, I showed this old Schoolhouse Rock classic:

I also showed a Washington, D.C. license plate and talked about "taxation without representation."

We kept going with the handout until we stopped at trustee and delegate styles of legislators. Please make sure to review this handout! Thank you!

Bill of Rights Review - Class Recap

The Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial in Washington, D.C. FDR was named as one of the Presidents in Final Jeopardy today!

Dear class,

I had a lot of fun reviewing the Bill of Rights with you today! Please be studying the content for the quiz next class, along with the structure of the U.S. government. Here's the recap for the day:

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: “American Pie" by Don McLean. Selected for today because we were talking more about American government, and this song famously contains lots of references to American culture. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 10/11/17:
News Brief - Alexis/Seraiah
Bill of Rights
Jeopardy Review
Crash Course

Homework: Read the blog! Keep reviewing the Bill of Rights for the quiz next class (be able to write down what each Amendment in the Bill of Rights is, and an example, as well as checks/balances/powers of the federal government). Next news brief: David.

News Brief: Alexis and Seraiah both had the news brief today. Seraiah selected an article about this story to talk about: CNN.com - Bodycam footage shows Utah police shoot man as he runs away. We talked in class about ongoing questions of police brutality and also the use of video cameras to document events like this. I highly recommend reading the article to learn more about the actual case.

Alexis brought in an article about this story to talk about: CNBC.com - Trump's approval ratings drop in every state. With this, I showed a trendline from FiveThirtyEight.com about President Trump's approval/disapproval rating since the election. I talked about how polarized it seems like America is in terms of really liking or disliking the president, with not a lot of people in the middle.

David was selected for the next news brief.

Bill of Rights: To review the Bill of Rights (and in some cases, learn about for the first time, since we ran out of time last class), I had students write the summaries of the amendment titles from this website, as I then gave examples of how the amendments could be used today. You will need to do exactly this for next class!

Jeopardy Review: I always really enjoy this, and today was no exception. I split the class into three groups, and then we played this version of PowerPoint Jeopardy to review the material we have learned so far in class:

Google Drive - Constitution/Bill of Rights Jeopardy Review

This probably will be difficult to replicate on Google Drive, but you can at least see the questions to study from. Our big winners today were Group 3. We will do this later in the year, too!

Crash Course Rights: We did not get to this in class, so I might start next class with it for review before the quiz. See you then!