Podcasts are my jam. There are so many amazing resources out there, and I want to make sure I can teach in a way that doesn’t short the students or overload them. I often recommend podcasts to my students as well as documentaries to watch outside of school for extra learning opportunities and figured that…
Category: American Political Ideologies and Beliefs
Teaching AP Government in a Shortened Semester- Introduction
I teach AP Government in a semester, which is fine first semester. I relish in 92 days to teach the curriculum. I wish I had a year, but I have fine-tuned the semester and feel good about it. That was until I looked at my second semester. Between three holidays, a two-week break, FIVE late…
Teaching how to write better argumentative essays in AP Government
Besides teaching AP Government, I also teach 8th grade. In one of my classes, I have 31 students and the other has 10. Every time we do class discussions, I have to really figure out how to vary the instruction to allow all students to talk and learn. This also allows me to try new…
The State of the Union Twitter Party
Article II, Section 3 “He shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient…” Well, this State of the Union address has been mired by the government shutdown and a disinvite to the chambers…
Teachable Moments- Birthright Citizenship
When tensions run high, how do you bring it back to the curriculum?
Discussing Citizens United
Oh campaign finance. The wonderful world. {take a deep breath and continues to pretend it’s super fun!} *I take 2 regular and 1 block day for this. On Friday, I assigned Citizens United v. FEC. They are not writing the DBQ, but using the documents (including Federalist 10) to prepare for a Socratic discussion on…
