Philosophy of Government, Day 3 - Class Recap

The Parthenon, which is a part of the Acropolis in Athens. We learned today about Greek democracy influencing the United States government! Photo taken in July, 2014.

Dear class,

I really enjoyed the debate today, again! Thank you for your participation in what we are working on in class. Here's what happened today:

Learning Targets:
Knowledge LT 2: I can demonstrate an understanding of the role of governments in current issues.
Knowledge LT 4: I can explain how different ideological movements and philosophies shape politics.

Soundtrack: "GDFR" by Flo Rida. Selected for today because it was Going Down For Real when the United States declared independence from Great Britain.

AGENDA 2/22/17:
News Brief – Sabrina (Mr. Fritz)
Finish Forced Choice
European Influences
Declaration of Independence

Homework: Read the blog. Study for philosophy and European influences quiz next class. Next news brief: Alyssa I.

News Brief: Sabrina was absent today from class, so I filled in and talked about this story: BBC.com - Mexican man kills himself after being deported from US. Related to this, I discussed the latest news regarding immigration enforcement under President Trump's administration.

Alyssa I. has the next news brief. We also checked in about the weekend and what people were up to, before moving on.

Finish Forced Choice: I wanted to give the class time to finish some of the debate from last class. The questions were:

1. Giving up some of our rights (like our phones being listened to without a warrant) is necessary for our own protection.
2. Everyone in the United States should be able to have firearms if they want.
3. Government officials should have to approve/sign off on marriages that they are against on religious grounds.
4. Marijuana should be legalized everywhere for recreational use.
5. Public schools should strictly enforce a standardized dress code.
6. Organized prayer in public schools should be allowed.
7. The government of a country should be able to make decisions that the majority of the people do not support.
8. Should the motto “In God We Trust” be removed from our currency?
9. I agree with the death penalty option for convicted murderers.
10. People in power are always corrupt in some way.

Today, we did questions 3, 4, and 9 in class. Here are two articles that I brought into the conversation, if you are interested in reading more:

OregonLive.com - Can Oregon afford the death penalty?

WWeek.com - Oregon's Recreational Cannabis Tax Revenue For 2016 Exceeded One Original Estimate More than Six-Fold

The prompt after the activity was this: Write a one page reflection on the activity. What was the most difficult or controversial question for you? Why? How do these sorts of questions relate to the study of government? What did you think of this activity?

The learning targets being assessed for this one are: Communication LT 1: I can communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing AND Knowledge LT 2: I can demonstrate an understanding of the role of governments in current issues.

If you did not finish this one page reflection in class, please treat it as homework. Thank you!

European Influences: In order to progress up to the Declaration of Independence, we first had to look at some of the key ideas that influenced the foundation of our country. This was a four page reading and some associated questions, that I gave some work time in class for. If you missed class, or lost your copy, here they are again to see and study for the quiz next class:

Google Drive - European Influences on the United States Government Reading

Google Drive - European Influences Reading Questions

Use this reading and your answers to study for the upcoming quiz!

Declaration of Independence: We ran out of time today in class to do this, so we will get back to it after the quiz next time.

Thanks for your work and effort in class, and for doing your homework in reading the blog! :-)

Philosophy of Government, Day 4 - Class Recap

The Parthenon, which is a part of the Acropolis in Athens. We learned today about Greek democracy influencing the United States government! Photo taken in July, 2014.

Dear class,

Even though it was more of a work day today, it was nice to see everyone and learn a bit more class content! Here's what happened today:

Learning Targets:
Knowledge LT 2: I can demonstrate an understanding of the role of governments in current issues.
Knowledge LT 4: I can explain how different ideological movements and philosophies shape politics.

Soundtrack: "GDFR" by Flo Rida. Selected for today because after United States declared independence from the United Kingdom, it was going down for real.

AGENDA 9/22/16:
News Brief – Ireland
Reflection
European Influences
Declaration of Independence
Study for Philosophy Quiz

Homework: Read the blog. Study for philosophy and European influences quiz next class. Next news brief: Josh.

News Brief: Ireland brought in the news brief today and selected an article about this story to talk about: CNN.com - Charlotte police chief: Shooting video won't be made public. We talked in class for a bit about this story and the importance of following along with and understanding what happens with the police and the Black Lives Matter movement.

