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. 

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.

Government Pictures - Quiz Yourself

Do you have the power to do whatever you want in a limited government?  Do you have the power to do whatever you want in an unlimited government?

Students sometimes have a difficult time with pronouns - particularly the pronoun "you."  Students (and others when writing informally) use this word to indicate various pronouns...  For instance, you can mean me, or them.  So, students sometimes say - incorrectly - that in an unlimited government, you have unlimited power.

This is only true if the you in that statement refers to the government.

The citizens living in an unlimited government definitely do NOT have unlimited power.

In class, we also traded pictures.  We tried to figure out which government was being portrayed, quizzing each other.  Some were easy, some were not.  How well the students did depended both on how well the pictures were drawn - both artistically, and accurately - as well as whether or not the student looking at the picture new the answer.

Here are some examples, (Click the pictures to enlarge them):

The first quiz comes from Jana Fisher:

The second quiz comes from Eliut Ramirez:

If you want the extra credit, read and discuss the blog with an adult.  Then, take the two quizzes.  (You may use your chart.)  Discuss the pictures from one of the quizzes with an adult.  Explain to them why each picture is a good representation of that type of government.  Have the adult sign your paper.  Turn it in tomorrow.