Justice Scalia

With the passing of Justice Scalia, we've taken some time to go back and review governments - and particularly what makes the United States government a limited government.

Yesterday, we spent the entire time discussing the significance of Justice Scalia's passing; why it's a big deal.  We talked about how Supreme Court Justices are nominated and confirmed.  We talked about the split in the court, why democrats want President Obama to nominate, and why republicans want him to wait.

In this discussion, we framed it from the perspective of limited power.  We've got 3 branches of government.  Each of those branches limits the power of the other two.  If the chief executive (President Obama) had total power, he wouldn't be a president any more.  He would be a dictator.  If the members of the Supreme Court had total power, we would not be a democracy any more.  We would be an oligarchy.

Yesterday we watched 3 video clips.  Today we watched one more.  Here they are in their entirety.

In the CNN student news, we watched the portion dealing with the death of Justice Scalia.

Next, we watched President Obama's remarks on the passing of Scalia:

Finally, we watched a montage of some of the responses from others in leadership roles - and those hoping to attain those roles in the near future (we ended right before the former Speaker's response.)

As with everything in social studies, there's a lot to talk about here.  It was certainly worth taking a break in order to discuss it, and no doubt, we'll follow the story.  One of the main reasons we're talking about it in my class though, is to reinforce the idea of separation of power, and limited government.

Neither the President, nor the Supreme Court, nor Congress rule this country.  Law rules this country.  

Students may receive extra credit if they read and discuss this post with an adult.  If they've done that, they need to write 3 complete sentences about their discussion.  Have the adult they read the post with sign the paper.  Turn it in tomorrow in the extra credit tray. 

Human Rights: What Are They? How Are They Protected?

Yesterday and today we spent some time focusing on human rights.  Yesterday I asked them what human rights were.  I gave them a couple of examples and asked them whether they were human rights or not.

The most common definition I got was, "rights all humans have."

I thought it would be obvious why this definition doesn't work... but when I looked it up on google, it was a little surprising how unhelpful it was:

Hasn't google ever heard that you're not supposed to define a word with the word you're trying to define?

So, I asked students to define "rights."

The definition I gave was, "something everybody deserves to have or to be able to do."

Even this definition has it's problems, though.  ("Deserves" for one...)  Still, it's not a bad start.

We talked about the differences between rights and privileges.  A couple years ago, our school started allowing students to chew gum.  If students said, "at this school, we have the right to chew gum," would they be wrong?  Or is chewing gum still a privilege?

At any rate, we came up with several examples of human rights.  I showed them the first part of a prezi I made a few years ago:

It has a lot of information on human rights in it at the beginning.

Today, though, I asked the question: how does America protect the human rights of its citizens?


Students may earn extra credit by reading and discussing this post with an adult.  I would definitely ask/discuss what are some human rights?  Also, how does America protect the human rights of its citizens?

When you're done discussing, write the answer to those questions on a scrap of paper.  Have the adult you read and discussed it with sign the paper.  Make sure your name, date, and hour are on the paper.

Turn it in tomorrow.

Governments: Big Questions, Easy Questions, Video Quiz

I hope you all found some time to relax during our time off.


For bellwork today, I gave the students some questions that were pretty easy.  But, they were questions that made the students think - not just factual recall.

I asked them to answer in paragraph form.  Here are the questions:

"Which government do you think would be the most likely to have a command economy?  Why?"

"Which do you think is the government where the people are freest?  Why?"

After that, students took a video quiz.  I made it a couple years ago, and you can find it HERE.


Students may earn extra credit by reading and discussing the blog with an adult.  Perhaps you could ask the adult those two questions.  Maybe give them some hints.  Maybe let them check out the chart:

When you're done, write down a couple sentences about the conversation.  Did they answer the questions correctly or not?  What'd they say?  Have them sign the paper.  Make sure your name, date, and hour are on it and turn it in tomorrow.

Oh hey!  I gave students ATATU last week.  Here it is in case you've forgotten:

Government Picture Quizzes

We've been looking at the different types of government.  We filled out a chart with the types of governments we want the students to know.  Make sure you have a copy:

(That might actually be an older version, but the one we're using today will be very, very similar.)

