Social Studies: Civics

Grade 8 Civics Student Overview

Welcome to grade 8 Civics, where we learn much more than “how a bill becomes a law.”  Civics is technically defined as “the study of the rights and responsibilities of people in a community”, but that’s not super exciting. 

We believe the course is really about one question: 

How can you make change happen?

Throughout this year, we’ll teach you how the government works and how people can use different parts of it to try to make changes to a town, city, state, or nation. 

We’ll also show you that you don’t just have to work inside/with the government to make change - some of the most effective movements have come from outside pressure that forces our leaders to make different choices. Think of the recent  Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement as just one example of how people can push for reform. 

Lastly you’ll get to put this learning into action later in the year, when you pick an issue you want to educate yourself/others about and push for a policy change of your own. This is called a Civics Action Project.  It could be a school rule, or something at the town, state, or maybe even national level.  But, we are getting ahead of ourselves… On the next page, I’ll give you a rough breakdown of how the year will flow.  If you remember nothing else, remember this:

• If you loved “current events days”,  analyzing and debating topics or discussions of equity/justice, you are going to love this class, because almost everything we do connects to these topics.

•  If you didn’t love it in the past, give us a chance! We’ll help you love it by the end of the year or we’ll refund your money!

Grade 8 Civics Unit Guide

Part I: The Nuts and Bolts of the Constitution

Fall:

Topic 1:  Historical Foundations of US Government 

What is a good government? Where did many of the ideas that ended up in our government come from?   Why did our government get set up the way it did?

We'll start the year by picking off where you left off, at the Declaration of Independence. The founders thought breaking away from England was the hard part, but they soon realized they had a bigger challenge: What to do next? What should THEIR government look like?

Did you know that the Constitution was the second draft of a government, so what happened to the first? We’ll examine things going on in the late 1700s that impacted what the founders wanted to do and/or wanted to avoid when they got to try their own hand at creating a nation from scratch!

Topic 2:  Media Literacy

How do you know what’s trustworthy? Why do different news organizations present information the way they do? Throughout the first part of the year, we’ll be working with Ms. Chessman and the library to help you develop stronger media literacy skills. This is not a specific unit in itself, but something we will focus on from time to time throughout the year.

Fall/ Winter:

Topic 3:  Creating the Constitution: The Legislative Branch, the Executive Branch,  and an essay on mandatory voting

What does a government with the ”just right” amount of power look like? How do we make sure all people’s rights are protected?  How can change happen both inside and outside the government?  We’ll dig deep into how the branches of power are organized, what powers each branch has, and how they keep watch over others.  We will also write a formal essay which addresses how mandatory voting could either help or hurt our democracy.  Students will also write a DBQ essay about whether you think voting should be required. 

Winter:

Topic 4:  Continuing the Mechanics of our Government:  The Judicial Branch, the Bill of Rights, Study Skills, and our grade wide Civics Midyear Test.

After writing our essay, will will pick up with an increasingly powerful branch - The Judicial Branch.  We will study supreme court cases involving students and recognize that sometimes words which seem really clear to one person can be interpreted very differently by others.  We will have a close look at the Bill of Rights and then begin preparation for our Civics Midyear Test by reviewing content and learning study skills.  This Civics Midyear Test is taken by all grade 8 students.

Part II: How Change Can be Made Both Inside and Outside the Government

Winter/ Spring:

Topic 5:  Striving for Change in the US

As we get deeper into the year, we look less at the theory of the government and spend more time examining the reality of government as well as ways that ordinary people have pushed for the US to change and come closer to living up to its ideals.  We’ll start by looking  briefly at what we call “strategies for change”--techniques that people have used inside/outside of government to try to change the US.  That leads us to...

Topic 6:  State and Local Government and Election Examination 

What’s a local  or state issue you think is important? How do you raise other people’s awareness of it? What are possible ways to make change in this realm? What proposals currently exist that might be worthy of support? Together, the class will explore pressing current concerns and take steps to try to address them. To do this well, you need to know what state and local government looks like and how it works.  Again, this is not really a unit we will do all at once, but something we will work on  a day or so a week throughout the spring as we work towards a final product. 

Spring:

Topic 7:  Civics Action Project 

What’s a school, local, or state issue you think is important? How do you raise other people’s awareness of it? What are possible ways to make a change in this realm? What proposals currently exist that might be worthy of support? Together, the class will explore pressing current concerns and take steps to try to address them. To do this well, you need to know what state and local government looks like and how it works.   

Topic 8:   Facing History and Ourselves: Holocaust and Human Behavior

What was the Holocaust and how could something as horrible have actually happened? How do people’s beliefs about “we and they”  impact their actions?  What makes democracy fragile?

At first glance, this topic might seem out of the blue, but it actually connects to our Civics work really well.  Few adults realize that what happened in Germany started in a democracy that changed over time to be a dictatorship. We want you to know about the anti-semitism and the history of the Holocaust because issues remain today but also because this case study asks us to think carefully about how  democracies can struggle when rights and norms are eroded in small steps.

CONTACT:

Mr. Chute

Chuter@wellesleyps.org 

781.446.5235 X3210