As the news becomes inundated more and more each day with news about Federal spending, budgets and the debt limit it is vital that we all remain educated about what these things are, what they mean, and how they work. Today’s video provides a short and simple explanation of one of those key points of contention in Washington D.C. — the debt limit. Also included is information on the budget in general, the responsibilities of Congress and the President in the process, and the Constitutionality of it all.
All videos are owned by their respective YouTube channels and users and are embedded here for your benefit to use in class in compliance with the appropriate copyright provisions.
Ancient Rome was once the most powerful empire in the world, covering almost the entirety of Western Europe and the Mediterranean Sea. The seat of power for much of the empire’s existence was the city of Rome itself, unequaled in splendor in the ancient world and a city that saw a great deal of “firsts” that still exist in our modern cities. Today’s infographic details many of these first and other impressive and astounding facts about the supercity of Rome. [VIA]
We often hear the term gerrymandering around election time, but what does it mean? What does gerrymandering do? Why is it important come election time? How in the world does it work? Today’s Video from TED helps explain and answer all these questions.
All videos are owned by their respective YouTube channels and users and are embedded here for your benefit to use in class in compliance with the appropriate copyright provisions.
“Inclusive education is a process where by the school systems, strategic plans, and policies adapt and change to include teaching strategies for a wider more diverse range of children and their families. Inclusive education implicitly means to identify a child’s learning style and adapt the classroom and teaching strategies to ensure high quality learning outcomes for all members of the class.” (Senese Inclusive Education)
Anyone familiar with education in the United States is very familiar with the concept of inclusion, and many of us have taught in inclusion classrooms. But how have we gotten from the 1972 Mills v. Board of Education decision that ruled children with disabilities could not be excluded from public schools to the current version of the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act (IDEA)? Today’s infographic helps explain that.
If you’ve been looking at ways to try livening up your lessons, some alternate assessments, or if you have some of that ever elusive spare time in your lesson planning, you might want to take a peek at Playing History.
Playing History advertises itself as a source for historical games, but you’re not going to find old versions of Pong, Pac-Man, Mario, or even Final Fantasy here (thought you can still die of dysentery in the original Oregon Trail!). All the games on Playing History are centered on key events or concepts in history – primarily American and British – with the other social sciences mixed in throughout.
Close to 130 games are available and the front page of Playing History allows you to pinpoint areas of interest through a prominent tag cloud or you could search and/or browse all the games to find something appropriate for your classes. A free registration allows you to rate and review the games as well, but these are not limited to educators so take them with a grain of salt.
Make sure that you test any of the games on Playing History before using them with class to ensure they are appropriate for your students and that they will work on your systems. Just remember that any flash-based games will not work on Apple products like an iPad.
With so much in the news lately about the Second Amendment and gun rights as well as general questions about the Constitutionality of pieces of legislation and the general rights that Americans enjoy, students need to be made aware of what rights they do and do not have under the Constitution and Pocket Law Firm can help.
Pocket Law Firm is an iPad only app that according to iTunes lets students “decide if potential clients have a right, match them with the right lawyer, and win the case. The more clients you serve and the more cases you win, the faster your law firm grows!”
The gameplay is very straight forward and similar to other games where you have to perform tasks in a certain amount of time What is unique about Pocket Law Firm is that as a client enters the office to be paired with a lawyer, students have to determine whether or not they have a Constitutional right, given the case, and then they pair them with a lawyer who is an expert in that portion of the Constitution. Cases are won and lost based on the proper assessment of a right and pairing with a lawyer.
As you progress through Pocket Law Firm, the lawyers attain new skills in Constitutional law and new lawyers with different skills can be added. Each case, when won or lost, also includes an explanation of the actual rights as defined by the Constitution and sometimes corresponding cases for further research.
I highly recommend Pocket Law Firm as not only a fun game, but also as a tool to allow students to assess cases based on the Constitution and to study where in the US Constitution those rights are granted or protected.
American politics and the US Constitution seem to be on peoples’ minds more and more these days. From debates about gun control, taxation, and governmental powers to procedural events such as the second inaugural of President Obama to new Cabinet nominations it is hard to avoid Constitutional questions today. It is critical that we work hard to help our students not only understand these issues, but also the key documents continually referenced in the debated – the US Constitution and Bill of Rights. The key is helping them understand the importance and relevance of documents that are over 225 years old in their daily lives in 2013.
Several sites are available that have great interactive lessons and games that can help you teach them the importance of these documents and how losing them, or any of the rights they protect and guarantee could affect your everyday life:
National Constitution Center – You can read through the Constitution and use hyperlinks throughout the text lead to exhibits at the Constitution Center in Philadelphia. There are also lots of lesson plan ideas and activities for teaching specific aspects of the law, rights, and protections guaranteed to all citizens.
Constitution Facts – A collection of online quizzes, puzzles, word searches, dates, glossaries, and more for use in teaching the US Constitution. The activities are broken down by grade levels from K through adult.
Celebrate the Constitution – From Scholastic, this is their Constitution Day activities page. A great deal of information, primarily for upper elementary & middle school students is available that walks them through the writing and meaning of the Constitution as well as activities including a scavenger hunt at the Constitution Center, an online quiz, and the ability to write their own Bill of Rights.
Annenberg Classroom – Eight interactive, flash based games that allow students to work with not only the Constitution and Bill of rights as living documents, but that also allow them to try their hands at governing as the President of the United States or attempt to navigate the nation’s legal system from local courts all the way to the Supreme Court.
Bill of Rights Institute – Four flash based games are available where students can see what life would be like without certain protections of the Bill of Rights, where they can see all the ways in which their personal information and activities are monitored, where they can interview the Founders to reconstruct James Madison’s missing convention notes, and a quiz of Constitutional knowledge in which they can “duel” classmates.
These five sites are only the tip of the iceberg when looking to find great activities and web-based projects for learning and teaching the US Constitution. If you know of anymore, please feel free to let me know, I would love to hear what you use!
NJBiblio 