Today students made quizzes for each other by drawing pictures of each government.

In order to get the extra credit, you need to take one of these quizzes.  Discuss the pictures with an adult.  Tell them why you think it's the type of government you think it is.  You may use the chart (above if you left yours at school) if you want.  I've posted 3 today.  You can choose which one you want to take.  You only have to take one, but I won't stop you from taking them all. Here they are:

Hunger Games Quotes

Thursday and Friday of last week, I gave the students 6 "big idea" terms, along with a definition/explanation:

• culture
• government
• economics
• standard of living
• ethnicity
• ethnocentrism

Today, in class the white boards around the room had a quote from The Hunger Games.  Each quote dealt with a term.  Before we started reading, the students had to figure out the term, and why it fit with the quote.  Here they are, page numbers included.

Quote 1:  "Besides, the Capitol accent is so affected, almost anything sounds funny in it."  p.8

Quote 2:  "'Mm, still warm,' O say.  He must have been up at the crack of dawn to trade for it.  'What did it cost you?'

         'Just a squirrel.'"  p.7

Quote 3:  "Since almost no one can afford doctors, apothecaries are our healers." p.8

Quote 4:  "He could be my brother.  Straight black hair, olive skin, we even have the same gray eyes." p.8

Quote 5:  "It's to the Capitol's advantage to have us divided among ourselves."  p.14

Bonus: Quote 6: (More than one term applies):  "No one in the Seam would turn up their nose at a good leg of wild dog, but the Peacekeepers who come to the Hob can afford to be a little choosier."  p.11

Students can get extra credit if they read and discuss the blog with an adult.  If they've done this, have the students ask the adult if they can match any of the terms with the quotes.  On a sheet of paper, either write how the adult answered, or tell me how they did.  Did they get them all?  Most of them?  Did they miss any?

When you're done, have the adult sign the paper.  Make sure your name, date, and hour are on the paper.  Then turn it in tomorrow in the extra credit tray.

Hunger Games: Big Ideas

As promised, there's a blog post today.

We've started The Hunger Games!  Woo hoo!  I'm really excited about it, and I'm doubly excited that this year I get to work in tandem with Mr. Ogle, who will be teaching the Language Arts side of things.

Why The Hunger Games?

The content of The Hunger Games ties in with multiple 7th grade social studies standards.  It's a well-written, captivating story about the dangers of unlimited government.  Many of the big concepts we study are expressed in narrative fashion, allowing me to reinforce what we're learning in class.

Today, we talked about 4 of the big ideas that will show up in the book.  I had students write down a definition/explanation (in their own words) for:

• Government
• Economy
• Culture
• Standard of Living

These are hardly the only social studies topics that will show up in the book.  After students wrote down what they thought those things were, I gave them my definitions and explanations.  By page 6, each of these concepts had been brought up in some fashion.  We'll delve into it more, as we read the book.  I can't wait.

For now, here are some pictures of some things we did during the days I missed posting.  (The information on how to get some extra credit points is found below the pictures.)

If you want the extra credit, define/explain at least one of the following terms on a sheet of paper: government, economics, culture, standard of living.  If you were class, try to use my definition/explanation.  If you were absent, give it a good guess.  You may get help from a parent.

When you're done, have the parent or adult you read and discussed the blog with sign the paper.  Make sure your name, date, and hour are on it.  Turn it in in the extra credit tray tomorrow.

Summer Government: What I Taught

My section of summer government dealt with primary sources: reading them and interpreting them.

This is the same the same thing I did last year, but with some tweaks.

Last year we FLEW.  I wanted to hit as many of "the greats" as possible: The Magna Carta, The Declaration of Independence, The Constitution, Federalist 10, Federalist 58, Bill of Rights, Gettysburg Address...

I also wanted to show that there was so much more out there: truly riveting reads - for instance, a letter from General Pickett to La Salle Corbell, where Pickett is coming to grips with the thousands of death's he is responsible for:

"Even now I can hear them cheering as I gave the order, “Forward”!  I can feel their faith and trust in me and their love for our cause.  I can feel the thrill of their joyous voices as they called out all along the line, “We’ll follow you, Marse George.  We’ll follow you – we’ll follow you.”  Oh, how faithfully they kept their word – following me on – on – to their deaths, and I, believing in the promised support, led them on – on – on – Oh, God!"

