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.

Week of 30 August 2010

We have one short week behind us; next is five full days! I hope everyone has rested up. This week I will be giving instructions on how to set up your notebook so I hope you have bought your school supplies! We will be wrapping up Unit 1A and can expect a test on Wednesday, September 1. Next we will be moving ahead to Unit 1B which will cover the history of government and the colonial experience through the Revolutionary War. Heads Up! Unit 1B will include a bit of history!

If you have been paying attention to the website you have noticed that I successfully embedded the Twitter feeds right onto this page. Now you can keep up with announcements and the homework right from this main Civics & Economics page! Although I have not yet gotten the alignment of page items right, the content is here and that is what is most important.

I look forward to another great week!

End of Summer

Here it is, for the students it is the last week, for the teachers we are back to work and gearing up for an exciting semester! I hope you have taken the opportunity to enjoy your time away from school, but it is time to start getting back in the mind set of regular classes.

Hopefully you are not looking at this as a time of unhappiness or disappointment, but instead as a new opportunity, a new opportunity, a new chance to grow. I am looking forward to a brand new school year - I have been teaching at Leesville Road High School for 14 years and am looking forward to year 15. For me, each year is a chance to improve on what I have done in the past and discover new techniques to grow as a teacher.

This week I will be returning to school, planning lessons, arranging the classroom and preparing lessons to make this semester one of the most memorable and productive of your educational career. Wednesday evening is Open House for the first semester - an opportunity for parents and students to get an overview of what to expect from their courses this term and to briefly meet their teachers.

I am looking forward to getting started and ready for a great semester and school year. Enjoy the rest of your summer and be sure to check back for updates before the school year begins!