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 3/8/16:
Wildcat News Brief - Vanessa
Crash Course Rights
Jeopardy Review
Study Time

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: Lexi.

Wildcat News Brief: Vanessa selected this article to talk about for his news brief today: CNN.com - 5 takeaways from the Democratic debate. We talked in class about this recent debate, held in Michigan, which votes today as a part of the presidential nomination process. We looked at a few issues that Clinton and Sanders have tried to use against each other, as well.

Lexi volunteered to do the next news brief. Thank you!

We also watched Wildcat News today. Here it is:

Crash Course Rights: To finish up with reviewing in class for the Bill of Rights test, I showed this Crash Course video (with captions on - I know that the narrator talks very quickly):

Some good information here (and familiar Supreme Court cases)!

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. We will do this later in the year, too!

Study Time: The rest of class was used for studying and/or retakes of tests or quizzes. I think this was used productively in class, so we may continue to do this. Thanks for your focus today!  One question from the quiz, for checking the blog, is: What is one power of the judicial branch listed in the Constitution? 

Be ready for the quiz next class, please! See you then!

The Rest of the Bill of Rights - Class Recap

Rays of the sun streaming through the flag of the United States, over the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Picture taken in 2011.

Hi everyone,

Welcome to your weekend! Lots of grading and work for me to do, but I am still looking forward to it, of course. 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: “99 Problems (Clean)" by Jay Z. Selected for today because it discusses the various protections that the Bill of Rights offers. Lyrics (which are decidedly NOT clean, but Rap Genius does offer some interesting interpretations of what they mean) here.

AGENDA 3/4/16:
Wildcat News Brief - Julia and Emma
Fourth Amendment
Pleading the Fifth
Bill of Rights Review

Homework: Read the blog! Keep reviewing the Bill of Rights for upcoming quiz (next week). Take the Political Spectrum test if you want. Next news brief: Vanessa.

Wildcat News Brief: Julia had the news brief today and selected an article about this story to talk about: LATimes.com - Bernie Sanders is waging war on outside political groups, but they're backing him anyway. We talked in class about what Super PACs are, and why Bernie Sanders is against them.

Emma also brought in a news brief about this article: CNN.com - Republican debate turns dirty. With this, we talked about the Republican debate last night on FOX News and some of what happened it it. What a time to be in government class, right?

Vanessa volunteered to do the next news brief.

Here's Wildcat News today as shown in class, if you missed class or wanted to see it again:

Fourth Amendment: Because I want to get done with the Bill of Rights, today we looked through the details of the 4th, 5th, 6th, and 8th Amendments. We continued going through a packet of individual U.S. Supreme Court cases that helped set the scope of the Fourth Amendment. That packet is here:

Google Drive - Fourth Amendment Protections Handout

We finished the case on the last page today (Illinois v. McArthur), which basically said that police can have time to get a search warrant while a suspect is waiting.

Pleading The Fifth: I showed this clip to introduce the Fifth Amendment:

This led to another handout, going through the rights of the accused in the United States. I know it was a heavy day of handouts and readings, so I appreciate your focus and effort in looking at these together!

Google Drive - Rights of the Accused Handout

We went over the case studies and had some more good discussion about various student questions about what is and is not legal in terms of searches.

The cases we discussed were: Gideon v. Wainwright and Mapp v. Ohio.

Bill of Rights Review: At the end of class, I showed the TIME overview videos for the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Eighth Amendments to the Constitution, since we were wrapping up rights of the accused today in class. Here's a link to the Fourth Amendment one:

Time.com - Your Fourth Amendment Right to Privacy

I thought these did a nice job of explaining the history of each amendment, as well as how they are relevant today. Watch the other ones, if you want to go over them all again! See you next class!

Rights of the Accused - Class Recap

Inside the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C. Photo taken in 2010.

Dear class,

Today, we continued looking at the Bill of Rights together, and diving into what the main ones mean, though some specific cases.

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 5: I can demonstrate an understanding of the principles, structures, and functions of different branches of U.S. government.

Soundtrack: "Viva la Vida" by Coldplay. Selected because I related it to the philosophy of government because the song talks about a king. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 3/2/16:
News Brief - Alex B.
Finish Gun Nation
Freedom of Speech
Rights of the Accused

Homework: Read the blog! Next news brief: Julia.
--
News Brief: Alex B. had the news brief today and selected this story to talk about with the class: NPR.org - Super Tuesday: Here's What You Need To Know. Alex did a good job of recapping what happened with the big primaries yesterday, and what that means for the presidential nomination process. To go with that, I showed this delegate tracker, so we could see where statistical analysis has the candidates as far as being on track to win the nomination: FiveThirtyEight.com - Who’s On Track For The Nomination?

Very interesting to keep following, for sure!

Julia was assigned the next news brief.

I also went over the Political Compass test again and asked for student results. Take it if you want!

Finish Gun Nation: This was the "Gun Nation" episode of the "30 Days" documentary series. I asked students to note Pro and Con arguments for gun rights. I think this episode does a really good job of looking at both sides of the debate, and is pretty powerful. I enjoyed our conversation afterwards. Thanks for your participation with this, everyone!

Freedom of Speech: This was a return to the "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" case we learned about a couple of classes ago. The idea was to inform students about how their First Amendment rights are impacted by being at school. The presentation that goes along with this lesson is here:

Google Drive - First Amendment Case Study

Rights of the Accused: To end class, we looked at the (clean version) lyrics from 99 Problems by Jay Z to see how the song is related to knowing our rights, especially those from the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution. I then passed out this packet, which was about various different cases regarding privacy and rights:

Google Drive - Fourth Amendment Protections Packet

Before the end of class, we went through the 8 cases listed in the handout. Next class, we will read over the case on the last page and talk more about the Bill of Rights. Thanks, everyone!