The Legislative Branch, Day 4 - Class Recap

A picture that I took on the 124th floor of the Burj Khalifa (the tallest building in the world) in Dubai, United Arab Emirates during Spring Break. I used my dad;s camera (a Canon EOS 5D Mark II, which is super nice) and a 15mm fisheye lens to make it look like the world was a city. Fun effect!

Dear class,

Welcome back from Spring Break! I hope you enjoyed the week off from school. Now there is plenty of work for all of us to get back to! Here's what we did today in class:

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: "Jai Ho" by A.R. Rahman. Selected for today because I was in India over Spring Break, and this song is from Slumdog Millionaire, which is a movie set in India.

AGENDA 3/30/15:
News Brief
Spring Break
Bill Simulation
Washington's Gridlock

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

News Brief: I had the next brief today, because it was a long Spring Break. Here's the article that I chose to talk about: NYTimes.com - Iran Backs Away From Key Detail in Nuclear Deal. This week is the latest deadline for a diplomatic agreement between Iran and some major powers in the world - especially the United States, when it comes to Iran's nuclear program. Iran says that it is for peaceful energy purposes, while many in the world believe they are trying to make a nuclear bomb. In any case, these are very high stakes negotiations!

Dorian was assigned the next news brief.

Spring Break: I asked the class if there was anything interesting or noteworthy that happened over Spring Break. It is always nice to check in with everyone about what you are up to outside our classroom! As part of this, I showed a few photos from my trip to Dubai, India, and Nepal. It was a lot of travel and I am still gaining my feet back! Still, I love exploring the world and teaching about it, too!

Bill Simulation: This took the rest of class to do, especially as we combined with Ms. Nelson's class again. Our class simulated the House of Representatives. I broke the class up into two different committees, then two different sub-committees within those committees. We debated various different proposals in the sub-committees, which then put forth the best idea to the committees, which then selected one for debate with the other half of class.

The two proposals that we took upstairs were about school dress codes and school starting times. It ended up that the dress code was passed, but vetoed by Ms. Nelson, then the Congress overrode the veto. We also heard various proposals from Ms. Nelson's class, which acted as the Senate. Great job by Chris for being Speaker of the House! :-)

That was it for today. Thanks for your participation! Welcome back!

The Legislative Branch, Day 3 - Class Recap

My Spring Break is full of 18,841 miles worth of flying! Portland to Seattle to Dubai to Delhi, India to Kathmandu, Nepal. Plus various activities on the ground in those places, too. This was from the $400 round trip ticket to India that I bought last October. It will be a fun adventure! If you want, follow along on Twitter and/or Instagram!

Hi everyone,

Welcome to Spring Break! I am very excited, as I hope you are, too! Today was a change of plans, in that we did not do the Congressional simulation, due to Ms. Nelson not being at Westview today. So, we continued to work on the Reps in Congress packet and made bill proposals. Here's what we did in the last class before the break:

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: "Roam" by The B-52's. Selected for today because of my encouragement to explore the world around you, even if you are staying at home during Spring Break! Lyrics here.

AGENDA 3/19/15:
News Brief – Evita
Spring Break
Reps in Congress
Computer Lab S210

Homework: Read the blog. Have a great Spring Break! Finish the Oregon representatives handout. Make bill proposals.

News Brief: Evita had the news brief today and selected this article to talk about: OregonLive.com - Child care subsidies would be available to more parents under House Bill 2015. We talked about the importance of childcare for both children and parents, and had a short discussion about whether or not it was worth paying more taxes for.

I also talked about this story from today, where President Obama brought up the concept of mandatory voting (people over 18 who did not vote would be subject to fines or even possibly jail time): CNN.com - Obama: Maybe it's time for mandatory voting. This is super interesting to me as a teacher. I wonder what it would do to our democracy! Obviously, increased participation is good (we have a very low rate right now). However, if uninformed/apathetic people were forced to make decisions, would that really help us? It's hard to know!

There is no assigned next news brief for the class after Spring Break, because I thought it would be hard to remember to do. :-)

Spring Break: I wanted to check in and see what everyone was looking forward to as far as Spring Break. I have been particularly looking forward to this Spring Break for a long time. It should be a really fun one! That said, if I expect you to work, I will also be here for you in answering emails and comments when I can!

Reps in Congress: Next, it was time to learn more about who serves Oregon as representatives in Congress at the federal level. Here is the handout that I passed out in class:

Google Drive - Oregon Representatives in Congress Handout

The main point here is to know who our representatives are and what they believe. There was another page to start, which was on the demographics of the 114th Congress - pick that up in class, if you missed it.

Make Bill Proposals: Here are the questions I want you to answer for your bill proposals, before next class:

1. What are you proposing?
2. Who will it impact?
3. When will it begin or end?
4. Where (which states) will be impacted?
5. Why should this bill pass?
6. How much will it cost?

We will have an interesting simulation where one of the government classes is the House of Representatives, and the other is the Senate!

Computer Lab S210: For the rest of the class, we were in the computer lab, working on the Oregon representatives handout and bill proposals.

Have a wonderful Spring Break, everyone! See you later this month!

The Legislative Branch, Day 2 - Class Recap

This image of the US Capitol Building is actually the background for this blog! Photo taken in 2010.

Dear class,

Today, we talked about the long weekend and your overall excellent Bill of Rights Quiz scores! We also started up with looking at the Oregon congressional delegation. 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: "World Peace" by Rihanna. Selected for today because I am wishing the juniors peace for their ACT tomorrow. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 3/16/15:
News Brief – Joselyne
Reps in Congress
Make Bill Proposals
Computer Lab S219

Homework: Read the blog. Finish the Oregon representatives handout. Make bill proposals. Next news brief: Evita.

News Brief: Joselyne had the news brief today and selected this article to talk about: FoxNews.com - Police arrest Missouri man, 20, in shooting of two officers in Ferguson. Obviously, Ferguson has been a huge ongoing presence in the news. This relates especially to the debate about guns that we have been looking into in class!

Evita volunteered for the next news brief.

Oregon Representatives: Next, it was time to learn more about who serves Oregon as representatives in Congress at the federal level. Here is the handout that I passed out in class:

Google Drive - Oregon Representatives in Congress Handout

The main point here is to know who our representatives are and what they believe. There was another page to start, which was on the demographics of the 114th Congress - pick that up in class, if you missed it.

Make Bill Proposals: I apologize that I did not do this before we went to the Computer Lab, but here are the questions I want you to answer for your bill proposals, before next class:

1. What are you proposing?
2. Who will it impact?
3. When will it begin or end?
4. Where (which states) will be impacted?
5. Why should this bill pass?
6. How much will it cost?

We will have an interesting simulation where one of the government classes is the House of Representatives, and the other is the Senate!

Computer Lab S219: For the rest of the class, we were in the computer lab, working on the Oregon representatives handout.

Thanks for your work on this! See you next class!