S+Doucette,+Marie


 * U.S. Government/Civics Syllabus**

Office: EDU Ctr rm 112 Office Phone: 446-6562 Office Hours: Everyday-All Day**
 * Teacher: Mrs. Doucette
 * E-mail: mdouce70@maine.edu**


 * =Summary of Unit= ||
 * Students will understand the structure of the U.S. government’s structure, relationship to its citizens, and how it differs from other world governments. To do this they will compare our government to other forms of government in the world. They will research the different parts of the U.S. government and create various types of products including Mind Maps, wiki pages, and Comic Life. The students will analyze the different ways that citizens in the Unites States can affect their government, what our government actually does do, and the differences between our government and other types of government in the world. They will be able connect this information to their own lives through journal entries, various self-assessments, and reflection. ||

B1 Knowledge, Concepts, Themes, and Patterns of Civics/Government Grades 9-Diploma Students understand the ideals, purposes, principles, structures, and processes of constitutional government in the United States and in the American political system, as well as examples of other forms of government and political systems in the world. //** a. Explain that the study of government includes the structures, functions, institutions, and forms of government and the relationship of government to citizens in the United States and in other regions of the world. ||
 * **Establish Goals: (G)** ||  ||
 * **//Maine Learning Results://** **Social Studies -** **// B. Civics and Government

//What understandings are desired?// //Students will understand that:// **(U)**

 * • **** the structure of the U.S. government has specific relationships to the U.S. citizens. **
 * •t **** he three major branches of government have specific purposes, ideals, and principles that they each uphold. **
 * •t **** he process of constitutional government in the American political system is different than in other forms of governments and political systems in the world. **

//What essential questions will be considered?//
• What is the responsibility of each branch of government in respect to legislation, the other branches, and its constitutional duty? • How is the constitutional government and American political system different from other forms of governments and political systems? ||
 * **Essential Questions:** **(Q)** ||
 * •Why are there three separate branches in the U.S. government, how are they structured, and what are their functions?

//What key knowledge and skills will students acquire as a result of this unit?//
•Important people- President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, Senate Minority Leader John Boehner, Chief Justice John Roberts, Jr., Associate Justice John Paul Stevens •Terminology-executive branch, judicial branch, legislative branch, congress, senate, whip || •a. Explain that the study of government includes the structures, functions, institutions, and forms of government and the relationship of government to citizens in the United States and in other regions of the world. •Illustrate who makes up each branch of the US government and their responsibilities. •Exhibit each step of a bill moving through legislation in a comic life. •Analyze the difference between the various types of government. •Imagine being a contestant in Judicial Jeopardy. •Be aware of who their personal representative and senator are and how the student can affect their government. ||  || Role: You are a student ambassador working to help students visiting from various other countries to understand our government better. Audience: The audience is a group of students from various nations. Situation: You will be presenting your overview of the US government in the auditorium to the 10th or 11th grade global classes. Product: You will need to develop a Comic Life that depicts how our government works. Presentation: You will present your Comic Life and the information that you have gathered about the 5 various types of governments that we studied to the 10th or 11th grade Global class.
 * //Students will know:// **(K)** || //Students will be able to do:// **(S)** ||
 * • Key factual information- The differences between: Republic, Democracy, Aristocracy, Monarchy, and Dictatorship.
 * Goal: Your task is to present the US government to a class of students from various other countries.

Standards (criteria from both rubrics): Project: Content, Illistrations, Sources, Mechanics, Originality, Orginization Presentation: Preparedness, Comprehension, Application, Props, Posture/Eye, Peer Evaluation ||

Academic honesty and integrity are important. This schools code of academic integrity is enforced in this course and students are expected to educate themselves. Please take the time to review the code. ||
 * =Expectations= ||
 * Assignments are required to be turned in on time, unless prior arrangements have been made in advance. You may have the opportunity to redo some assignments, if they are turned in on time and will be due one week after being returned to you. You must submit the original work, rubric, the revised work and a brief statement of the improvements you made to the assignment. All assigned work must be typed on a word processor using Times font, 12 points, unjustified and free of typographical, spelling and grammatical errors. Please keep a copy of all work submitted, until the final grade of the course has been determined.

**//__ Wiki Space journal (20 points) __//** You will be journaling a reflection on each class time; you will not be graded on content but on participation. **//__ Attendance and Participation (60 points) __//** You must be present and actively engaged in all aspects of this course. You need to be prepared and a contributing member in all the learning components of this course. **//__ PERFORMANCE TASK – Class assignemtns, WebQuest, and Presentation __//** The understanding of the course content will be demonstrated by completing a WebQuest, designing a Comic Life that depicts how the United States government works, and a garage band interview with the heads of the five types of government that we studied. The presentation of these components is the final assessment. **//__ Lessons (60 points): __//** //__ A. Lesson 1 (10 points) __// //__ B. Lesson 2 (10 points) __// //__ C. Lesson 3 (10 points) __// //__ D. Lesson 4 (10 points) __// //__ E. Lesson 5 (10 points) __// * Students will create a wiki page that includes a paragraph about the judicial branch and include two links that they found helpful in researching and a statement as to why, and a reaction to the game. //__ F. Lesson 6 (10 points) __// * Students will create a mind map of the different reasons that justices make decisions. **//__ WebQuest Products and Presentation (60 points): __//** //__ A. Products (30 points) __//
 * =Benchmarks= ||
 * Below is the point value for each assignment and your grade will be based on the percent of points earned from the total points of 200.
 * Students will build a page on their wiki that includes Google Earth snapshots and descriptions of the different governments.
 * Finally, students will build a mind map of the different branches of our government and link it to their wiki page for homework.
 * Create an Avatar of the senator and representative’s likeness to upload to their wiki page than includes a theme song and biography of each.
 * Comic Life of a bills progress through legislation.
 * Comic life will be graded on accurate content, illistrations, sources, proper mechanics, originality, and organization.

//__ B. Presentation (30points) __//
 * Your presentation will be graded on preparedness, comprehension, application, props, posture, and peer evaluation. ||

**C- **(70 - 72), **D+**(67 - 69), **D** (63 - 66), **D-** (60 - 62), **F** (0 - 59) ||
 * =Grading Scale= ||
 * ** A ** (93 -100), **A-** (90 - 92), **B+** (87 - 89), **B** (83 - 86), **B-** (80 - 82), **C+**(77 - 79), **C** (73-76),