The class went well, and I was glad to be able to introduce the students to so much.

I gave a survey at the end, though and a respectable number said they wished they could have spent more time focusing on "the greats," as we moved so quickly over them, some students still weren't sure what was in them.

So THIS year, that's where we stayed.

We started by reading 1 Sam. 8 and moved to the Magna Carta.

In 1 Sam. 8, the Israelites are warned about what will happen when they get a king.  The king will take their children, their crops, their cattle, their donkeys...  It was truly a "hide your wife, hide your kids" moment.  ...Because the king was coming for everybody.

So, we had a king with unlimited power.  For our next reading, we moved to the Magna Carta - which limited the King's power.  Good news of the day?  The Magna Carta's 800th Birthday came the week after we read it.

Spoiler alert: We had a party.

800* Donuts.  Happy Birthday, Magna Carta!!!

Students Brought in Cake and Other Dishes

A Good Time Had By Almost All

And by party, I mean we had snacks before the day started.  Still: Success.

After the Magna Carta, we read The Declaration of Independence.

For those of you following along, here's the narrative structure:

1. The King will be (and was) bad.
2. Limit the power of the king.
3. Get rid of the king entirely.

We then went back and read Patrick Henry's famous, "Liberty or Death" speech (AKA "The War Inevitable.")  It's true this is a little out of order now, but what can you do?  It is a fine piece of speechifying.  Perhaps the finest.  (I love that in the opening paragraph, Henry doesn't vilify those who disagree with him.)

We skipped the Articles of Confederation, and moved on to the Constitution.  And here, we buckled down.  I should add that this year, I tried out Google Classrooms.  For this assignment, students commented on/ summed up every clause of every section of each of the articles of the Constitution.  All online.  They turned in work that looked something like this:

Constitution Commentary: Student #1**

I read through all of them.  They averaged about 9 pages.  There were 120? 130? of them.  #GoMe.

When they were finished, I passed them back with my comments, and recommendations.  It looked something like this:

Constitution Commentary: Student #2***

Before students received credit, they went through and addressed all the comments I made.  ...And I made comments, believe you me.

We spent a goodly amount of time on the Constitution.  ...I mean... It is the basis of our government.

After that, we moved on to The Gettysburg Address and read some of the writings of William Lloyd Garrison.  There was a controversy over the Confederate Flag, (please, no history lessons about the Battle Flag, etc...  We all know the flag I'm talking about, right?) so that took up a little time as well, as we looked at the reasons Mississippi gave for secession, and the reasons South Carolina gave for secession.

And we did a math problem: Subtract four score and seven from 1863.

My section didn't cover the judicial branch*+, but as much of the argument in Roe v. Wade hinges on when life starts, the Civil War/ Declarations of Secession/ Gettysburg Address hinges on when our nation was conceived or born - when life started.

(Take this line for instance: "...a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal..."  Lincoln's Gettysburg Address goes back Four Score and Seven Years... to the Declaration of Independence - not just to the Constitution.

Yet, we celebrate our first president as George Washington - who became president in 1789 - and not John Hanson, who was president in 1781.  ...But we recognize the birth of the nation as July 4th, 1776, even though the inappropriately named "War of 1812" was really The Revolutionary War Part II.)

At any rate, the next to the last full day, we had a guest speaker - State Representative Timothy Wesco - come in and address the class.  He spoke about the legislative process, the difference between Indiana's Constitution and the U.S. Constitution, as well as other topics the students grilled him on.  It went really well, and was very informative.

The last full day we debriefed about the visit, and studied for the final.

...And that was it.

This was as much for me as it was for you.  I hope you found it helpful.

*If there were only 260 donuts, the world will never know, right?  

**I hope you read that as "Student Hashtag 1."

***Similarly, I hope you read that as Student Hashtag 2.
*+It was covered though, don't you worry.  Every day students had 4 one hour sections.  My section lasted an hour.  Another teacher focused on the Judicial Branch.

ATAT

Thanks for all the birthday wishes.  It's going to be a great weekend.

