Mrs. Slaviero's Blog

Students will be researching the leaders of the House and Senate in class tomorrow. It is very important for those of us living in America to know who the high-ranking members of the Legislative Branch are. The committees of both houses are also note-worthy and students will be investigating those, as well. My students and I have discussed Congress quite a bit lately and they are aware of the looming "fiscal cliff". I feel that this research will help students better understand the role this branch of government plays in America today and will help them to recognize the political leaders they see on the internet and television.

The decision to ratify the US Constitution after the Constitutional Convention was crucial to our country's history. Most people in the 1780s were either for ratification or against it and debate raged in the thirteen states for many months. The Federalists and Anti Federalists used many methods, including writing The Federalist Papers , to try to persuade citizens to accept their view points.   Students in my History classes have the same challenge as the Federalists and Anti Federalists had, with a modern twist.   Small groups will be creating "Facebook" pages (on paper, not the actual website) for the Federalist party or the Anti Federalist party and their main task will be writing a dialogue illustrating the main arguments for and against ratification.   Even though history sided with the Federalists the Anti Federalists had one extremely powerful counter-argument: the Constitution had to include a Bill of Rights. ...

Students today analyzed the need to change the Articles of Confederation by completing an activity called Compass Points. Students listed the worries of the A of C, anything that would excite them about the A of C (or changing the government), topics that they would need more information on in order to make a final decision and then groups finally took a stance on the issue. Analyzing material with activities like this allows students to delve deeply into a problem in order to make a solid decision.