Thursday, 29 October

Class began with a discussion of the article about opposition to Federal gun control laws in Coos County assigned last class.

Next the class reviewed the goals of the unit.

Mr. Zartler presented the following online lecture to help students understand the concepts of
1) Separation of Powers and 2) Checks & Balances (or "Checks that Balance") Separation of Powers and Checks and Balances: Crash Course Government and Politics #3.

During this lecture students were asked to attend to the questions: How are "Separation of Powers" and "Checks & Balances" different?  What common goal did the framers have of structuring the government with "Separation of Powers" and "Checks & Balances"?

Students then had time to study the assigned sections of the text book, and conference with Mr. Zartler about possible projects for the unit.

Tuesday, 27 October

In addition to the lecture (graphics in the previous post) students received the following information.

Students should bring their Government text to class on Thursday.

Federalism Unit: Project and Test Overview

Name __________________________ Date ____________________ Per. _______

You are to create a project that demonstrates that you know and understand how the concept of Federalism affects the structure and function of our government, and impacts you and others as citizens. Much of this information is available in a basic form in your text on pages 88-95.

Your project can be visual; graphic, or in the form of a well structured essay (with or without graphics).

This assignment is due on Tuesday, the 24^th of November before you leave for Thanksgiving break. This is a major assignment worth 100 summative points.

There will be a test on the 20^th of November that covers the same material.

Your project should include an explanation and examples of:

A) Federalism

B) Examples of the various levels of government (students wishing to exceed will include information about relevant elected officials at each level)

C) Delegated Powers; Concurrent Powers; and Reserved Powers (students wishing to exceed will include Expressed Powers; Implied Powers; Inherent Powers)

D) The Supremacy Clause

E) The Role of the Supreme Court in maintaining Federalism and the Constitution

Notes:

Tuesday, 27 November

Federalism Overview and Case Study

Different Nations are organized in different fashions:

The United States has a Federal organization; what does this mean?

The Constitution is very clear about the distribution of power(s) between levels of government.

What kinds of issues are Delegated to the National government? What kinds are shared? What kinds of powers are reserved for the states? (How would you group the kinds of powers? What patterns do you see?)

Here is another version of division and sharing of authority:

The Constitution recognized that sometimes there might be conficts. Article 6 Clause 2 is called the Supremacy Clause. It reads:

This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof; and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, anything in the constitution or laws of any state to the contrary notwithstanding.


What vocabulary do you need help with? What do you think this means in practice?

Read the following news story from Coos County, Oregon. Then discuss any Constitutional issues you see with a group of one or two others.

Can an Oregon county 'void' gun laws? Voters asked to give it a shot




What the Framers said:

In Federalist No. 44, James Madison similarly defends the Supremacy Clause as vital to the functioning of the nation. He noted that state legislatures were invested with all powers not specifically defined in the constitution, but also said that having the federal government subservient to various state constitutions would be an inversion of the principles of government, concluding that if supremacy were not established "it would have seen the authority of the whole society everywhere subordinate to the authority of the parts; it would have seen a monster, in which the head was under the direction of the members".

Introduction to Federalism: Tuesday, October 20th

Essays on the Great Compromise were due today at the start of class. Students completed a self evaluation.

Students who need additional resources to complete this paper should conference with Mr. Zartler. Also the first 8 minutes of this video are a useful review: The Constitution, the Articles, and Federalism: Crash Course US History #8.


The next unit is titled "Federalism." In this unit we will study the structure of the United States Federal Government and it's relationship to the states (this relationship is called Federalism which admittedly is a bit confusing).  This unit will be assessed by a summative project (The Federalism Project) and a summative test. The test will be Friday, November 20th. The project will be due the next class: Tuesday November 24th, the last class day before Thanksgiving break.

The topics of the test and project are:

A) Federalism

B) Examples of the various levels of government (students wishing to exceed will include information about relevant elected officials at each level)

C) Delegated Powers; Concurrent Powers; and Reserved Powers (students wishing to exceed will include Expressed Powers; Implied Powers; Inherent Powers)

D) The Supremacy Clause

E) The Role of the Supreme Court in maintaining Federalism and the Constitution

Students were asked to use Cornell notes for the following lectures and instructional videos.

Mr. Zartler introduce the 7 Articles of the Constitution.

Next the class began focusing on the concept of Federalism with this "Crash Course: Government and Politics #4."

The class then viewed two different videos: the last 5 minutes of The Constitution, the Articles, and Federalism: Crash Course US History #8 and Article VI for Dummies by Keith Hughs.

Friday, 16 October

The class began by looking at the following data that helps illustrate the politics behind the Virginia and New Jersey Plans.

The class worked on identifying key words in the rubric and then checked to see if those words were in the thesis and topic sentences of the rough drafts.

Next the class broke into peer groups to get feed back on rough drafts. Peers provided feedback based on the the rubric to students who had their rough drafts.

Next the class read Benjamin Franklins version of the essay (well, it could be his introduction and conclusion)

Students had time to conference with Mr. Zartler and to revise their drafts.

The papers are due on Tuesday, 20 October.

Students who missed the Vocabulary test were given an alternative assignment.

Monday, 12 October

Ms. Kokes gave students information about Wednesday's Career Exploration Activities.

Mr. Zartler reviewed drill procedures.

Then the class considered the question: "Columbus Day: Celebrating a great achievement or a terrible terrorist?"

The class read and discussed the Time to Abolish Columbus Day by Portland's amazing Bill Bigelow.

Next the class took the first Vocabulary Test.

Then Mr. Zartler asked students to consider to consider the question: Does the Electoral College represent the interests of The UNITED States or of The United STATES?

Students viewed, took notes, and discussed two videos on the topic.

School House Rock: Electoral College

Kahn Academy Lecture: Electoral College

Students were reminded that a rough draft of the paper on the Constitution is due Friday. 

Class Resources for October 7th

Please note the updated due dates for your essay:

Rough Draft due Friday, October 16th (I have tutorial on the 15th).

Final Draft is due Tuesday, October 20th (last school day before conferences).

Today we will use the first section of this video about "The Great Compromise" (first 23:00 minutes) to enrich our notes on our Constitution.

The following two illustrations help illustrate how the Great Compromise effects politics today via the Electoral College.

In 2000 the Republican Candidate for President was George W. Bush and the Democratic candidate was Vice President Al Gore. Bush became President even though more people voted for Vice President Gore.