The Legislative Branch, Day 1 - Class Recap

This is the office of the Speaker of the House inside the United States Capitol Building. In 2010, when I took this picture, the Speaker of the House was Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). Now, it is John Boehner (R-OH).

Welcome back from the weekend, everyone!

Today in class, we reviewed the Constitution test, checked out my blank ballot for the general election, and learned more about the legislative process. Here's the recap for today:

Learning Targets Addressed:
Knowledge LT 1: I can demonstrate an understanding of the interplay between citizens and their governments.
Knowledge LT 5: I can demonstrate an understanding of the principles, structures, and functions of different levels of U.S. government.

Soundtrack: “Wavin' Flag" by K'naan. Selected for today because flags are representations of countries, which have governments. I thought it would be appropriate as a pump up song for the test today in class! Lyrics here.

AGENDA 10/20/14:
News Brief – Mathew
Review Constitution Test
The Ballot
Congress Simulation

Homework: Read the blog. Study how a bill becomes a law handout - be prepared to write your own bill next class! Next news brief: Mathew (again, because it slipped his mind for today).

News Brief: Mathew forgot his news brief today, so he was assigned to do it next class.

Review Constitution Test: Students that were not in class last time we met took the Constitution test outside the room, down the hall, as everyone else went over the answers in class. Generally, I think this went well for people - if it did not, please come and do a retake on your own time (during lunches, study hall, or after school).

The Ballot: I had a lot of fun with this, because I opened my ballot that was mailed out to me (Oregon's "vote by mail" system is awesome) in front of class and explained what some of the different aspects of the system were, along with the candidates and ballot measures (some of which were put on the ballot by citizens petitioning, which is an element of our system in Oregon). Here's a sample ballot to check out, if you are interested in seeing what it looks like, again.

Congress Simulation: We actually didn't get to the real simulation part, because I wanted to make sure we understood how a bill becomes a law really well, before then. So, we went over most of the rest of this handout:

Google Drive - How a Bill Becomes a Law Handout

We also watched this classic Schoolhouse Rock clip (is this still stuck in your head, like it is in mine?):

I think we are pretty good at this point on understanding the process. At the end of class, I had students write possible bills to debate in class next time we meet. It should be a fun simulation!

Constitution Test and Legislative Branch - Class Recap

The United States Capitol Building, which is where Congress (the Legislative Branch of the US) meets. Photo taken in 2011.

Hi everyone,

Our first in class test today! I hope it went well for everyone. Thanks again for the big spike in blog readership (what a surprise)! We also got started with a unit on the legislative branch. Here's what happened today:

Learning Targets Addressed:
Knowledge LT 1: I can demonstrate an understanding of the interplay between citizens and their governments.
Knowledge LT 4: I can explain how different ideological movements and philosophies shape politics.
Knowledge LT 5: I can demonstrate an understanding of the principles, structures, and functions of different levels of U.S. government.

Soundtrack: “Wavin' Flag" by K'naan. Selected for today because flags are representations of countries, which have governments. I thought it would be appropriate as a pump up song for the test today in class! Lyrics here.

AGENDA 10/16/14:
News Brief - Brad
Constitution Test
The Legislative Branch
113th Congress
How a Bill Becomes a Law

Homework: Read the blog. Study how a bill becomes a law handout - be prepared to write your own bill next class! Next news brief: Mathew.

News Brief: Brad had the news brief today and selected this article to talk about: FOXNews.com - College students claim they were threatened after handing out Constitutions. Since we were taking a test on the Constitution today, this was particularly applicable! I went and found the Oregon laws on recording people in person without their permission, and whether or not the Southern Oregon representative was allowed to ask them to stop. I am not sure about the "free speech zone" legality issue, but it is certainly interesting. Thanks, Brad!

Constitution Test: As promised, 30 questions, covering three opportunities at demonstrating proficiency with learning targets. I should have grades done and entered later today (during Study Hall). Thank you for giving your best effort on this! We will go over the results together next class.

The Legislative Branch/113th Congress: This was a handout (front and back side) that went through some of through some of the specifics of the legislative process, like what the legislative branch does and who makes it up. The handouts and readings are in class - we reviewed them together and they should be used to study for future tests.

How a Bill Becomes a Law: This was the handout that is homework to read (not complete, because we will do that together next class). Please review the flow chart on page two, specifically. You will eventually be tested on that and we are going to work through that process together in a simulation next class:

Google Drive - How a Bill Becomes a Law Handout

Please make sure to review this! Thank you - see you next week!

Constitution Test Review - Class Recap

One of the questions on the review today had to do with Jay Z. Here he is in concert in London's Olympic Park. Photo taken July 2013.

Dear class,

I hope you enjoyed reviewing for your Constitution test today! Here's the recap for the day:

Learning Targets Addressed:
Knowledge LT 1: I can demonstrate an understanding of the interplay between citizens and their governments.
Knowledge LT 4: I can explain how different ideological movements and philosophies shape politics.
Knowledge LT 5: I can demonstrate an understanding of the principles, structures, and functions of different levels of U.S. government.

Soundtrack: “Breakfast at Tiffany's" by Deep Blue Something. Selected for today because the news brief was done by Tifani. Different spelling, same pronunciation! Lyrics here.

AGENDA 10/14/14:
News Brief - Tifani/Logan
Grades
Finish Bill of Rights
Jeopardy Review
Death Penalty

Homework: Read the blog! Study for Constitution test next class. Next news brief: Brad.

News Brief: Tifani had the news brief today and selected this article to talk about: USAToday.com - Protest resume in St. Louis over police shooting. In class, Tifani said this was about Michael Brown, the young man who was killed by a police office in Ferguson, Missouri earlier in the year. This is a new case in St. Louis. It is crazy to think about all of the gun violence and death in our country, that this event could happen so close to another police shooting.

Logan remembered to bring his article in today and selected this story: ABCNews.com - Newlywed With Cancer Picks the Day She Will Die. Another super interesting article that gets at the divisions of power and states rights. In Oregon, we passed a "Death With Dignity" law that allows people who are terminally ill (already going to die) to take their own lives with a doctor's prescription. This is obviously a very controversial issue and worth talking about. Thanks, guys! Brad stepped up to volunteer for the next news brief.

Grades: I went over how grades for progress report were calculated (they are posted by student ID number in class) and what students could do to improve them. First and foremost, that would be doing well on the Constitution test in class on Thursday! Let me know if you are at all confused about what to do in order to improve your grade.

Finish Bill of Rights: We finished our look at this handout:

Google Drive - Rights of the Accused

I wanted to be clear about what the Bill of Rights says and does. Review that sheet and the Bill of Rights for the test on Thursday, along with the philosophers that influenced the U.S. government and the Constitution.

Jeopardy Review: Speaking of review, here is a link to the PowerPoint game we played to review in class. Many of the questions are taken directly from the Constitution test (with the obvious exception of the "Mr. Fritz" and "The Class" categories):

Google Drive: Constitution Jeopardy Review

I hope you had fun with this, because I always do. Congratulations to Team 2 for winning!

Death Penalty: At the end of class, I gave some time to study, then we talked about this article:

Google Drive: New York Times Upfront - The Death Penalty Debate

Basically, I wanted to go over the Eighth Amendment protections here that relate to the death penalty. It is also interesting that the many states have the death penalty, whereas most industrialized countries do not. In any case, it's worth thinking about the debate.

Thanks for another good class - see you on Thursday! Be ready! :-)