The Legislative Process, Day 3 - Class Recap

This is the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve, which is not too far outside of Los Angeles. One of the topics that students have chosen to do an activist project on is climate change. Photo taken in 2008.

Dear students,

Welcome to another week! The sun has broken through the clouds - it is going to be a bright sunny day! Here's the recap for today:

Learning Targets Addressed:
SS.HS.KN.ALT.05: I can demonstrate an understanding of the principles, structures, and functions of different levels of U.S. government.
SS.HS.CO.ALT.05: I can communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing.

Soundtrack: "More Than A Feeling" by Boston. Selected because you should have more than just a feeling about your activist project - you should want to act and do something! Lyrics here.

AGENDA 4/7/14:
News Brief
Review Oregon Legislators
The DREAM Act/DOMA
Town Hall Simulation

Homework: Study for upcoming legislation test (probably on Friday). Read the blog! Next news brief: Kenny.

News Brief: Maria was not in class today, so we did not get a news brief. Cameron would have been next up, but he was absent as well. So Kenny, you are up for next class! Again, everyone has to complete this assignment, which I am grading alongside your forced choice reflection!

Review Oregon Legislators: Shockingly poor level of completion among the class here. Three students out of 25 actually finished it, as required by the homework? Really frustrating. In any case, it is an important assignment for actually understanding who represents Oregon in the federal government. Thank you to those that did complete it.

The DREAM Act/DOMA: To continue our look at legislation, we investigated two famous (somewhat recent) bills: the DREAM Act and DOMA (Defense Of Marriage Act). I went through the various perspectives on the bills and we talked about the purposes for them.

Town Hall Simulation: Next class, we will do a little bit of this. Mel, Hailey, and Emi were assigned to be a political candidate for U.S. Senate. The rest of the class will be asking them questions from the perspective of various organizations that have different philosophies, specifically in regards to the DREAM Act and DOMA.

See you on Wednesday!

The Legislative Process, Day 2 - Class Recap

Something I am passionate about (I like political figures who support it as well) is promoting women's soccer, ever since one of my friends in high school played at the University of Portland. This is a photo of the season opening "tifo" display in the crowd last season for the Portland Thorns professional soccer team.

Hi everyone,

Welcome to another class recap! Back in the full swing of things after the break. Here's what we did today:

Learning Targets Addressed:
SS.HS.KN.ALT.05: I can demonstrate an understanding of the principles, structures, and functions of different levels of U.S. government.
SS.HS.CO.ALT.05: I can communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing.

Soundtrack: “Comin’ From Where I’m From” by Anthony Hamilton. Selected because the legislative process overview and congressional research packet should help you identify where people are coming from. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 4/3/14:
News Brief
Finish Legislation Packet
Oregon Reps in Congress
Computer Lab N228

Homework: Finish legislation packet. Read the blog! Next news brief: Maria.

News Brief: Mel had the news brief today and talked about this story: NYTimes.com - After Push by Obama, Minimum-Wage Action Is Moving to the States.

Finish Legislation Packet: I do not have an online copy of this, so please see me in class if you need it again - basically, this looked at the process for how a bill becomes a law in Congress, along with what the President can do in regards to signing or vetoing the bill. Article I, Section 7 of the United States Constitution is what this is all about. Hold on to this packet - you will use it to study for the legislation test, which is probably next week.

Oregon Reps In Congress: Next, I introduced an assignment designed to look more closely at who our representatives are here in Oregon - the people who get to vote on laws at the Federal level of government. This involved looking up key pieces of information about Congress.

Computer Lab N228: For the most part, I think students worked well on this, but almost everyone had this left as homework. If you missed class, please come grab a copy from me in person! Again, this is important information for your upcoming test.

Thanks for the hard work - see you next Monday!

The Legislative Process - Class Recap

Sand on a beach near Waldport, at the Oregon Coast. I went on a day trip during Spring Break and really liked how the sand looked like a fingerprint design, so I took a quick snap on my iPhone.

Hello class,

It was so great to see everyone again! I hope that you all had a restful and enjoyable Spring Break. I am certainly excited to get back to class! Here's what we did today:

Learning Targets Addressed:
SS.HS.KN.ALT.05: I can demonstrate an understanding of the principles, structures, and functions of different levels of U.S. government.
SS.HS.CO.ALT.05: I can communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing.

Soundtrack: “Welcome Back" by Ma$e. For obvious reasons. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 4/1/14:
Spring Break Recap
News Brief
Review Test/113th Congress
Legislation

Homework: Come see me about missing or incomplete work/tests/quizzes! Read the blog! Next news brief: Mel.

Spring Break Recap: To start the class, I had students go talk with the person on the opposite side of the room, as if it were a mirror image. I just wanted you to check in about how Spring Break went and if anything interesting or noteworthy happened. Then we came back together as a class and I asked if there were any especially fun activities anyone did.

News Brief: This section has drastically suffered from a general malaise about remembering to do the current events. If you were assigned to do this and have not already, please finish one and have it ready to go ASAP.

Review Test/113th Congress: Many students still needed to do the Constitution test from before Spring Break, so I had them do it out in the hall as I reviewed the answers with those who took it in class. Generally, there is plenty of room for improvement. I will also be adding a score in for the philosophies of government questions (17-23) that hits that learning target. Here is the breakdown for hitting the functions of government learning target with the 40 questions:

40-35: 4 - Highly Proficient
34-27: 3 - Proficient
26-19: 2 - Approaching Proficiency
18-0: 1 - Not Proficient

We also talked about the make up and characteristics of the current US Congress - the 113th in our nation's history. A particular point I wanted to emphasize was that 18.8% of the legislators are women, whereas they make up about 50% of the population.

Legislation: To end class, I passed out a packet that looks more at the legislative branch. The first section was about the difference between a trustee (vote what your convictions tell you to) and a delegate (vote what the majority of the people you represent want you to) philosophy of legislation. The next part was about the legislative process. We will look at this next class, then go to the computer lab to work on another look at Congress.

Thanks for visiting - welcome back from Spring Break!