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Social studies

Join Zoom Class

Tuesday:
9:30 - 11 am
5:30 - 7 pm

Thursday:
9:30 - 11 am
5:30 - 7 pm

Contact me (Elaine) at

EThiery@pcconline.us

EThiery@polaris.edu

Readworks Login

Go to readworks.org.

Enter the Class Code: SY22XF
Click on your name.
Enter the password. Your initial password is 1234.

CommonLit is a cool site that has lots of great reading passages with comprehension questions.

Click this link for CommonLit

Your class code is this: 9AF9M66K

Khan Academy code for Polaris: AW5G3RY6

GED Ready At Home Instructions

Thursday April 28, 2022 Class in the Computer Lab Topic: Public Policy, Prison Reform

Use the links above to go to Readworks and CommonLit. Each site has readings for you.

Readworks: Click the link, put in the class code, find your name, type the password 1234. Find the readings Books Through Bars and Fewer Americans Going to Prison. (If you are fairly new to the class, they will be your only readings. If you have been in the class for a while, they will be the last two readings assigned, so you'll have to scroll to the last page of readings. Read carefully and PLEASE ANSWER ALL THE QUESTIONS. For the written answers, please write in complete sentences. Then submit.

Common Lit: Click the link and put in the class code. You may have to give an email and then type your name to add yourself to the class. Read the assigned passages, and answer all the questions. These passages may require that you answer some questions as you read along. The passages are I Am Not an Inmate, The Cost of Prison in Dollars and Lives, and A Thief Dines Out.

These links may take you to the passages directly but you probably have to sign up for the class first (by going to the link for Common Lit at the top of the page.)

https://www.commonlit.org/students/student_lessons/11578012

https://www.commonlit.org/students/student_lessons/11578011

https://www.commonlit.org/students/student_lessons/11578015

CIVICS AND GOVERNMENT

Lesson 1: Foundations of Government

Who Rules_StudentDocs.pdf

Who Rules assessment.pdf

Foundation Basics_Lesson Plan_0.pdf

Foundation Basics Reading.pdf

Lesson 2: Philosophy of Constitutionalism

Why Government_StudentDocs.pdf

Philosophically Correct_StudentDocs.pdf

Lesson 3: US Structure

The United States Constitution is the supreme law of the land. The buck stops here.

constitution.pdf

Separation of Powers: The government is divided into three branches, each of which has its own specific jobs to do. By dividing up the responsibilities, no branch becomes too powerful.

Checks and Balances: In addition to dividing up duties into three separate branches so that each branch has authority in its given arena of expertise, the framers of the Constitituion installed a system of checks which served to complicate that independent authority, for the purpose of preventing any branch from becoming too powerful even within its own realm. It works like this: There are specific circumstances in which each branch may reach its tentacles into another branch to supervise or stop some action within that other branch's realm.

The point is to prevent a concentration of power, to balance the power.

Separation of powers and checks and balances (video) | Khan AcademySeparation of powers and checks and balances and Federalist 51. Read the full text of Federalist No. 51.

Federalism is unique to American government; it means that there is shared power between the national government and the separate state governments.

In the earliest days of the United States, the new countrymen feared a strong national government because they didn't want to recreate anything like the monarchy they had just broken away from. In that unitary model, all the power resided in one central government. On the other hand, they had already tried a confederacy model, a government in which the separate states held all the power and were only loosely connected to each other in the form of a weak central government. That eight-year "critical period" right after the Revolutionary War turned out to be rather disastrous for the country, with numerous rebellions and economic crises.

Because of this shared power between the national government (the one in Washington DC) and the separate states (the ones in each state capital), there is lots of tension. Federalism is an enduring issue of American history. This means that from the beginning all the way up to now, there have been, are, and likely always will be arguments about whether the power to do something rests in the states or in Washington, DC. (Think about marijuana laws, voting protocols, job licensing, gun laws, and school rules, which are run by states and therefore can vary by state. Then remember that gay marriage and segregation laws used to be run by states until the national, or federal, government won those fights, creating one central rule--legal gay marriage everywhere, and no legal segregation anywhere.)

Read.

Practice.

Read.

Practice.

Constitutional Principles_StudentDocs.pdf

Current Events Lesson: Economics (July 22)

The following Associated Press article is about the global race for and unequal distribution of the vaccines for Covid-19. Many economic concepts play out in this real-life story.

Look for these expressions, economic vocabulary words, and other terms in the article. See if you can figure out what they mean in context. Look up their meanings on your phone if you'd like.

Economic concepts and the players involved
International

Supply/demand

Scarcity

Capitalism

Developing world

WHO

Operation Warp Speed

Moderna/Pfizer/AstraZeneca/Johnson-and-Johnson

Defense Production Act

COVAX

EU

Vocabulary words from the article

Bankrolling

“haves and have-nots”

Disparity

“return on investment”

Stockpiling

Coalition

Vaccine inequity: Inside the cutthroat race to secure doses.pdf

After reading the article, let's think about these two things:

1. What is the main idea of the article? Say it or write it in your own words.

2. What is the central, underlying question posed by some of the speakers in the article and implied throughout the article itself? It is a question relating to values.

