The Executive Branch, Day 3 - Class Recap

Then Senator Barack Obama when he visited Portland near the start of his Presidential campaign in 2007.

Dear class,

Today, we started the Cabinet Project. The Presidential Cabinet is a very important part of how the Executive Branch functions. 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: "Karma" by Alicia Keys. Selected for today because your attendance and focus with getting your work done will really help you be successful in class. If you are not consistently here and completing work, well, what goes around comes around! ;-) Lyrics here.

AGENDA 4/15/15:
News Brief - Yeli
Planning Night
Cabinet Departments
Computer Lab S219

Homework: Read the blog. Study the cabinet descriptions reading. 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)! Continue working on Cabinet project. Please turn in your Citizenship Paper as soon as possible, if you have not! Next news brief: Raul.

News Brief/Election Review: Yeli had the news brief today, but was not in class, so will need to make it up ASAP. Instead, Katlyn mentioned that she saw my mom on the news, talking about this story: KATU.com -  Senate approves Fritz-Fairchild Act on cable barriers for interstates. This is obviously a story that my family and I care a lot about. What happened to my dad was preventable and should not have occurred. Hopefully, the rest of Oregon will have safety barriers on the Interstate highways soon, too.

We also talked about how today is Tax Day - when taxes are due to be collected for last year's income.

Raul was selected to do the next news brief.

Planning Night: The counselors asked us to give all of the juniors in our classes a heads up about the college and career planning night next week. Here is that information:

Post High School Planning Night Agenda

It is next Tuesday, April 21st, from 7:00-9:00 (if you are interested in playing sports in college, there is a session from 6:00-7:00, too).

Cabinet Departments: For this section, we finished going over what the various different departments are responsible for. We also watched this video, so everyone could see what it looks like in real life:

We will be doing a similar sort of activity in class, with me playing the role of the President and the class taking on the various department heads!

Cabinet Project: Here's a link to the cabinet project (advising the President) that we worked on in class today:

Google Drive - Presidential Cabinet Assignment Handout

Here are the sign ups for each of the cabinet positions:

Agriculture: Raul and Ivan
Commerce:
Defense: Dean and Bailey
Education: Courtney and Sophia
Energy: Kirstin
Health and Human Services: Evita and Gabriela
Housing and Urban Development: Julia and Bryant
Interior: Simone and Kelsey
Justice: Aldo and Dorian
Labor: Elijah and Zoey
Transportation: Ben and Thomas
Treasury: Katlyn and Kayla
Veteran’s Affairs: Ella and Ethan
Homeland Security:

If you missed class or are not on this list, you need to choose an empty department to start your project.

Computer Lab S219: We spent the second half of class in the lab. We will also spend much of next class in the lab, and the cabinet project assignment will likely be due next Tuesday.

See you on Friday!