We've started looking at the Arab Spring the past couple days.  Hopefully your son or daughter can give you a little insight into what happened.  Go ahead and ask them.  Right now.  Just stop reading for a moment and see if they look confused or if they know their stuff.  (And students, come on... a great birthday present would be respecting your parents and not rolling your eyes at them when they start questioning you on the Arab Spring...)

We'll finish it up Tuesday and Wednesday, and then we'll move into studying religions.

I'm not going to post too much about the Arab Spring today though.  I'll save that for next week.  Today I want to post about Popeye.

Now, I don't have any tattoos - and I'm neither condoning them, nor disparaging them.  But Popeye?  That man has a couple.  And he's tough.  I always loved the episodes when he'd eat some spinach and his tattoos would come alive with power:



...Ok... so technically that's just his bicep.  But that's the best I could find on youtube with the time crunch I'm under.  If you find a better one, send it to me.  I'll embed it in here.

I've taught my kids what "unlimited governments" are.  They're governments with unlimited power: dictatorships, oligarchies, theocracies, and absolute monarchies.  But they don't know the many synonyms for unlimited governments: ATAT.

A: Autocracy
T: Totalitarian
A: Authoritarian
T: Tyranny

In those types of governments, all the power lies with the government itself.

There's a good chance there will be a short quiz over ATAT on Tuesday.  Until then, have a great weekend.  If you are looking for some extra credit, write the 4 synonyms for unlimited government on a scrap of paper 4 times, then have the adult you read the blog with sign the paper.  Turn it in on Tuesday.

Acting Out and Acting Up

Yesterday I graded and entered the student government pictorial-quiz - which is why there wasn't a blog post.  I wanted to scan some in so you could see what they looked like, but I didn't have a chance.  You can look at last year's post: check it out.   You don't have to actually read it, just look at the quiz.

Today we started practicing our Act-it-Outs.  Students were split up into groups and they'll be performing a skit on one of the seven types of governments we've studied.  The performances are tomorrow.  I'll tell you what, it's chaotic when they're in here practicing.  Seven loud groups - each doing their own thing.  ...I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow - if I still have any sanity left.

If you want the extra credit for reading and discussing this post, I'm actually sending you over to the one I linked to from last year.  Here, I'll link to it again - see how nice I am?

Take one of the two quizzes on a piece of paper.  Tell me whose quiz you took, and have the adult you read the blog with sign it.  If you do that, don't forget to turn it in.

Have a great evening, and see you tomorrow.

Weather: At least this mess isn't political - which means...?

I'm pretty sure you're all well aware of the weather and the cancellations and delays, so I won't spend two paragraphs detailing all that.  Let's get right to the good stuff.

Governments.

Today, I gave a little government recap.  We spent so much time going over the various types of governments, I thought it'd be good to discuss what a government actually is.

So, I asked my students:  "What is the purpose of government?  What does it do?  Do we (human beings/ Americans) need a government?  Is it necessary?  Why or why not?  Explain your answer in roughly 5-10 sentences."

I also asked them about limited and unlimited governments, as well as the various types of governments we discussed at the end of last year.  But right now, I just want to focus on that first series of questions.

I came in early this morning, and thinking clarity is always a good idea, I decided to go old school and look up "government" in the dictionary.  (I already had my definition, but sometimes it's good to consult an outside source, you know?  In case I missed something.)

"Government:  n.  1.The administration of public policy in a political unit.  2.The office, function, or authority whereby political power is exercised.  3.  A prevailing political system or policy.  4.  A governing body."

So, already I'm a little annoyed that "A governing body" is one of the definitions for "government."  Apparently, nobody ever told The American Heritage Dictionary the rules for defining words.  And, even though I know what "political" means, I thought - well - why not just look that up for the sake of clarity as well.

"Political: adj.  1. Of or pertaining to government or politics.  2. Characteristic of political parties or politicians."

...Uggggg....

"Politics:  n. (takes sing. v.).  1.  The art or science of political government.  2.  The policies or affairs of a government.  3. a.  The conducting of or engaging in political affairs, often professionally.  b. The profession of a person so involved.  4. (takes pl. v.).  Political opinions or principles.

