The United States Supreme Court building, in Washington, D.C. Photo taken in 2010.
Hi everyone,
Welcome back! Now we have a fast paced dash to Winter Break for the next few weeks. We have a lot to pack in, for sure! Here's what happened today in class:
Learning Targets Addressed:
Knowledge LT 5: I can demonstrate an understanding of the principles, structures, and functions of different levels of U.S. government.
Soundtrack: "Confessions, Pt. 2" by Usher. Selected for today because we are beginning the judicial branch unit, which involves looking at the courts. One part of a good court case might be a confession! Lyrics here.
AGENDA 12/3/14:
PRIDE Lesson
News Brief – Simzaid
Review Tests/Grades
Judicial Branch
10 Supreme Court Cases
Homework: Read the blog. Next news brief: Jerick
PRIDE Lesson: We started the class off (as every class at Westview did) by looking at what makes a community. I showed a clip from the movie Freedom Writers, then we brainstormed what a community is made up of. At the end I said again how thankful I am for the community here at Westview, especially after my dad was killed. Thank you all for being there for me! :-)
News Brief: Simzaid had the news brief today and selected an article about this story to talk about: CNN.com - Michael Brown's stepfather sorry for outburst in Ferguson protests. We talked a bit about this (being a major story right before break, too), and how it might be related to the U.S. government.
Jerick was selected to do the next news brief.
Review Tests/Grades: I passed back literally everything that has been turned in, meaning I am totally up to date with grades. We went over the Executive Branch test, as well as your cabinet project grades. Be sure to know where you are at and what you can do to improve your grade, if needed! Generally, people are doing okay, it seems like.
Judicial Branch: To start out our look at the judicial branch, I showed this video to the class:
I thought this was a good overview of the structure of the federal court system in the United States. Next, I led students through a fill in the blank overview of the judicial branch. Here it is again, if you want to go over it to study for the test:
10 Supreme Court Cases: After going over the introduction to the unit, I passed out this reading:
2) Describe the judge’s decision and explain their reasons why.
3) Do you agree or disagree with the judge’s decision? Explain your reasons why or why not.
Jerick was selected to do the next news brief.
Review Tests/Grades: I passed back literally everything that has been turned in, meaning I am totally up to date with grades. We went over the Executive Branch test, as well as your cabinet project grades. Be sure to know where you are at and what you can do to improve your grade, if needed! Generally, people are doing okay, it seems like.
Judicial Branch: To start out our look at the judicial branch, I showed this video to the class:
I thought this was a good overview of the structure of the federal court system in the United States. Next, I led students through a fill in the blank overview of the judicial branch. Here it is again, if you want to go over it to study for the test:
10 Supreme Court Cases: After going over the introduction to the unit, I passed out this reading:
The rest of class was devoted to reading the cases, and following these directions: On a separate sheet of paper, read and write the answers to the following questions for a minimum of five out of the ten cases.
1) What was the issue?2) Describe the judge’s decision and explain their reasons why.
3) Do you agree or disagree with the judge’s decision? Explain your reasons why or why not.
Next class, we will finish this, discuss, then move on to some more case studies.
Thanks! See you next time! :-)
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