Lessons for US Government and Civics:

Note: These lessons were taught under the 90-minute period model for the for the second time during the 1999-2000 school year. Feel free to send me ideas and opinions that will make this transition easier.

  
Week 1

Getting Started: Developing A Class Constitution 
This lesson also includes a cooperative learning activity entitled "What do You Want To Accomplish This School Year?" 
Some Basic Principles Of Government (For higher level Government students)
US Citizenship: What does it mean? (For lower level Government students)
Amending the Constitution
Some Cooperative Team and Class Building Activities
Matching Exercises on Principles of Government
Forms of Government: Learning from Pictures

  • In Word Format
  • In PDF Format


  • FYI: A Lesson on The Life and Death of Diana, Princess of Wales

     
    Week 2
    The Foundations of American Government (Remedial level) featuring a class-building vocabulary exercise.
    Cause and Effect In the Confederation, Revolutionary and Constitutional Periods
    A Lesson on The Principles of American Democracy, Authoritarianism, and Human Rights

    PowerPoint: Comparing Authoritarianism and Democracy
    The presentation is available as a web page.
    Collaborative Activities On the Principles of American Democracy

    Week 3
    The Origins of American Government
    Student's Vocabulary and definitions for Revolutionary and Constitutional Periods. Want to take a 15-question quiz? Here you go!
    The Origins of American Government Part II: Featuring a web project entitled: You Are There: A Revolutionary On-Line Newspaper
    New! The Declaration of Independence
    New! The Constitutional Convention of 1787
    Vocabulary List for the Constitutional Convention of 1787
    New! Reviewing the important Historical Documents of US Government and History
    Introduction to The Constitution
    Web Project: Team Pages and Essays on American Democracy
    Introduction to The Bill of Rights
    Week 4
    New! Federalism
    The Big Box Three-Branch Review Worksheet
    An interactive graphical version of the Big Box review sheet is now available.
    Vocabulary: Chapter 4: the Federal System (Government In America)
    The structure of American government
    Week 5
    The Legislative Branch
    Introduction to Congress
    The Structure and function of the Legislative Branch, featuring:
    An Interactive Worksheet on the Legislative Branch
      The Virginia Version of the Interactive Legislative Branch Worksheet

    Investigating the House of Representatives and the Senate
    The Powers of the House and Senate In The News
    How a Bill Becomes a Law
    Review Lesson: Creating a Computer-based Diagram of Government Concepts
     
    Week 6
    The Executive Branch
    A quiz on Presidential History based on notes from oral presentations. Students used two web sites: C-SPAN's American Presidents and Internet Public Library's POTUS database.
    The Roles of the Presidency
    An Interactive Worksheet on the Roles of the Presidency
    Elections and the Electoral Process
    One great resources listed there is a lesson plan from the New York Times.
     
    Week 7
    The Judicial Branch  This lesson is not very collaborative, but I thought it should be on-line anyway. Includes matching exercises on judicial branch vocabulary ( from American Civics).
    More on the Judicial Branch. Included here is a link to the ABC News site on a Supreme Court case (Dec. 9, 1998)
    Vocabulary for Chapter 5: Our Civil Liberties
    Vocabulary for Chapter 6: Our Legal Rights
    Vocabulary for Chapter 18: The Legal Process
     
    Week 8

    The Checks and Balances System (A Simulation)
    New: An interactive flow chart on the Checks and Balances System
     
    Week 9
    New and Expanded: Modern Political Parties and Elections
    Special Interest Groups
    The Path to the White House
     
    Week 10
    A Powerpoint Presentation (in HTML) on Sources of Information.   
    Week 11 A Lesson Plan on The 1998 State of the Union Speech
    This plan includes a lengthy worksheet analyzing the President's speech 
    A 20-question quiz on the State of the Union Address is now available.

    Week 12 The Civil Rights Movement: A Web Project
    Week 13
    Week 14
    Week 15 Geography Practice: A World Map to edit in Paint Shop Pro
    Need maps? Try this website!
     US Foreign Policy at the Turn of the Millennium: With Vocab, & Filmstrip Worksheet
    American Foreign Policy, Yesterday and Today
    Here is a fully-hyperlinked version of the above lesson as it appeared in Teaching Government With The Internet, published by Zenger Media.
    American Foreign Policy: Learning Stations and Class Presentations
    The United Nations
    The Future of Government: Interdisciplinary Studies in Science, Literature, and Government.
    Week 16 EconomicsOur Economic System (Part 1)
    An interactive version of the Circular Flow Model of Economic Activity
     
    Week 17 Survey of the United States Geopolitics and related web projects  
    Week 18 Chapter Review Outlines For Government In America

    The lesson plan below was posted just after the attacks on New York and the Pentagon took place: A Lesson Plan on the September 11 Terrorist Attacks

    Class Activity: Draw an Illustration on "How Has America Changed since September 11, 2001?" Available in Word 2000 and PDF formats.

    Review and final Exams

     


    Supplementary Units:

    Interdisciplinary Unit: The Beast Within
    Current Events: The News Discussion Page
    Black History Month: The Civil Rights Movement: A Black History Celebration  
    Student Web Site: An Interactive Guide to the Bill of Rights

     


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