The Judicial Branch, Day 6 - Class Recap

This Sunday is Mother's Day! Here I am with my sister and brother with my mom in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, over Winter Break 2014!

Hi everyone,

There was an assembly today, and we watched a classic film, too. As such, it was a relatively easy day. Here's what happened today in class:

Learning Targets Addressed:

Knowledge LT 5: I can demonstrate an understanding of the principles, structures, and functions of different levels of U.S. government.

Soundtrack: "Rockin' In The Free World" by Neil Young. Selected for today because we are free to conduct ourselves, within the rules of our society (the laws)! Lyrics here.

AGENDA 5/8/15:
News Brief – Courtney
12 Angry Men

Homework: Read the blog. Turn in any late/incomplete work as soon as possible. The Judicial Branch test will be next Thursday. Next news brief: Zoey

News Brief: Courtney had the news brief today and selected this article to talk about: CNN.com - American doctor declared free of Ebola finds the virus in his eye months later. I went quickly through this section, but I also showed the class these election results from the United Kingdom, where my Uncle Peter won re-election to his local council: Chiltern District Council Elections 2015.

I assigned Zoey to do the next news brief (no write up needed).

12 Angry Men: After the news brief, we went up to Ms. Nelson's room in S226, to watch the famous movie 12 Angry Men (1957), which is excellent at showing the jury process. Here is a link to the questions about the movie:

Google Drive - 12 Angry Men Film Questions

 If you want to see the whole movie (or missed class), please find a copy on your own (I borrowed Mr. Bortnick's copy for class today).

Such a classic movie! Rated in the Top 10 all time for a reason. A great way to end the class before the weekend! Thanks for your focus. See you next week! :-)

The Judicial Branch, Day 5 - Class Recap

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 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 5: I can demonstrate an understanding of the principles, structures, and functions of different levels of U.S. government.

Soundtrack: "Ordinary People" by John Legend. Selected for today because ordinary people really did start these Supreme Court cases that we learned about the past couple of days! Lyrics here.

AGENDA 5/6/15:
News Brief – Aldo
Mock Trials
The National Judiciary
Work Time

Homework: Read the blog. Get any late work in ASAP to improve your grade. Next news brief (no write up needed, just talk about it): Courtney.

News Brief: Aldo had the news brief today and talked about this story: CNN.com - Texas attacker tweeted with overseas terrorists. We discussed how the First Amendment really gives people the right to say or do things that many people would really disagree with - in this case, drawing cartoons of the Muhammad, which many Muslims see as an extremely offensive act. This case resulted in two gunmen being killed.

I also talked about this ridiculous story, of some people believing that the U.S. government is seriously about to take over the state of Texas: CNN.com - Pentagon: No Texas takeover plot. The Governor of Texas is actually assigning National Guard troops to watch our own military! Umm, yeah, we are not taking over Texas.

Courtney was assigned to do the next news brief (although she doesn't need to write this next one up, she does have to turn in a current event write up at some point).

Mock Trials: The first part of class was taken up by doing the mock trials for the two cases we had left from last class. We had a really excellent discussion on the issues: drug searches at school and saying the Pledge of Allegiance in class. It was good to hear all the different thoughts and perspectives, as well as see how the Supreme Court actually ruled! Please complete the rest of your mock trial packet! The case summaries I linked to might help with understanding the cases better.

The National Judiciary: I did pass out this handout, so students could read and review them to prepare for the upcoming test. I will see how it goes next class with going through these, but the test will be on this reading, as well as the Supreme Court cases that we have been studying.

Google Drive: The National Judiciary Readings and Questions

Please keep working on this! Sound good? Let me know if you have any questions I can answer! Thanks again for an enjoyable class this morning! :-)

The Judicial Branch, Day 4 - Class Recap

This is me in college, while I was studying abroad in London, which happened to coincide with a Star Wars convention! I was pretty excited to see a to scale model of an X-Wing! Photo taken in 2007.

Hi everyone,

Welcome back from your weekend! I enjoyed starting the mock trials today in class. Here's what happened today:

Learning Targets Addressed:

Knowledge LT 5: I can demonstrate an understanding of the principles, structures, and functions of different levels of U.S. government.

Soundtrack: "Duel of the Fates" from Star Wars. Selected because today is May The Fourth (Be With You) and because you had an epic battle awaiting you with the religion test. No lyrics, but listen here.

AGENDA 5/4/15:
News Brief – Kirstin
Mock Trial Prep
Present Cases
The National Judiciary

Homework: Read the blog. Look at your grade and improve it, if possible! Next news brief: Aldo.

News Brief: Kirstin had the news brief today and did not remember to bring it in, so we moved on, and I opened my Portland School Board election mail ballot in front of the class! This was fun for me to do as a Government teacher, and to explain how voting in Oregon works. If you are 17 and not already registered to vote, here's the online enrollment form:

Oregon Secretary of State: Voter Registration

Yay for participating in our democracy! :-)

Mock Trial Prep: I gave the class about 20-25 minutes to finish preparing to present the four cases in the mock trial. Again, I know this was somewhat complicated, but I think we got the hang of it eventually! To help with understanding the process for how the Supreme Court takes and decides cases, we watched these two videos:

These videos were pretty cheesy (and older), but did a good job of explaining what happens!

Present Cases: During class, we were only able to get to two cases. The first was Morse v. Frederick, involving the humorous (but serious Constitutional issue) of a student holding a "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" sign outside of a school in Alaska as an Olympic torch relay went by. In class, the judges found 4-1 for Frederick (the student) in being able to do this as protected free speech. In the actual case, the judges ruled for Morse. Here is the overview:

Oyez.org - Morse v. Frederick

Next, we did a mock trial for the Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1 case. This was looking at issues of racial diversity in schools, as well as students being able to attend their own neighborhood school. In class, the judges split 3-2 on this, with the parents winning the case against more diverse schools. Here's the actual case overview:

Oyez.org - Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1

That was it for the day! Next class, we will do the last two trials and then move on with the rest of the judicial branch unit. Remember to hang on to all of your mock trial materials and notes - you will be turning them in! See you Wednesday!