Week 19 in Mr. Bruce's History

Parents and Students,

What a gorgeous sunny afternoon! Certainly a break from the gloomy weather we've had recently. As you may expect, I'm sad that this winter has not supplied a significant enough snow for sledding or snow fun. I'll get over it, I guess. As we end this week I'm astounded with how much your kids have learned about the Constitution and the composition of government that it creates.

We resumed a paired reading and discovery activity that lead students through the three Articles of the Constitution that created and defined our three branches (Legislative, Executive, and Judicial), as well as the amendment process (Article V) and two fundamental concepts of government limitation: Checks and Balances and Federalism.

As we finished this work we verified our answers and moved into some Law School Practice Problems. This assignment increased the challenge of seeking support for answers using the Constitution. For example, a city in Utah is producing a very unique product for selling overseas; due to its nature the government wants to tax it. Can they? In order to answer this question, students must investigate the powers of Congress in Article I, section 8 and rectify that with powers forbidden to Congress in the following section. Moving forward following this, students are to make flash cards or other study materials for the purpose of nailing this information down so it is second nature. An example of study card questions are attached to this email. I've even prepared a set of cards on Quizlet: quizlet.com/_1ydqqt (requires simple account creation). This is all preparation for the competition that is coming up.

Sample certificate for passing exam with
90% on first try. Students must make
corrections if they fail to reach 90%.

Next week, students are going to take what I am calling a Constitutional Law Bar Exam. And the scenario is that as they "pass the bar" they become eligible to practice as a part of a law firm. Once law firms (teams of 4) are created, they will compete in a competition to see which firm is the best. All is for fun and grades will be given for participation (even the bar exam), but it definitely engages even the most reluctant student and brings the entire class into seeking the depths of why our Constitution matters today.

Also, due to NWEA testing, labs were quite booked and so we postponed our video editing session. It gave our tech department more time to ensure that we would have access to the software we need for the task. So I've booked the computer lab for Monday and Tuesday. Hopefully we will end this unit with a fun and informative session of watching Preamble videos from all the classes. But that's for next week's email...

Until then, I remain yours,
Mr. Bruce


Constitution Review Cards

 

Week 18 in Mr. Bruce's History

Parents and Students,

Well things finally feel somewhat normal. Since Christmas Break it has felt as though we couldn't get anything going. Now that exams are over (mostly) and we are firmly in Semester 2, I think we are back to a good flow. I'd like to spend a little time here about exams, update you on the Preamble Video Assignment, and let you know what else we are working on/toward.

First of all, exams are almost all graded. There are still a few students who have not taken it due to outside circumstances. I anticipate spending Monday going over them in class. This will be as good for me as it is for you (students) because as I read through all of the great work that has been done on them, I want to share a bit about the documents and the theme to affirm and direct the work that was done on them. This will let you see the extent to which the documents take us in informing us about how the person and character of George Washington affected the creation of the new republic.

Our Video Preamble Assignment is still there, and I anticipate that around next Wednesday we will be in the computer lab editing and finalizing these videos. This process is somewhat stalled by the lack of video editing software on school machines. This is something that used to be standard on Windows, but since Windows 7, MovieMaker was a manual installation. While that gets worked out, or while I play with some online video editors, we have some extra time to make sure any recording that is yet to be done, gets done. This small video project is a precursor and de-bugger for a much larger video project that is in the works to come later in this marking period. Something I used to call the "Big Kahuna." Stay tuned...

Lastly, we are working on increasing and solidifying our efficacy with the Constitution. By the end of this unit, students will be able to use the Constitution to address and solve dilemmas of Constitutional law through a small group "Law Firm Challenge." Next week, they will begin "Law School" and will take a "Bar Exam" which will test their knowledge and grasp of this amazing document that has guided imperfect people to govern an imperfect population for 226 years.

FYI: Final grades for Semester 1 will be completed by Monday with report cards coming shortly after. I'll send Remind texts when I have entered Exam scores for your class.

Until next week, I remain yours,
Mr. Bruce

Week 16 in Mr. Bruce's History

Parents and Students,

Welcome back and Happy New Year! What a start we have had. I have to admit, the writing of this weekly update slipped into the dark parts of my mind until quite late, and here it is Monday afternoon... This email will be quick and to the point.

As we head into this week I want to provide expectations for exam week and let you in on a project we have embarked upon as open wide the ideas in the Constitution. This must be done because everything that follows in the story of America is driven by this document and how Americans have striven to uphold and maintain the ideals set forth in this revolutionary document.

As we progress through exam week we will continue with the Preamble Video Assignment we began last week. I find video production to be a very fun, engaging style of project-based learning because it combines the raw, creative, and critical thinking of filmmaking with the integrated inquiry-based historical thinking and interpretation. This small scale assignment introduces the necessary production components (such as screenplays and storyboarding) for use in later assignments. There are some logistic roadblocks that are still being worked out. See the Preamble Video Assignment page for details and let me know if you have concerns about any aspect. I take these projects quite seriously and demand that parental reservations be honored and placed above academic expectations.

As for the expectations for Exam Week here in Mr. Bruce's History, I give a process-focused exam. The content will be over what we have covered in class, but the focus is on how we have learned the process of "doing" history - that is, how much can we demonstrate of the methods historians use when adding to the body of knowledge that we call the historical record. In order to prepare for such an exam, students need to review the notes we took regarding these methods. All of them can be found at mrbruceshistory.wikispaces.com/TLH. These notes should be in student binders and complete. But it might be helpful to review the slides on the TLH page and the notes.

As for what we will do in class for this exam, I can say that we will have considerable time in class to complete what is called a "Document Based Exercise". We will spend an hour of "review" time going through the documents together in class and employing some analysis tools for the purpose of understanding the documents. From there, students will put pieces together on their own regarding the topic and what the documents tell them. A simple overview of this process my Thinking Like a Historian Guidesheet.

Until tomorrow (maybe...),

Mr. Bruce

Updated Exam Schedule: