• Teaching clearly defined school-wide expectations • Teaching responsible decision-making • Teaching ownership of choice *Teaching of Class Expectations to provide all of my students with a safe and effective school environment where they can experience academic and social-behavioral success * Define government and the basic powers every government holds. * Describe the four defining characteristics of a state. * Identify four theories that attempt to explain the origin of the state. * Understand the purpose of government in the United States and other countries.
Lesson Objectives for the week of
*Classify governments according to three sets of characteristics. *Define systems of government based on who can participate. * Identify different ways that power can be distributed, geographically, within a state. * Describe a government by the distribution of power between the executive and legislative branch. *Understand the foundations of democracy. *Analyze the connections between democracy and the free enterprise system.
Lesson Objectives for the week of * Identify the three concepts of government that influenced the American colonies. * Explain the influence of three landmark English documents. * Describe the three types of colonies that the English established in the American colonies. * Explain how Britain’s colonial policies contributed to the growth of self-government in the colonies. * Identify the major steps that led to growing feelings of colonial unity. * Compare the First and the Second Continental Congresses. * Analyze the ideas in the Declaration of Independence. * Summarize the common features of the first State constitutions. * Describe the structure of the government set up under the Articles of Confederation. * Explain why the weaknesses of the Articles led to a critical period for the country in the 1780s. * Describe how a growing need for a stronger national government led to plans for a Constitutional Convention.
Lesson Objectives for the week of * Identify the Framers of the Constitution and discuss how they organized the Philadelphia Convention. * Compare and contrast the Virginia Plan and the New Jersey Plan. * Summarize the convention’s major compromises and the effects of those decisions. * Describe the delegates’ reactions to the Constitution. * Identify the opposing sides in the fight for ratification and describe the major arguments for and against the proposed Constitution. * Describe the inauguration of the new government of the United States of America. * Understand the basic outline of the Constitution. * Understand the six basic principles of the Constitution: popular sovereignty, limited government, separation of powers, checks and balances, judicial review, and federalism.* Identify the four different ways by which the Constitution may be formally changed. * Explain how the formal amendment process illustrates the principles of federalism and popular sovereignty. * Understand that several amendments have been proposed, but not ratified. * Outline the 27 amendments that have been added to the Constitution.
Lesson Objectives for the week of * Identify how basic legislation has added to our understanding of the Constitution over time. * Describe the ways in which the executive and judicial branches have interpreted the Constitution. * Analyze the role of party practices and custom in interpreting the Constitution. * Define federalism and explain why the Framers chose this system. * Identify powers delegated to and denied to the National Government, and powers reserved for and denied to the States. * Explain the difference between exclusive and concurrent powers. * Examine the Constitution as “the supreme Law of the Land.”
Lesson Objectives for the week of * Summarize the obligations that the Constitution places on the National Government with regard to the States. * Explain the process for admitting new States to the Union. * Examine the many and growing areas of cooperative federalism. * Explain why States make interstate compacts. * Understand the purpose of the Full Faith and Credit Clause. * Describe the Extradition Clause and explain its purpose. * Explain the purpose of the Privileges and Immunities Clause.
Lesson Objectives for the week of * Define a political party. * Describe the major functions of political parties. * Identify the reasons why the United States has a two-party system. * Understand multiparty and one-party systems and how they affect the functioning of a political system. * Understand the origins of political parties in the United States. * Identify and describe the three major periods of single-party domination and describe the current era of divided government. * Identify the types of minor parties that have been active in American politics. * Understand why minor parties are important despite the fact that none has ever won the presidency
Lesson Objectives for the week of * Understand why the major parties have a decentralized structure. * Describe the national party machinery and party organization at the State and local levels. * Summarize the history of voting rights in the United States. * Identify and explain constitutional restrictions on the States’ power to set voting qualifications. * Identify the universal qualifications for voting in the United States. * Explain the other requirements that States use or have used as voting qualifications. * Describe the tactics often used to deny African Americans the right to vote despite the command of the 15th Amendment. * Understand the significance of the civil rights laws enacted in 1957, 1960, and 1964. * Analyze the provisions and effects of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. * Examine the problem of nonvoting in this country. * Identify those people who typically do not vote. * Examine the behavior of those who vote and those who do not. * Understand the sociological and psychological factors that affect voting and voter behavior
Lesson Objectives for the week of * Explain why the nominating process is a critical first step in the election process. * Describe self-announcement, the caucus, and the convention as nominating methods. * Discuss the direct primary as the principal nominating method used in the United States today. * Understand why some candidates use the petition as a nominating device.* Analyze how the administration of elections in the United States helps make democracy work.
