Friday, March 18, 2016

Quiz Today!

Please review your vocabulary words.  Thirteen of them will be on the quiz.  Simply matching words to definitions with a word bank.  

From your textbook, review 

  • Congress' role in the bureaucracy
  • Hiring of bureaucrats ("buddy system" and "merit system")
  • "Iron Triangle"
  • How is our bureaucracy different from others
  • Constraints

Wednesday, March 16, 2016

Primary Results

Check out this website on interactive information of the primaries from yesterday!!

Live Results from the guardian

Sunday, March 13, 2016

Happy Monday! Let's just change everything!! :)

I am doing my best to prepare you for the upcoming exam and future Government and Politics classes.  I have researched how several other classes are conducted and have picked some of the best to incorporate in our classroom.  With that being said, some things are changing. 

Flashcards Assignment
The best way to prepare yourself for an exam is to know what in the world they are talking about.  We are going to delve deeper into the vocabulary and hopefully incorporate it into our daily lessons more that we have.  Each unit will have vocabulary words attached to them.  Your job will be to create a collection of vocabulary flashcards based upon the directions above.  I will provide the cards. 

Current Events
We have been doing current events based upon a theme that our nation is currently facing.  This will continue, but take a slightly different format.  Your weekly article will be based upon the current unit of study.  You are free to choose anything (within reason) as long as you are able to tie it back to what we have been discussing in class.  In addition, you will be required to include current and past vocabulary words.  Click on the link above for complete instructions.  These will still be due the Wednesday of each week.

Nightly Reading
Our nightly reading will somewhat increase and become more uniform.  You will be given a list of what to read each night.  This will predominantly come from your textbook, but may require supplemental articles that will be linked to the blog.  These are meant to better inform you of what we are discussing without having to spend extensive class time covering details.  In class, we will discuss what you read about, include various videos, and discussion questions.  I hope this will give you a way to incorporate your thoughts into writing.

Writing Prompts
Once a week we will work on writing prompts that have been used in previous AP US GoPo exams that align with our current unit.  I want you to become familiar with the wording and time allocation of what you will be expected to do in May.  I promised you before you would be comfortable in your writing.  Now I am doing my best to fulfill that.

Weekly Assessments
Once a week (typically a Friday), we will have an assessment based upon the vocabulary and material covered in class.  The majority of multiple choice questions will come from previous AP exams and comparable other sources.  This is done, once again, in an effort for you to be as comfortable as possible on that test day.

Whew! I don't think this will be a major adjustment for you, but perhaps a more organized one!!

Thursday, March 3, 2016

Last set of Amendments!!


The last set of Constitutional Amendments have been added to Quizlet.  I will create a new Kahoot for you to study those and share the code with you.  Next Friday (3.11.16), we will have a test on all the Articles of the Constitution and its Amendments.  You have all done great with these, and I am sure this will be an easy 100!

Be sure to add this last set (18-27) to your index cards!

Wednesday, March 2, 2016

Just for FUN!

Just for fun, let's see who you align more with politially! Click on the link HERE to take a short quiz!