Lesson 4: Role of the Executive

Role of the President of the United States, Eleventh Grade, Twelfth Grade Reading Passage.pdf

Q Role of the President of the United States, Eleventh Grade, Twelfth Grade Reading Passage.pdf

Washington-Truman speeches. Isolationism and Internationalism.pdf

The Avalon Project : Federalist No 69.pdf

The Avalon Project : Federalist No 70: Version A.pdf

All in a Day's Work_StudentDocs_0.pdf

Lesson 5: Bill of Rights, First Amendment

Bill of Rights.pdf

FIRST AMENDMENT

1A First Principles.pdf

The First Amendment (video) | Khan Academy

1A Free Speech.pdf

1A Speech Scenarios.pdf

Many students think that it is against the law to burn an American flag. In fact, the Supreme Court has made clear that such an act is an expression of opinion, or "free speech," protected by the First Amendment. Below are the case description and a recent example of that principle in action right here in Cleveland.

Cleveland to pay $225,000 to 2016 RNC protester arrested during flag burning - cleveland.com.pdf

Lesson 7: Political Parties and Interest Groups

George Washington�s Farewell Address [Abridged], Eleventh Grade, Twelfth Grade Reading Passage.pdf

Read this long but important and still relevant address by George Washington at the end of his presidency. He warns us against two problems that he foresees for the future of American democracy: powerful political parties and foreign entanglements. What does he value most of all, which he says best protects our liberty?

Let's think about political parties in the United States (and beyond).

What are they? What is their primary purpose?
Do political parties arise out of natural human behavior, an instinct to group ourselves with like-minded others? What do they offer us?
In his Farewell Address, President George Washington famously cautioned us against political parties. Why? How are they dangerous to the republic, in his view?
Specifically, today, how might political parties undermine the system of checks and balances the Founders put into place?
Are there other ways to organize politically than to have two big political parties dominate the scene? What are third parties and what is their role in our system?

The first two big political parties in the United States were the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists. They had differing views on the importance of a strong national government, and they fought right from the beginning about what should go into the Constitution, how government should be set up and what responsibilities and limits it should have.

The two main political parties today are the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. Here are the websites for those parties, both nationally and at the state level for Ohio.

Ohio Democratic Party

Freedom Matters | GOPJoin the Republican National Committee and millions of Americans fighting every day to keep our country free.

Political Parties.pdf

Primaries Fillable_Activities.pdf

Lesson 8: US Elections and Voting Rights

Electing Congress (the legislative branch)

Electing Representatives.pdf

Election of Senators.pdf

Gerrymandering

Gerrymandering (video) | Khan AcademyGerrymandering and its history.

gerrymandering.pdf

Ohio | Princeton Gerrymandering Project.pdf

"I-Cut-You-Choose" Cake-Cutting Protocol Inspires Solution to Gerrymandering.pdf

The Electoral Process (The Electoral College)

Election Process RW.pdf

The Electoral Process p 1.pdf

The electoral process p 2.pdf

The Electoral Process p 3.pdf

Lesson 9: Public Policy

Public policy is a broad term that can refer both to direct action and to unstated values, or priorities. We usually think of public policy as a system of laws and actions, following much debate and discourse, on a particular topic that affects the public.

Some areas of public policy in the United States are healthcare, education, election integrity, and immigration. You may have heard the expression, "Elections have consequences." This means that the priorities of the candidate and/or party who won an election usually drives the national conversation around priorities for funding and legislation.

Here are some interesting and provocative questions our society and our elected politicians regularly grapple with that relate to public policy. One thing to learn is that almost any topic that is very important for society has questions and problems that are multi-faceted, complicated. If you hear people suggest the public policy solutions are obvious, you can assume they have only a basic understanding of the topic! When you look at these questions, or consider any important political questions, ask yourself, "What's at stake? Who benefits and who loses if we do it this way? Can motivated individuals solve this problem or is this a job for government?"

~Should drug companies be forced to limit the price of potentially life-saving drugs so the average person can afford them?
~It is currently a law that you can be forbidden federally subsidizede student loans for college if you have a prior conviction for drug use, drug possession, or drug dealing. Do you think this should remain a law?
~A much higher percentage of Australians (88%) vote in elections than Americans (about 50%). Many believe that this is due to the fact that Australians who do not vote must pay a fine, typically $20. Should the US consider this?
~Should the Electoral College be outlawed and replaced with a system where the Presdential candidate with the most votes (in the country as a whole) is elected?
~Should the United States attempt to spread the principles of democracy throughout the world, or should we leave the other countries to figure out their own governments?
~As a means to combat obesity, should the United States enact a tax on fast food or sugar or other unhealthy foods?
~Should makers of unhealthy foods targeting children be required to change packaging that attracts young people?
~Many states have hate crime legislation. Under such laws, crimes motivated by someone's race, gender, religion, or sexual orientation are given stiffer and mandatory penalties. Do these laws violate the freedom of expression guaranteed in the First Amendment?
~As a means to preventing terrorist activity, should the federal government have access to your email account, library records, and phone messages?
~Should members of Congress be required to sell their stocks in companies?
~Should Ohio enact a minimum wage of $15 per hour?