Lesson Objectives for the week of * Analyze how the administration of elections in the United States helps make democracy work. * Define the role of local precincts and polling places in the election process. * Describe the various ways in which voters can cast their ballots. * Outline the role that voting devices play in the election process. * Explain the issues raised by campaign spending. * Describe the various sources of funding for campaign spending. * Examine federal laws that regulate campaign finance. * Outline the role of the Federal Election Commission in enforcing campaign finance laws. * Distinguish hard money from soft money. * Examine the term public opinion and understand why it is so difficult to define.
Lesson Objectives for the week of *Analyze how family and education help shape public opinion. *Describe four other factors that shape public opinion. *Describe the challenges involved in measuring public opinion. *Explain why scientific opinion polls are the best way to measure public opinion. *Identify the five steps in the polling process. *Understand the problems in evaluating polls. *Recognize the limits on the impact of public opinion in a democracy. *Examine the role of the mass media in providing the public with political information. *Explain how the mass media influence politics. *Understand the factors that limit the influence of the media.
Lesson Objectives for the week of *Explain why the Constitution provides for a bicameral Congress. *Explain the difference between a term and a session of Congress. *Describe a situation in which the President may convene or end a session of Congress. *Explain how House seats are distributed and describe the length of a term in the House. *Explain how House seats reapportioned among the States after each census. *Describe a typical congressional election and congressional district. *Analyze the formal and informal qualifications for election to the House.
Lesson Objectives for the week of * Compare the size of the Senate to the size of the House of Representatives. * Describe how senators are elected. * Explain how and why a senator’s term differs from a representative’s term. * Describe the qualifications for election to the Senate. * Identify the personal and political backgrounds of members of Congress. * Describe the duties performed by those who serve in Congress. * Describe the compensation and privileges of members of Congress. * Identify the constitutional powers of Congress. * Describe the factors members of Congress weigh when voting on bills. * Demonstrate how members of Congress weigh factors by voting on hypothetical bills. * Evaluate information in order to apply each factor to real-life issues in the hypothetical bills. * Weigh the importance of the factors by deciding whether to vote “yea” or “nay” on each bill.
Lesson Objectives for the week of *Describe the three types of powers delegated to Congress. *Analyze the importance of the commerce power. *Summarize key points relating to the taxing power. *Explain how the bankruptcy and borrowing powers work. *Explain why the Framers gave Congress the power to issue currency. *Identify the key sources of the foreign relations powers of Congress. *Describe the power-sharing arrangement between Congress and the President on the issues of war and national defense. *List other key domestic powers exercised by Congress. *Explain how the Necessary and Proper Clause gives Congress flexibility in lawmaking. *Compare the strict construction and liberal construction positions on the scope of congressional power. *Describe the ways in which the implied powers have been applied.
Lesson Objectives for the week of *Describe the role of Congress in amending the Constitution and its electoral duties. *Describe the power of Congress to impeach, and summarize presidential impeachment cases. *Identify the executive powers of Congress. *Describe the investigatory powers of Congress. *Describe how and when Congress convenes. *Compare the roles of the presiding officers in the Senate and the House. *Identify the duties of the party officers in each house. *Describe how committee chairmen are chosen and explain their role in the legislative process. *Explain how standing committees function. *Describe the responsibilities and duties of the House Rules Committee. *Describe the role of select committees. *Compare the functions of joint and conference committees.
Lesson Objectives for the week of * Identify the first steps in the introduction of a bill to the House. * Describe what happens to a bill once it is referred to a committee. * Explain how House leaders schedule debate on a bill. * Explain what happens to a bill on the House floor, and identify the final step in the passage of a bill in the House. * Describe how a bill is introduced in the Senate. * Compare the Senate’s rules for debate with those in the House. * Describe the role of conference committees in the legislative process. * Evaluate the actions the President can take after both houses have passed a bill.
Lesson Objectives for the week of * Explain How the Constitution provides for presidential succession. * Describe the role of the Vice President. * Understand how the rise of political parties changed the process of choosing a President as set out in the Constitution. * Evaluate the importance of presidential primaries. * Examine the characteristics that determine who is nominated as a presidential candidate. * Explain how the electoral college provides for the election of the President. * Outline the advantages and disadvantages of proposed reforms of the electoral college. * List several reasons for the growth of presidential power. * Explain how the Presidents' own views have affected the power of the office. * Identify the sources of the President's power to execute federal law. * Explain how the appointment power works and describe the limits on the removal power. * Examine the power of executive privilege.