A very interesting and relevant article! Thanks, Ireland. Josh has the next news brief.

Reflection: At the start of class, I gave students some more time to finish the Forced Choice reflection that we started at the end of last class, after the debates. Here is the prompt again: Write a one page reflection on the activity. What was the most difficult or controversial question for you? Why? How do these sorts of questions relate to the study of government?

European Influences: In order to progress up to the Declaration of Independence, we first had to look at some of the key ideas that influenced the foundation of our country. This was a four page reading and some associated questions, that I gave work time in class for, then we talked about it together. If you missed class, or lost your copy, here they are again to see:

Google Drive - European Influences on the United States Government Reading

Google Drive - European Influences Reading Questions

Use this reading and your answers to study for the upcoming quiz!

Declaration of Independence: This was pretty fun. We looked at the Declaration of Independence (which is what started the United States) and tried to put the first couple of paragraphs of it into our own words, like a break up letter. These were pretty funny - thanks for your effort! Next time, we will look into the document with more detail, check out the Articles of Confederation, then try and create your own new country, using the information that you've learned about so far in class.

Study for Philosophy Quiz: Study for the philosophy quiz next class! You will need to know the ideas of the four philosophers we talked about in class, how their ideas influence the U.S. government, and the three European influences that impacted our government.

Thanks for your work and effort in class, and for doing your homework in reading the blog! :-)

Forced Choice, Day 1 - Class Recap

Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This is where the United States Constitution was debated and signed. We did some debating today in class and will continue to do so next time!

Hi everyone,

Thanks for the excellent discussions today in class and for reading the blog! Here's what happened:

Learning Targets: 
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: “Waiting on the World to Change" by John Mayer. Selected because the issues we were talking about today could change the world. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 2/4/15:

News Brief – Sophia/Ashton

European Influences

Forced Choice

Homework: Read the blog. Next news brief: Kelsey.

News Brief: Both Sophia and Ashton were absent from class today, so I filled in again and talked about the vaccine debate in the United States, which was brought to national prominence again by an outbreak of measles (an entirely preventable disease, if people get their vaccinations) in Disneyland. Here's an article about this story: CNN.com - CDC: 102 measles cases in January, most stemming from Disney outbreak.

European Influences: I just wanted to pass this out, so that students who want to work ahead can see what we will be doing after the debate. Here are the two handouts that go along with these (we will come back to them later).

Google Drive - European Influences on the United States Government Reading

Google Drive - European Influences Reading Questions

Use this reading and your answers to study for an upcoming quiz!

Forced Choice: One of my favorite activities of the year. I had the class answer the following questions and choose YES or NO to each of them. Then, we split up the class so that two sides were facing each other. With each question, students moved to the side they felt best represented their opinion on the matter. The questions were:

1. Giving up some of our rights (like our phones being listened to without a warrant) is necessary for our own protection. 

2. The Second Amendment means that everyone in the US has the right to have any weapons that they want.

3. Same-sex marriage should be legal everywhere.

4. Marijuana should be legalized everywhere for recreational use.

5. Organized prayer in public schools should be allowed.

6. The government of a country should have the power to make decisions that the majority of the people in it do not support.

7. Should the motto “In God We Trust” be removed from our currency?

8. I agree that the death penalty should be an option for convicted murderers.

9. People in power are always corrupt in some way.

10. Democracy is always the best form of government for anywhere in the world.

We only made it through question 4 today, so I will pick and choose next class as to which questions we will discuss and debate, before writing a reflective piece about the experience. I love these discussions and I think we did a great job of following the Ground Rules that we established at the beginning of the year. Thank you for your participation! Be ready to keep talking next time. If you have any further thoughts, please post them in the comments!

Declaration of Independence - Class Recap

The Parthenon, which is a part of the Acropolis in Athens. We learned today about Greek democracy influencing the United States government! Photo taken in July, 2014.

Dear class,

Even though it was more of a work day today, it was nice to see everyone and learn a bit more class content! Here's what happened today:

Learning Targets:
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: "Better Together" by Jack Johnson. Selected for today because of the results of the Scotland independence referendum, which sided with the United Kingdom, instead of independence. "Better Together" was the slogan of the NO campaign, which won. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 9/19/14:
News Brief – Chloe
 - Scotland
Debrief Forced Choice
European Influences
Declaration of Independence
Articles of Confederation
Creation of a Nation

Homework: Read the blog. Study for possible philosophy and European influences quiz next class. Next news brief: Enrique.

