Government, Day 5 - Class Recap

The Statue of Liberty in New York, which is a symbol of immigration to the United States. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! Photo taken in 2011.

Dear class,

Welcome to your Thanksgiving break! Thanks for doing your homework and checking in on the blog to see what we are up to. Today was the last day of our unit on government. After the break, we will move on to what is probably my favorite unit of the year - I'm excited! Here's what happened in class today:

Learning Targets:
Knowledge LT 18: I can explain how and why world societies organize themselves and how power is established and maintained.

Soundtrack: "Kings and Queens" by 30 Seconds to Mars. Selected for today because of the connection to monarchy, and this song gets me fired up because it reminds me of watching ESPN tennis tournaments. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 11/25/14:
News Brief – Broden
Finish "Who Rules?"
Government Test
Shibboleth

Homework: Read the blog. Have a great Thanksgiving! Next news brief: Fernando.

News Brief: Broden had the news brief today and selected an article about this story: CNN.com - New Iran Nuclear talks deadlines: March 1, July 1, 2015. We found Iran on the world map (in the Middle East) and talked about the upcoming extra long weekend.

We also talked somewhat in depth about the news from Ferguson, Missouri last night. I told the class that I would post the Grand Jury interview with Darren Wilson, the officer who shot and killed Michael Brown, an unarmed African-American male. I also showed this timeline of the event based on the witness testimony, as compiled by the Washington Post. We will continue to talk about how government, structures of power, and race all intersect.

Fernando was selected to do the next news brief.

Who Rules?: Before the government test, I wanted to give the class time to review the reading and answers in the packet:

Google Drive - Who Rules? Reading and Questions

I gave about five minutes before the test for study of the Cornell Notes, as well.

Government Test: I do not think this was especially difficult, if you have been in class and following along with what has been going on the last few days! I will grade these over the weekend and have them entered into the gradebook by next Tuesday (which is a progress reports date).

Shibboleth: After the test, we watched most most of an episode of the TV series "The West Wing," which had to do with Thanksgiving, illegal immigration, school prayer, direct democracy, and representative democracy. There were no notes or any other requirement - it was just a relaxing way to end the class after the test and go out to Thanksgiving Break. Here's the funniest scene of the episode, in my opinion:

I remain quite thankful for all of you! Have a wonderful break - see you next week. ;-)