Lesson Objectives for the week of *Explain how treaties are made and approved. *Explain why and how executive agreements are made. *Summarize how the power of recognition is used. *Describe the President’s powers as commander in chief. *Explain the President’s legislative powers and how they are an important part of the system of checks and balances. *Describe the President’s major judicial powers.
1st Semester
Lesson Objectives for the week of September 3rd American Government: *Students will remember, understand, analyze, evaluate, and create. *Students will understand the origins, purposes and types of governmental systems. * Students will work as effective group members.
World History: *Students will remember, understand, analyze, evaluate, and create. *Students will explain ideals, practices, and historical developments of major belief systems. * Students will work as effective group members.
Lesson Objectives for the week of September 9th American Government: *Students will define government and the basic powers every government holds. *Students will describe the four defining characteristics of a state. *Students will identify four theories that attempt to explain the origin of the state. *Students will understand the purpose of government in the United States and other countries.
World History: *Students will employ chronological concepts in analyzing historical phenomena. *Students will compare the world we live in today with past
eras such as the lower Paleolithic, upper Paleolithic, Neolithic, agrarian, and
industrial ages. *Students will gather, examine, and analyze historical data.
Lesson Objectives for the week of September 16th American Government: * Students will understand the foundations of democracy. * Students will Analyze the connections between democracy and the free enterprise system. * Students will be able to identify the three concepts of government that influenced the American colonies. * Students will be able to explain the influence of three landmark English documents. * Students will be able to describe the three types of colonies that the English established in the American colonies.
World History: * Students will be able to understand how geography influenced the development of civilization in the Fertile Cresent. * Students will be able to outline the main features of Sumerian civilization. * Students will be able to explain how the advances in learning made by the Sumerians left a lasting legacy for later peoples to build on. * Students will be able to describe how the Persians established a huge empire. * Students will be able to understand how conquests brough new empires and ideas into the Middle East.
Lesson Objectives for the week of September 23rd American Government: *Students will summarize the conventions major compromises and the effects of those decisions. *Students will describe the delegates' reactions to the Constitution. *Students will identify the opposing sides in the fight for ratification and describe the major arguments for and against the proposed Constitution. *Students will describe the inauguration of the new government of the United States of America.
World History: :*Students will be able to compare and contrast the major religions of India (Hinduism and Buddhism) *Students will be able to locate and label geographic features of India and China (Ganges River, Indus River, Himalayas, Gobi Desert, Chang Jiang River, Huang He River) *Students will be able to complete a timeline of Buddha's life and describe his basic teachings and how Buddhism began *Students will be able to take inferences and draw conclusions using the primary source, Bhagavad Gita
Lesson Objectives for the week of September 30th American Government: *Students will understand the basic outline of the Constitution. *Students will understand the six basic principles of the Constitution: popular sovereignty, limited government, separation of powers, checks and balances, judicial review, and federalism. *Student will be able to explain how the formal amendment process illustrates the principles of federalism and popular sovereignty. *Students will understand that several amendments have been proposed, but not ratified.
World History: *Students will be able to identify technological advances of China and explain their importance to Ancient Chinese culture *Students will be able to compare and contrast the three Chinese philosophies-Confucianism, Daoism and Legalism *Students will be able to identify artifacts that came to China via the Silk Road *Students will be able to explain the importance of trading along the Silk Road
Lesson Objectives for the week of October 7th American Government: *Students will be able to define federalism and explain why the Framers chose this system. *Students will be able to Identify powers delegated to and denied to the National Government, and powers reserved for and denied to the States. *Students will be able to explain the difference between exclusive and concurrent powers. *Students will be able to examine the Constitution as “the supreme Law of the Land.”
World History: *Students will be able to define the three types of
government that developed in the Greek city-states. *Students will be able to explain how Pericles
instituted a direct democracy in Athens. *Students will be able to describe the works of Homer
and their influence on Greek culture.
Lesson Objectives for the week of October 14th American Government: *Students will be able to explain why States make interstate compacts. *Students will understand the purpose of the Full Faith and Credit Clause. *Students will be able to describe the Extradition Clause and explain its purpose. *Students will be able explain the purpose of the Privileges and Immunities Clause.
World History: *Students will be able to understand how balance and
order governed Greek art and architecture. *Students will be able to explain how Alexander the
Great built an extensive empire. *Students will be able to Identify how and why individuals contributed to Hellenistic civilization.
Lesson Objectives for the week of October 21st American Government:*Students will be able to explain and understand multiparty and one-party systems and how they affect the functioning of a political system. *Students will be able to identify the reasons why the United States has a two-party system.