The flag of the United States, before the Holiday Bowl football game in 2008. Today, we had an interesting mock trial on saying the Pledge of Allegiance in class.
Hi everyone,
I really enjoyed the discussions and debates the mock trials brought up today, and I had the sense that most students did, too. Here's what happened today in class:
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 levels of U.S. government.
Knowledge LT 5: I can demonstrate an understanding of the principles, structures, and functions of different levels of U.S. government.
Soundtrack: "GDFR" by Flo Rida. Selected for today because the class was finally participating in the mock trials, where it was going down for real.
AGENDA 12/9/15:
News Brief – Finn
Mock Trials
Homework: Read the blog. Turn in citizenship paper and any other missing work! Next news brief: Janet.
News Brief: Finn had the news brief today and talked about this story: CNN.com - Donald Trump: Ban all Muslim travel to U.S. This story is of course very relevant to our government, as Trump is currently leading the Republican polls in his run for President. That said, I showed the class that his overall support in the country is actually probably around 8-10%, and that I felt the data showed it was very unlikely he would become President. Also, his proposal is almost certainly unconstitutional, as it discriminates on the basis of religion (which the First Amendment bans). An interesting conversation at the start of class!
Janet was assigned to do the next news brief.
Mock Trials: The majority of class was taken up by doing the mock trials for the three cases we had left from last class. We had a really excellent discussion on the issues: school segregation, drug searches at school, and saying the Pledge of Allegiance in class. Please complete the rest of your mock trial packet, if you did not in class! Here are the actual results of the cases, with audio of the arguments, if you are interested:
Janet was assigned to do the next news brief.
Mock Trials: The majority of class was taken up by doing the mock trials for the three cases we had left from last class. We had a really excellent discussion on the issues: school segregation, drug searches at school, and saying the Pledge of Allegiance in class. Please complete the rest of your mock trial packet, if you did not in class! Here are the actual results of the cases, with audio of the arguments, if you are interested:
We just barely finished all the cases within the class! Thank you for participating in this - I thought it was a pretty cool activity and I was glad to see students engaged in trying to answer these important legal questions.
Next class, we will start wrapping up the Judicial Branch unit with an overview, then begin studying for the text next week.
Next class, we will start wrapping up the Judicial Branch unit with an overview, then begin studying for the text next week.
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