Note Outlines & Practice Test for Congress Unit

Just an FYI, the fill-in-the-blank versions of this unit's notes are now uploaded and ready for your downloading as well as the fill-in-the-blank practice test for this upcoming unit on Congress.

Feel free to print them out or copy them down as you like.

New Group Work Format

Starting this week our civics class is being revamped to focus on more cooperative learning and individual assessment.

Notes will be much shorter and information will now be learned more through cooperative learning.  The vast majority of work will be done in class with fewer homework assignments.

Students will be placed in groups of 3 - 4 students assigned by myself and will work together to work through packets to gain an understanding of how the three branches of our government work.  Packets will remain in the class until the unit is finished.  Only then will students be allowed to remove them from the classroom.

Each student in the group will serve one of four roles:

Retriever: gets group folder with groups packets inside

Ambassador: checks groups answers for assigned pages with the teacher

Checker: makes sure everyone in your group has the same answers

Engineer: returns packets and all materials to the teacher, makes sure group area is clean.

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For every 15 points earned each member gets 1 piece of candy.

Points can only be earned, not lost.

Examples of reasons points will given out include (but are not limited to):

• Group working well together
• Everyone pulling their weight in a group
• Great answers
• Group not adding to the disruptions of other groups
• Group's packets are picked up on time
• Group's packets are put away at turned in at end of class and area is left clean & in order
• Any other reason the teacher decides

Examples of behaviors that can keep your group from earning points include (but are not limited to):

• Disrupting other groups
• Talking to members of other groups during work time
• Throwing things
• Writing on desks
• Being disrespectful
• Not working
• Relying on only 1 member to do all the work
• A group member not following directions
• Any other reason the teacher decides

*****Classwork is done in a group, but all testing is done individually*****

***You are responsible for making sure you know all the material in your packets***

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Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

This past week as an introduction to our unit on Congress, our class has been watching Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Frank Capra's cinematic masterpiece from 1939 that depicts one man against the corruption of Washington, DC.  Students are required to fill out guided questions for the movie.  A copy of this sheet can be found here.

The full movie can be found on Netflix, or at this link.

Constitution Paper

Monday students will be required to write a 5 paragraph paper explaining how the Constitution of the United States breaks up power and sets up the relationship between the branches of government in such a way that it prevents tyranny.

All last week students were going through 4 concepts one by one using notes, group work, and document analysis to answer the above question.  

This week starting Monday students will be required to write a 5 paragraph paper answering the question: How does the Constitution prevent tyranny?  The outline for this paper and directions will be handed out in class but can also be found here.  Students will have to write 3 body paragraphs each based on one of the four questions below.

1. How does federalism prevent tyranny?
2. How does separation of powers prevent tyranny?
3. How does checks and balances prevent tyranny?
4. How did the compromise between small and large states prevent tyranny?

Students will pick the 3 of these questions to answer in their paper.  If students have completed their homework by this past Friday they will be handed it back with corrections and pointers to help improve their writing as the last question on each assignment was a practice paragraph answering one of the above questions.

Papers can be handwritten or typed as long as it is legible.  If handwritten only black ink, standard blue ink, or pencil will be accepted.  

Papers are due at the end of the day on Tuesday and students will only have Monday & Tuesday to work on them in class.

Students can and should get help from after school tutoring with City Year to make sure their papers are the best possible product.  

ANY CHEATING BY COPYING FROM OTHERS OR THE INTERNET WILL RESULT IN AN IMMEDIATE FAILED ASSIGNMENT.  

This paper takes the place of a test for this unit an will count for multiple grades as it meets multiple standards.

Constitution Notes

All slides from the Constitution unit that we spent the last week working on have now been uploaded so that you may download or copy them in all their glory if you missed any days.