Government/Economics

Thursday: Finish Debate & Wrap Up

admin — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 11:00:20 +0000

Summary: Today we will finish up any of the bills that were not addressed yesterday. I will also be asking you to fill out a final critique sheet regarding my student teaching. It’s been a pleasure teaching you guys and please feel free to keep in touch.

Wednesday: Full Floor Senate Debate

admin — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 11:00:47 +0000

Summary: Today we began the full floor Mock Senate debate. If we don’t finish today, the debate will be concluded on Thursday.

Tuesday: 5/3 Guest Speaker

admin — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 11:41:37 +0000

Summary: Today we had our 2nd of 3 visits from Mindy of Fifth-Third Bank. She will be talking with you about some aspect of financial literacy.

Homework: Be ready to debate the bills your committees passed in class tomorrow. Bring your bill packets so you can refer to the actual text of the bills during the debate.

Monday: Final Day of Research

admin — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 02:47:45 +0000

Summary: Today was another day to finish up the research in preparation for the full floor debate. The questions started on Friday are due by the end of the day today.

Friday: Debate Research in Computer Lab

admin — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 19:50:55 +0000

ANNOUNCEMENT!

I will be uploading midterm grades after school on Monday. That is the ABSOLUTE deadline to turn in any late work for credit. I’ve been incredibly lenient on this and some of you desperately need points. Please don’t hesitate to email me if you have any questions about what you’re missing.

Summary: Today you went to the computer lab to prepare your arguments for each of the bills that made it out of committee. We will continue conducting research on Monday as well.

Handouts: floor-debate-research

Thursday: Committee Work

admin — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 19:45:53 +0000

Summary: Today you were broken up into your respective committees. In your committee, you debated and critiqued each other’s bills. Finally, you took votes on the bills and decided which bills to kill and which to pass on to the floor debate.

Handouts: standing-committee-instructions//committee-debate-checklist

Wednesday: See Tuesday’s Post

admin — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 18:02:40 +0000

See Tuesday’s post for what we did in class today. If you have ANY questions about anything you are supposed to do regarding your bill, please do not hesitate to contact me!

E-mail me at samspurlin@gmail.com or instant message me at spurliss.

Tuesday: Work Day for Writing Bill

admin — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 11:40:16 +0000

EDIT- Just kidding, I forgot that Carla and Mindy from Fifth-Third Bank were coming in to talk about financial literacy today. This will just push everything back a day.

Summary: Today I allowed you time to work on drafting your bill in class. Remember, in addition to writing a bill, you must turn in a document with 10 facts pertaining to your bill and the source from which you obtained them. Also, you must draft a “Purpose Statement” of 1-2 paragraphs explaining why your bill is important.

Homework:

Bill (print 2 copies!)
10 Facts & Sources
Purpose Statement

Handouts: [[bill_template]]

Monday: Review Notes and Bill Proposals

admin — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 10:27:03 +0000

Summary: We first took a few minutes of notes on topics we have discussed previously (the presiding officers and how a bill becomes a law). After that, you wrote your bill proposals in class.

Homework: Bring 3 resources to help you write your bill tomorrow.

Friday: How a Bill Becomes a Law

admin — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 17:33:52 +0000

Summary: Today we did a mini-simulation of how a bill becomes a law and took some notes. After discussing this, I began explaining the “Bill Writing” assignment. The handouts for the assignment can be found below. Also, today you selected the state that you will be representing in the Mock Senate.

Homework: Pick a topic for your bill.

Handouts: writing-a-bill-assignment//bill_template//sample bill #1//sample bill #2