Civics 101

      We began out day as usual - with a seminar about current events in American government. We discussed some important topics such as mask mandates, vaccine passports, and new tax increases. These conversations are always interesting as they serve as an easy way to stay informed on whats happening in our country. Afterwards, we conducted some research on our local governments. I was surprised with how little I actually knew about the Harris County & City of Houston governments before today.      After our lunch break, we took a more active approach to learning about government. Writing to one of my representatives is something I have always wanted to do, but never I had the courage or commitment. It's awesome how easy it is to get involved in America's politics. We also created info-graphics about an aspect of our local government. I created mine about the Harris County Judge, as it's a position I didn't even know existed before taking this...

Today, in our seminar on government current events, we discussed whether we need federal mask mandates, the Texas George Floyd Act, and the new voter suppression law in Georgia which violates the For the People bill that hasn’t been passed by Congress. Then we read two chapters of our choice from American Government 101 and The Infographic Guide to American Government. I read about the evolution of the Democrat and Republican parties and the U.S. security agencies. After working on our personal representatives “Cheat Sheet,” we researched how to conduct a Voter Registration Drive. Then we shot a PSA and planned our drive.  When the mask mandates were brought up, we were able to discuss whether the state governments should give local systems of government more power because within a state, urban, rural and suburban areas have different needs. During independent reading time, I got to read more about topics I wasn’t familiar with. Now I can differentiate between the FBI, CIA, NSA a...

 Today in our seminar on public events we talked about Joe Bidens' new plan to have 200,000 people vaccinated by his first 100 days in office, The problems that are happening at the southern border, and the Texas legislature. Then we read some pages from  The Constitution from American Government 101  and  The Infographic Guide to American Government that talked about the judicial system of the American government. After the readings, we played a game on Icivics about the different types of courts. The game was an interesting way to learn about the purpose of the different types of courts.      In the afternoon we started by looking at the Texas judicial branch. We learned about the different types of courts and why our judicial system is way more complicated than the judicial systems in the other states. Then we looked at judges in our court system and took notes on who they are and what powers they have. We are using this information to make a sheet ...

       We began the morning as usual, with our Current Events Seminar, where we discussed some very important current topics. After our seminar, we read a section from American Government 101 , which discussed the powers and history of the President and Vice President. We also looked at some infographics in The Infographic Guide to American Government to gain a better understanding of the topic. We finished off the morning section of the class by holding a competition in the game "Executive Command", which is basically an over simplified version of what the President does on a daily basis.     We began the afternoon portion of class by reading another excerpt from  American Government 101. This section discussed the powers of the Governor, which transitioned us into  the largest part of our afternoon class. We looked at a presentation about the Texas Plural Executive, which is how the state's executive branch is set up. The system is organized so ...

Today, in our seminar on government current events, we discussed how the stimulus checks had been delayed for people on social security and the Republican trifecta in the Texas legislature. Then we read about the federal legislature from The Constitution from American Government 101 and The Infographic Guide to American Government . The readings covered the duties of the House of Representatives and Senate and how they work together to pass laws. To apply what we learned, we played an iCivics game called “Law Craft” to simulate the passing of a bill. In the afternoon, we read about the comparison between the federal and state legislature. Finally, we researched our own Texas legislative representatives before journaling and blogging.  We experienced how difficult it was to actually pass a bill by playing “Law Craft” where we had to select speakers who would appeal to the voters in the legislature. We learned that our Texas representatives don’t actually represent the majority bec...

     Today in civics 101, we started off the day with a seminar about current events in the government. We talked about recent debates to increase regulations on guns and the role electrical companies played in the power outage that texas faced during the recent winter storm. After our seminar, we read some pages from American Government 101 and The Infographic Guide to American Government that talked about the articles of the US constitution. After the readings, we looked at the US constitution and looked at the rules it outlines for the government and the people. It was interesting to learn about the way the constitution outlines the structure of our government and the rights that US citizens have.      In the afternoon we started off by looking at the Texas constitution. We weren't about to look at the whole thing because it's around 250 pages, but we were able to look at most of the important parts. We went over the  preamble, the powers of gover...

Today, in our seminar on government current events we discussed the possible $3 trillion infrastructure and jobs package, democrats working to lower drug prices and the Texas border crisis under the Biden administration. Then we started reading The Infographic Guide to American Government together which went over enlightenment, the American Revolution and independence process up to the development of the Articles of Confederation. In the afternoon, we watched a PBS documentary called A Constitution in Writing which explained how the Constitution was written with commentary from prominent government officials and law professors. Then we played Taboo which is a game played by explaining a term or phrase without using certain words. With our remaining time, we looked over the Amendments and tried to interpret them with their “originalism” and “majestic vagueness” in mind.  We were able to learn not only about the process that created the basis of our government system but also the ...

      Today in Civics 101 was our first day of the course, and it served as a nice introduction to what we will be learning over the coming weeks.  We began the day by researching a political topic. We chose several diverse and interesting topics, such as stimulus checks and Russian cyberattacks. We had an incredibly thoughtful discussion about these topics and more, including the recent Atlanta shooting.  We finished off the morning by doing some research on a specific topic using the book   American Government 101 .        We continued researching our topic in the afternoon. In the morning, we chose several topics all having to do with early American government. We created presentations on these topics, which were all very intriguing. Did you know Ms. Harrison has an ancestor who was on the Mayflower? After giving our amazing presentations, we finished off the day with a reflection, and in my case, writing the A-Term blog.

 For the next two weeks we will be learning about federal, state, and local governments so that students can better understand how government works and how they can get involved and exercise their rights as citizens.  Each day, a student will contribute a post about what activities they engaged in and what they learned. This is a small class of only three students, so each student will post at least two times. Thank you for checking out our blog!