Week of 3 January 2011

The end of the semester is upon us, the EOC is two weeks away. We are making good time and will cover all the content required for the End-of-Course Exam. We will also have a good amount of time to review each day. Our main review guide will be in two parts. I have already distributed the first part, the second part will be forthcoming. This will be in addition many other review material we will be using in the next two weeks.

Make sure with the last days ahead of us that you get all work turned in and and tests and quizzes made up. Although this is the end of the semester and we are mentally preparing for the end and getting excited for it, there is still work to do, so don't let your guard down.

Week of 8 November 2010

The second quarter is under way! I apologize for any confusion regarding report cards and SPAN. I am looking into the discrepancy and will prevent it from taking place at the end of the second quarter. This week we will be exploring the criminal justice system, civil laws, and the juvenile justice system. Mixed in, the students will be investigating some more supreme court cases.

The schedule is a little odd this week regarding days off - Thursday is Veterans Day, and then we are back to school for Friday. Always an interesting week when there is a single day before or after a holiday. We will also be having a Fire Drill and Lockdown Drill on Monday during Pride Period!

I also have some more news. It has been decided that ALL of the Civics & Economics teachers will be giving a "Civics-Term" exam on November 19. There will be a study/review guide forthcoming so please be on the lookout for that. It is assumed that we will all be done with the Civics portion of the course by that day!

Week of 18 October 2010

This week is all about Congress. The highlight is the movie "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington." From 1939, this classic movie, featuring James Stewart, demonstrates how members of Congress can be corrupted and how the system can easily hide the corruption. Despite the movie being over 70 years old, the message is just as clear today as it was in the 1930s.

This week we also learn how technology today has made it easier to get in touch with our elected officials and keep tabs on how they are voting on the bills. The websites for the House of Representatives and the Senate make it easy to look up your representatives and sites, like THOMAS, make it easy to follow their actions. And iPhone apps, such as Congress Bills, allow you to track members of Congress right in your handheld device!

Thursday this week we will also be testing on the current unit, Unit 4A: Political Parties (chapter 9) and Congress (chapter 6). And students should be preparing for the end of the quarter (which is little more than a week away) by checking SPAN to make sure they have all their tests and quizzes and homework turned in! We don't want to have any unnecessary zeros being averaged into the quarter grade.

Week of 27 September 2010

Looks like a short week ahead! Friday is a teacher workday, so enjoy the longer weekend. But before that we still have school to attend to. This week interim reports will be distributed on Monday. Monday we will also have our Unit 2B Test on The Constitution (chapter 3.3, 3.4, and all of chapter 4). We will be heading to the computer lab Monday after the test for the students to look at some Supreme Court cases regarding the First Amendment. Tuesday we will be watching a great movie, The Ghosts of Mississippi. This movie is about the trials of slain civil rights leader Medgar Evers. It has an all star cast but more importantly demonstrates MANY goals and objectives for Civics & Economics including

• 1.07 Evaluate the extent to which the Bill of Rights extended the Constitution
• 2.06 Analyze court cases that demonstrate how the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights protect the rights of individual
• 5.02 Identify the jurisdiction of state and federal court
• 5.03 Describe the adversarial nature of the judicial process
• 6.02 Cite examples of common, criminal, civil, constitutional, administrative, and statutory law
• 6.08 Evaluate methods used by society to address criminal and anti-social behaviors
• 10.02 Develop, defend, and evaluate positions on issues regarding diversity in American life
• 10.05 Describe examples of recurring public problems and issues
  
  

On Thursday we will also be having a vocabulary quiz for Unit 3. In some cases, vocabulary quizzes have not been going well. Please make sure your students are studying a little every night. There is a lot of information, if they are neglecting their studies, they are also neglecting their grade.

Thursday this week is Picture Day. Photos for the Yearbook will be taken throughout the day. Parents should have already received literature for purchasing pictures through their student's second period teacher. Even the students who are not ordering pictures will be taking picture that day as well. These pictures will not only be in the yearbook but also be the student's identification picture for their Leesville ID. Leesville ID are required for entry to some school events, such as dances. So be sure to dress for pictures on Thursday!

Week of 20 September 2010

I hope everyone enjoyed their weekend. We kick things off this week with a test on Monday! (Unit 2A - Road to the Constitution - chapter 3.1, 3.2, 12.1, 12.2). This test includes all of the information beginning with the Declaration of Independence through the Constitutional Convention. Unit 2B will be about the Constitution itself - the parts of it, the principles, the goals, location of important elements and rights, as well as the Bill of Rights and the Amendments. The test for this unit will likely be early next week.

Grades are posted - that is, of the things I have graded. I MUST remind students that their grade is a direct reflection of the effort they put into the course. If a student puts in little effort, does little work, does not pay much attention, it will be reflected in a lower grade. Consistently, those students who put in the effort to turn in their work on time, those who pay attention in class, those who pay attention to their work, those who do their own work and do not simply copy from other, earn higher grades. I am asking parents to keep up with their students - make sure that their student is keeping up, doing their work, reading the sections required of them, and studying regularly (not just the day before a test or quiz). Of the students, these are habits that can be taken to other classes as well as to everyday life with regard to daily responsibilities and in the workplace. Those of you doing well and putting in the effort, KUDOS to you. Those who are not, it never too late to start!

Week of 13 September 2010

This week we are looking into the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, and the debates that created the United States Constitution. The Declaration of Independence is a remarkable document, it contains the most important ideas on government that we are still attempting to reach. It has also been a model for many other declarations of rights, such as France's "Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen", the United Nations' "Universal Declaration of Rights" the "Declaration of the Rights of the Child." In my opinion, a clear understanding of the principles in the Declaration of Independence helps the student better understand civics and will better prepare them for the End of Course exam.

On the page for this Unit there are MANY links and videos. I highly suggest you take a look at them. They will be very helpful in understanding this document, its principles and historical context. Remember, what the founding fathers were doing was never heard of before - rebelling against Great Britain and setting out to establish a government based on the will of the people, not the will of the king and divine right. A monumental experiment!

We will also be looking at North Carolina's first constitution of 1776, specifically its "Declaration of Rights," keeping in mind that the US Constitution, which had yet to be created, would borrow the ideas embodied in the 13 state constitutions that had already existed.

It is not likely we will be tested on this information this week, but one can be expected early next week.

Week of 6 September 2010

I hope you enjoyed your long weekend but we have a busy week ahead of us. We will be working independently and in groups to obtain information about the events leading up to the American Revolution. We will also wrap up Unit 1B and test later this week (period 3 on Thursday, period 4 on Friday). The calendar includes information about upcoming events such as tests and quizzes. Click on an event to get more details. Be careful to pay attention to the color for your class (either period 3 or 4).

PS, our first test will be returned on Tuesday.