Syllabus Week 6

Lesson: The United States Constitution
Time: 3:00 hours
Unit 1
Week: 6 Dates: February 20-23

Objectives:
1. Students will develop an understanding of the problems of the Articles of Confederation and how the Constitution solved those problems.
2. Students will understand how debate and compromise were a part of the process of forming the U.S. Constitution.
3. Students will understand how the preamble introduces the purpose of the Constitution and specifically how the authors sought to establish a government that fulfilled the purpose.

Standards:
How does the government established by the Constitution embody the purposes, values, and principles of American democracy?
Students should be able to explain the central ideas of American constitutional government and their history. To achieve this standard, students should be able to describe major historical events that led to the creation of limited government in the United States, e.g., Magna Carta . . . Articles of Confederation (1781), state Constitutions and charters, United States Constitution (1787), Bill of Rights (1791) in the United States.

Materials: “Shadow” Lecture, activity chart, copy of the Constitution, copy of an outline of the Constitution, S.C. Case, quiz

T/W February 20/21 (1.5 hours)
1. Supreme Court Case-10 minutes
2. Lecture: “Shadow Without Substance” 20 minutes
3. Group Activity-Weaknesses of the Articles 10 minutes
4. Survey for Prom (10 minutes)
5. Compromises Lecture/Debrief activity-Compromises (30 minutes)
6. Homework: write two para. The 1st will summarize the final five compromises from your notes (beginning w/Connecticut Compromise). The second will evaluate which states, if any, benefited from the compromises. Take a position and support it. The 2nd para must take a position and support that position with sound reasons. Homework is due Th/F.
1st Para-own words (2 pts), ideas and results of compromise are clearly written (10 pts), conventions (3 pts)
2nd Para-clear and logical reasons-10 (pts), clear opening and closing sentence (5 pts), conventions (3 pts)

Th/F February 22/23 (1.5 hours)
1. Reflection-In about a paragraph, why are debate and compromise important when making group decisions? Provide an example from your own experience (your own personal history) (10 minutes)
2. brief 10 question quiz over T/W content (15 minutes)
3. Two examples of the preamble in the body of the Constitution-research and report (25 minutes)
4. Historical examples-group activity on board (20 minutes)
5. Write a letter to a friend from another country or a foreign exchange student who lives in a country that does not have a constitution. In the letter give one piece of internal evidence from the Constitution and one external evidence (from U.S. history) regarding whether the goals of the preamble have been fulfilled. (20 minutes). What is not done in class will be due M/T as homework.

Comments: *If you miss a day of class and you are excused you may make it up. You have two class days to turn in any missed work. It is your responsibility to see me about any work that is missed because of an absence.

If you are missing a syllabus or worksheet of some kind check the class blog at:
http://ditzenberger.blogspot.com/index.html
· Or email me at Ditzenberger@gmail.com