News Brief: Chloe brought in the news brief today and selected this article to talk about: NYTimes.com - Congress Gives Final Approval to Aid Rebels in Fight With ISIS. We had a good conversation about why the United States is interested in fighting ISIS, and why President Obama asked Congress for approval of his plan. This totally related to talking today about the different branches of the United States government!

I also wanted to be sure to address the election in Scotland, where the people there were electing to see if they wanted to become their own country, away from the rest of the United Kingdom and Great Britain. This was such an interesting event to me, especially as a British citizen! It was sort of like if the State of Washington was holding an election to become their own country, away from the United States. I played a video message from my friend Matthew Lumby, who was in Glasgow, Scotland to watch the result! Here's the full version of both videos that I played in class - the day of the election and the day after.

Matthew's message was cut a bit short at the end, so he sent me a text message to say: "Hope you have a good day and check the results at around 10 PM your time tonight."

How cool is that? Technology, globalization, elections, teaching, and friends are awesome. Combining all at once? Epic.

Debrief Forced Choice: I collected the forced choice reflections and will look over them to assess what the class got out of the activity. It will be assessed for the Communication learning target in class, so it's the first graded assignment for everyone. Please make sure you have this turned in, if you missed class today! I enjoyed hearing thoughts about how the activity went.

European Influences: In order to progress up to the Declaration of Independence, we first had to look at some of the key ideas that influenced the foundation of our country. This was a four page reading and some associated questions, that I gave work time in class for, then we talked about it together. If you missed class, or lost your copy, here they are again to see:

Google Drive - European Influences on the United States Government Reading

Google Drive - European Influences Reading Questions

Use this reading and your answers to study for the upcoming quiz!

Declaration of Independence: At the end of class, we looked at the Declaration of Independence (which is what started the United States) and tried to put the first couple of paragraphs of it into our own words, like a break up letter. These were pretty funny - thanks for your effort! Next time, we will look into the document with more detail, check out the Articles of Confederation, then try and create your own new country, using the information that you've learned about so far in class.

Have a great weekend, everyone! Thanks for your work and effort in class, and for doing your homework in reading the blog! :-)

The Constitution and European Influences - Class Recap

Happy weekend, everyone! Picture taken at Cape Kiwanda on the Oregon Coast in 2009.

Hi everyone,

I hope you are reading this with the confidence that you did well on the quiz today in class, and are well on the way to passing the first learning target of the opening unit. Read on to see what we did today in class!

Learning Targets Addressed: 
SS.HS.KN.ALT.04: I can explain how different ideological movements and philosophies shape politics.
SS.HS.CO.ALT.05: I can communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing.

Soundtrack: “Help Yourself” by Sad Brad Smith. Selected because you should have been helping yourself by studying for the quiz as homework. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 2/27/14: 
News Brief
European Influences
Quiz
The Constitution

Homework: Read the blog! Next news brief is assigned to Reed.

News Brief: Today's news brief was helpfully brought in by Jesse. He chose this story to talk about: CNN.com - Man selling home for $135,000 in Dogecoins. This sparked a really interesting conversation about cryptocurrency (like Bitcoin) and how money is (or is not) regulated by governments. Thanks a lot, Jesse! Please remember to send me your write up for credit on the assignment.

European Influences: After the news brief, I wanted to prepare the class for the quiz, so I passed out a handout (available in class only) about ways in which the U.S. government has been influenced by European ideas (which was a quiz question). Hopefully, this helped a bit as some last minute cramming!

Quiz: This, combined with the pre-assessment slip you did a few classes ago and the nation building exercise, counts towards proficiency at SS.HS.KN.ALT.04: I can explain how different ideological movements and philosophies shape politics. Hopefully, you feel like you did okay on this (checking the blog may have helped)!

The Constitution: The rest of class was devoted to getting back into the specifics of what the Constitution is all about. There was a handout from last class, a worksheet of questions that went along with it, and we also used the copy of the Constitution contained in the "We The People" books.

Have a great weekend! See you on Monday!