Seriously?  This is why people don't buy dictionaries any more.  I'd have been in big trouble if I didn't already know what political, politics, and government meant.  What a waste of time.

So, I went with my gut and had the students answer the question on their own, and then I gave them the purpose of government - according to me.

THE PURPOSE OF GOVERNMENT IS TO PROTECT IT'S CITIZENS.  

Ok... you caught me.  That's not my own.  I'm taking it from Thomas Jefferson, who was a pretty bright guy.  He put it in the Declaration of Independence - you know, the part between "We hold these truths to be self-evident" and "to effect their Safety and Happiness."

I could spend a lot of time typing up whether or not that's really the case - what about governments that only look out for themselves?  (I'd argue that they're "bad" governments...)  But I'm not going to deal with that.  Instead, I'll just ask you: how does our government protect and provide for its citizens?  Or at least, (if you're a Debby Downer) how does it try?

If you want the extra credit today, you should have read and discussed the blog with an adult.  If you did that, write down an answer or two from the paragraph directly above this one.  (You know, how does our government protect and provide...?)  You should be able to think up several examples, but if you're having a hard time with it just tell me that you're having a hard time with it...  But don't use that as a cop-out.  I mean, come on... you've come this far.

Once you wrote that down, have the adult you read the blog with sign the paper, and put it in the extra-credit tray tomorrow.

Oh yeah... you had homework.  Don't forget you can get it HERE. You may use your chart.

Government Video Pop Quiz

I gave a pop quiz today.  It was pretty fetch.  I gave them a little time to complete their government pictures and then study for it.  Here's how it went - I showed them a short video clip, and they had to write down the name of the type of government I was showing.  I'll post them up here so you can see what I showed.  For the record, there was some feigned controversy over whether I was showing R-Rated movies in class.  I wasn't.  I did show previews for The Kings Speech as well as The Last King of Scotland, but the previews were NOT rated R.  (I haven't even seen The Last King of Scotland... but it looks good.)

When I post them here, I'll tell you the type of government.  Consider it my gift to you:

The King's Speech - Constitutional Monarchy:





Mean Girls - Oligarchy:







Napoleon Dynamite - Representative Democracy (Republic):









Alice in Wonderland - Absolute Monarchy:








Gilmore Girls - Direct Democracy:







The Last King of Scotland - Dictatorship:








The Prince of Egypt - Theocracy:






If you want some extra credit - yes, it will still go on the 2nd 9 weeks if I get it right after break...  Then, discuss these clips with an adult.  Tell them (and write down) why each one shows the type of government it does.  If you need a to use your government chart to help you, you may.  If you don't have one, don't forget you can find it on the blog.  Once you write them down, have your parent sign it.  Turn it in when you get back.

Have a great break.  Get some rest.  Read some books.  See you soon... but not too soon.

Authority/Power/Control

Bellwork question of the day:  "Should students have the same amount of authority as teachers?  Why or why not?  What would happen if students and teachers had the same amount of authority?  Answer in complete sentences."

So, we introduced the concept of government.  While they were working on the bellwork, I played a video from youtube:




The class was pretty well split, slightly favoring the teachers maintaining their authority.  (It's nice to know my job is safe.)  (...For now...)

The students don't know it yet, but I've introduced the political concept of rule of law, and limited and unlimited government.  We talked about the people who have the most power in our government - and whether or not that meant they got to do whatever they want...

But it was just an introduction.

We spent the rest of the time reviewing the ancient civilizations and filling in our Venn Diagrams.  (If you need one, click on the link - if you want to know what goes in them, check out yesterday's post.)

I also passed out the REVIEW GUIDE.  It'd probably be a good idea to study.  The test is a week away.

If you want extra credit for reading and discussing the blog with an adult, you've got to read and discuss it with them.  Tell them what you think about the student/teacher authority question.  Maybe study for the test for a couple minutes.

When you're done, find a scrap of paper and write the following quote:  "I!!!  HAVE!!!  THE POWER!!!"  Then, have the adult you read the blog with sign the paper.  Turn it in tomorrow.


Did we also watch this clip?  ...Yes... Yes we did.