The Executive Branch, Day 6 - Class Recap

The Washington Monument, in Washington, D.C. Named after our first President, George Washington! Photo taken in 2010.

Hi everyone,

I enjoyed playing the role of the President today and hearing all of the various different policy proposals for the federal government! Next class, we will finish up with this, then take the Executive Branch test. Here's what happened today in class:

Learning Targets Addressed:
Knowledge LT 1: I can demonstrate an understanding of the interplay between citizens and their governments.
Knowledge LT 3: I can demonstrate an understanding of how individuals and non-governmental institutions interact with each other and the government in shaping politics.

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

Soundtrack: "I Just Can't Wait to Be King" from The Lion King. Selected for today because I played the role of President Obama in the cabinet presentations! Lyrics here.

AGENDA 11/21/14:
News Brief – Luke/A-b
Grades Talk
Cabinet Presentations
Study for Test

Homework: 1) Read the blog. Congratulations for doing this!

2) Redo your "Town Hall Review" sheet answers. Specifically, you need to look at question 3. In order to demonstrate proficiency with the learning target, this needed to be much more specific. Please write about how the individual questions and the groups (like CASUA and the Oregon Restaurant Association) had an impact in shaping the government and political process during the Town Hall.

(The target for this is: Knowledge LT 3: I can demonstrate an understanding of how individuals and non-governmental institutions interact with each other and the government in shaping politics)

3) Study for the executive branch test:

Review the key terms and readings on the Study Guide. For instance, The Presidency reading will help. Also, study the cabinet descriptions reading (blog exclusive). You might want to download the pdf and then rotate the page (because it is in landscape format). Or, just turn your head, I guess)!

Finally, review the Political Spectrum, because that will be on the test again, too. Know the order from left to right: radical, liberal, moderate, conservative, reactionary, and what they believe.

Next news brief: Spencer.

News Brief: Kyle had the news brief today and selected this article to talk about: NYTimes.com - Coal Rush in India Could Tip Balance on Climate Change. A tenuous connection to the U.S. government, but important to know about, for sure!

We also talked about President Obama issuing an Executive Order on immigration last night, because of how important that is and relevant to our current study. If you missed the speech, it is here to watch or read: NPR.org - Watch: President Obama's Speech on Immigration.

Thanks for the interesting discussion! Spencer was selected to do the next news brief.

Grades Talk: As mentioned above, I had some feedback about what I wanted from the Town Hall Review. It was probably my bad for not being clearer about the question and what to write about. In any case, I passed back grades for that and all the current events that have been presented so far. So, your grades in Synergy should be up to date as of this morning - obviously, the Cabinet project will be graded soon, as well. :-)

Study for Test: It was a shorter day today, due to the assembly schedule. Again, here is the study guide for the test, which will be 30 multiple choice questions (for LT5) and the political spectrum (for LT4).

Please make sure to ask me if you are at all confused about anything! Have a great weekend!