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