Tutoring: During virtual learning Coach Wilson is available M,Tu,Th,F from 1:30 - 3:30pm and Wed. from 10:00am - 3:30pm. Please email questions freely. If you wish for a 'live' tutoring session outside of class time, please email Coach Wilson to make arrangements, these sessions must be scheduled.
Unit 1: Foundations of Government
Standards: SSCG1 - SSCG4
Description: The first unit of government asks students to consider the principles in which the United States' government was founded. Students will first examine and compare various forms of government from unitary to confederate systems as well as authoritarian and democratic models. We will achieve this by analyzing despotic governments of the past that inspired Enlightenment thinkers such as John Locke, Montesquieu, and Rousseau to question the legitimacy of such governments according to social contract theory. As we explore the idea of 'natural rights', students should gain understandings as to how and why democratic/republic forms of government came to be. To better understand such ideals, students will analyze the Declaration of Independence in search of the specific ideals outlined by Enlightenment thinkers. The second half of this unit revolves around the contentious formation of our nation's Constitution. This will include activities that require students to analyze the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation and the monumental compromises that had to be made between the nation's first two political parties - the Federalists and Anti-Federalists. Finally, students will create a large graphic organizer highlighting the three branches of government as they are laid out in the Constitution, the roles of each branch, as well as the checks and balances each branch has over one another.
Standards: SSCG1 - SSCG4
Description: The first unit of government asks students to consider the principles in which the United States' government was founded. Students will first examine and compare various forms of government from unitary to confederate systems as well as authoritarian and democratic models. We will achieve this by analyzing despotic governments of the past that inspired Enlightenment thinkers such as John Locke, Montesquieu, and Rousseau to question the legitimacy of such governments according to social contract theory. As we explore the idea of 'natural rights', students should gain understandings as to how and why democratic/republic forms of government came to be. To better understand such ideals, students will analyze the Declaration of Independence in search of the specific ideals outlined by Enlightenment thinkers. The second half of this unit revolves around the contentious formation of our nation's Constitution. This will include activities that require students to analyze the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation and the monumental compromises that had to be made between the nation's first two political parties - the Federalists and Anti-Federalists. Finally, students will create a large graphic organizer highlighting the three branches of government as they are laid out in the Constitution, the roles of each branch, as well as the checks and balances each branch has over one another.
Unit 2: Federalism and Civil Liberties
Standards: SSCG5 - SSCG7
Description:
Standards: SSCG5 - SSCG7
Description:
"Doubt is an uncomfortable position, but certainty is a ridiculous one."
- Voltaire
- Voltaire