Update on Return

Fire spinners outside of City Hall at my dad's public celebration of life, on Sunday.

Hey everyone,

Thanks for being so good for Julie and Ed the last few days. I am excited to be getting back to Westview after the death of my dad, especially to see all of you! Just a quick heads up, here's what is happening:

1) I will be at Wednesday's Back to School night. It starts at 7:00 PM - please encourage your parents to attend and to get there early, because parking is sometimes a challenge. We will talk about general overview of class stuff, as well as how crazy it is that the first progress report is due next week.

2) I will be back teaching (and coaching) full time on Thursday, which is a B day, as I understand it. We will definitely take it easy to start - I want to make sure I explain to everyone why I was gone, what happened, and just make some observations about life lessons that I think are pretty important. As I understand it, Government is going over a handout about the Constitution, and has already presented the Creation of a Nation activity. We will look into the Bill of Rights more when I get back.

3) I can't even begin to tell you how much my family and I have appreciated your support, whether it was through emails or messages, thoughts and prayers, or simply just being good and understanding for the substitutes. Thank you, everyone. It's going to be great to see you all later this week.

Articles of Confederation and Creation of a Nation - Class Recap

Crater Lake, which is Oregon's only National Park. Maybe a symbol of your new nation? Photo taken in August 2014.

Hi wonderful students,

Great to see you all again today! It was a quiz and work day in class. 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: "Rebel Rebel" by David Bowie. Selected for today because we were talking about the formation of the United States after rebelling from the United Kingdom. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 9/23/14:
News Brief – Enrique
Philosophy Quiz
Articles of Confederation
Creation of a Nation

Homework: Read the blog. Be ready to finish the Creation of a Nation activity next class. Bring a device able to access the internet to see the Constitution. Next news brief: Kerwin.

News Brief: Enrique brought in the news brief today and selected this article to talk about: KOMO.com - Prosecutor to drop all Seattle marijuana tickets. We talked about how this relates to the various parts to the United States government - the federal government having a law against marijuana, but the Washington state law that allows it, and the local police officer that is against it. Government can be really complicated, sometimes! This was a good example of the different layers. Thanks, Enrique!

Philosophy Quiz: Because I'm a nice guy, I gave the class about five minutes to study for this (even though it was homework to do so). I haven't read the responses yet, but basically, if you knew the four philosophers from the first reading, and knew the basics of the European influences reading, you should have been fine. If you need to finish or retake it, please come see me on your own time (like a Study Hall, or first or second lunch).  I will grade these and get them back to you as soon as I can - it will count as an assessment opportunity for LT7.

Articles of Confederation: Next up, we had a brief lecture in class about the early foundations of the United States government and some of the forms of government in the world. The Articles of Confederation was the first way that the country was organized, and we looked at how it was not good enough to really keep the states together in any coherent way. Here's the reading notes that I passed out in class:

Google Drive: Forms of Government and Articles of Confederation Handout

Please keep this and study it for future use!

Creation of a Nation: The last activity we did today in class was to start thinking about creating your own nation, which is a break away of some of the western states from the United States. In groups of 2 or 3, this is the assignment, which we will finish working on next class and present. Again, I want every group to make a flag for their new country, because flags are awesome. Please see the document for specifics as to what each group member should do.

Google Drive - Creation of a Nation Assignment

Next class, we will continue with this and then move on to studying the Constitution. Please try to have a device that is able to access it. Thanks! See you next class!

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! :-)