The Political Spectrum - Class Recap

The African American Civil War Memorial in Washington, D.C. The soldiers are carrying guns, which relates to the Second Amendment! Photo taken in 2010.

Hi everyone,

We had another good conversation in class today about the first two amendments to the Constitution and looked at the political spectrum. Here's what happened:

Learning Targets Addressed:

Communication LT 5: I can communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing.
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.

Soundtrack: "Where is the Love?" by The Black Eyed Peas. Selected for today because I think most people could have done a bit better with knowing the material for the last test. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 2/25/15:
News Brief - Ella
Review Constitution Test/Grades
Tinker v. Des Moines
Second Amendment
Political Spectrum

Homework: Read the blog! Next news brief: Simone (Aldo/Chris).
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News Brief: After I talked about President Obama's veto of the Keystone XL pipeline bill (which happened yesterday, and is the third veto of his presidency), Ella came in and talked about her news brief today which was about this story: OregonLive.com - Portland approves $15-an-hour minimum wage for full-time city workers, contractors. Since my mom was involved with this vote, it is especially interesting to me! Thanks for selecting the article, Ella.

Simone was selected next for the news brief.

Review Constitution Test/Grades: The overall scores were not too bad, but I know most people could do better, which is why we reviewed the answers together as a class. The first 10 questions were about the philosophy of U.S. Government and the second 10 questions were about the Constitution. Your grades for the class are now posted on the wall near the door, by student ID number.

Tinker v. Des Moines: This is a famous U.S. Supreme Court case about freedom of speech at school - especially in regards to what students are allowed to wear, which is a conversation we have been having at Westview about the dress code. The class was split into groups to talk about the case and do the review questions, then we talked about it as a whole. Ultimately, the justices decided 7-2 that the students protesting the Vietnam War by wearing armbands were within their rights to do so. A summary of the case can be found here.

As part of this section, we also talked about the flag burning case of Texas v. Johnson. A recap of that, which found that burning the flag was a protected form of speech, can be found here.

Second Amendment: This was just an overview of the debate surrounding Second Amendment rights, which mostly have to do with gun laws. I asked for some thoughts on specific issues that the Second Amendment raises, like if we should have the right to own any gun or ammunition. Just remember that this amendment has to do with the ability to own and use guns.

Political Spectrum: At the end of class, we started looking at the political spectrum, which was most of this PowerPoint:

Google Drive - Political Spectrum PowerPoint

Please be familiar with the various different philosophies on the political spectrum! Next class, we will finish this and then talk about the rest of the Bill of Rights, including an analysis of the Jay Z song "99 Problems." See you then!