Welcome to C&E!! and Website Updates

Another school year has begun complete with bright eyes, enthusiasm, high hopes, and high expectations. I am looking forward to a very exciting semester in Civics and Economics. This year we are implementing a brand new curriculum - North Carolina Essential Standards and are combining it with the new Common Core Standards. What this means is that the content of the course (the Essential Standards) have changed, a little - I mean, how much can a study of civic and economics change? This amounts to a few tweaks in the order in which things are taught, a new emphasis on Personal Financial Literacy, and the moving of some of the history to the American History I course. The changes brought by the Common Core are changes in some of the things we do educationally, particularly in the realm of literacy. In fact, on Day 1 we began with literacy skill when we looked at the Preamble to the Constitution and analyzed for its meaning and importance.

Secondly, this is the year of a Presidential Election! You cannot ask for a more exciting event for a civics class, what a teachable moment! There will be countless examples in the news and to talk about that will make civics and economics much more accessible and real in the classroom that a student would have to put forth effort to NOT do well in the class.

The website is undergoing many revisions to reflect the new curriculum. At present you may find the pages behaving erratically or in an unexpected manner. I apologize, but please bear with it until I can get every page fully updated. And, as always, every page is always under construction, that is to say, i am constantly tweaking, changing, and updating already existing pages to reflect the most current information I can get my hands on. So again, you patience will be most appreciated. I am looking forward to a fun, engaging, enlightening, and successful semester. Together, we can make this a reality for everyone involved.

Welcome and Wish List

Welcome to second semester and Civics and Economics! I am truly looking forward to this semester, it is a very exciting time in government and politics making all the more memorable for you! Even tonight, on our first day of the semester, the President is giving his State of the Union Address! You can watch the "enhanced stream" on the White House website, or can watch it on any one of the major TV networks and news networks. I personally think I will watch it on my iPhone while at the gym! Isn't technology a great thing? So mush information available to you in the palm of your hand. Hopefully I will be able to make this course easier and more accessible for you by utilizing the technology you already enjoy.

Updates! I am currently updating the website, this very page in fact. So please bear with me, especially regarding the Twitter feed!

In addition, there is always a need for some basic classroom supplies. At the top of the list are:

• tissues
• disinfecting wipes

Thanks for stopping in. Keep coming back for more updates, to check the calendar, enrich the classroom learning, and keep up with missed work.

Week of 4 April 2010

Welcome back, I hope everyone had a good and restful break. If you were out on Monday last week, you missed the conclusion of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington - no I am not going to show the end of it again, we need to keep moving. Speaking of keep on moving, we are into Unit 4B: Executive and Legislative Branches. This week we will focus our attention primarily on the executive branch, the work of the president both here and abroad. We will also be watching the movie Dave. It is a cute movie starring Kevin Kline who fills in as President and must learn the job on the fly. I am sure you will enjoy it. I am also planning a current event activity - more on that when we get to it.