Government, Day 1 - Class Recap

On the roof of the Bundestag building in Berlin, Germany. This is where the government of Germany meets. Photo taken in 2013.

Hi everyone,

Welcome to your long weekend! I really enjoyed the discussion today in class. I'm sure it was a nice change from all of the writing students have had to do in the last few days for the class! Here's what happened in class:

Learning Targets:
Knowledge LT 18: I can explain how and why world societies organize themselves and how power is established and maintained.
Communication LT 2:  I can use language and  style that is appropriate to the content area.

Soundtrack: "The War Was in Color" by Carbon Leaf.The reason I chose this song for today is because it is all about a veteran describing war to his grandson. We have Tuesday off of school because of Veteran's Day and it is important that we honor the service of those in our armed forces. Lyrics (which I read part of in class) here.

AGENDA 11/7/14:
News Brief – Enrique
Forced Choice
Debrief
Forms of Government

Homework: Read the blog. Catch up on any late/incomplete/missing work. Have a great long weekend! Next news brief: Jose

News Brief: Enrique had the news brief today and selected an article about this story: CNN.com - Ukraine accuses Russia of sending dozens of tanks into its territory. I tried to provide some context for what is going on in Ukraine, with the uprising in the east of the country, and how it resulted in the Malaysian Airlines plane being shot down earlier this year. I played the VICE "Beyond the Headlines" news clip for today, as well.

I also showed the class this story from yesterday: OregonLive.com - ODOT signs $7 million deal for I-5 safety barrier where crossover crash killed Steve Fritz, Cary Fairchild. This is an example of our state government at work. Nobody should have to lose someone like my family lost my dad - we hope that the new barriers will be a big help in preventing crossover accidents in the future.

Jose was selected to do the next news brief.

Forced Choice: One of my favorite activities of the year. I had the class answer the following questions and choose YES or NO to each of them. Then, we split up the class so that two sides were facing each other. With each question, students moved to the side they felt best represented their opinion on the matter. These are difficult ethical questions and I am glad that we have the type of classroom culture that students feel able to talk about them! The questions were:

1. Giving up some of our rights (like our phones being listened to without a warrant) is necessary for our own protection.
2. The Second Amendment means that everyone in the US has the right to have any weapons that they want.
3. Same-sex marriage should be legal everywhere.
4. Marijuana should be legalized everywhere for recreational use.
5. Organized prayer in public schools should be allowed.
6. The government of a country should be able to make decisions most of the people do not support.
7. Should the motto “In God We Trust” be removed from our currency?
8. There is only one true, correct, religion in the world.
9. A ban on all guns would reduce crime in the United States.
10. Democracy is always the best form of government for anywhere in the world.

We only made it to question 4 today, so I will pick and choose next class as to which questions we will discuss and debate, before writing a reflective piece about the experience. I love these discussions and I think we did a great job of following the Ground Rules that we established at the beginning of the year.

Thank you for your participation! Be ready to keep talking next time. Have a great long weekend!