Wednesday November 24, 2010 – Periods 1, 5, 7 Wednesday December 1, 2010 – Period 2
SSA paper assignment 2 is due Monday Nov. 29th in your Turnitin account. This should be a rough draft of your completed paper. The final draft is due on Friday December 3rd.
In fulfilling its responsibility to provide public information, the news media performs four significant roles. In its signaler role, the news media brings relevant events and problems into public view. In its common carrier role, the news media serves as a channel through which political leaders can address the public. In its watchdog role, the news media scrutinizes official behavior for evidence of deceitful, careless, or corrupt acts. Finally in its public representative role, the news media is required to adopt a consistent political viewpoint and public accountability, neither of which the news media possesses.
Monday November 22, 2010 – Periods 1, 5, 7 Monday November 29, 2010 – Period 2
SSA paper assignment 2 is due Monday Nov. 29th in your Turnitin account. This should be a rough draft of your completed paper. The final draft is due on Friday December 3rd.
Today we continued with our Chapter 9 notes covering the role of media. The American press was initially tied to the nation’s political party system (partisan press) but gradually developed an independent position (objective press). In the process, the news shifted from a political orientation, which emphasized political values and ideas, to journalistic orientation, which stresses newsworthy information and evaluations.
We worked on creating a political ad for two presidential candidates during the last part of class. We began with examples of past Presidential campaign ads to gain some perspective on elements of a political ad. The students then worked on their storyboards to create either positive, negative, or issue based political ad for the remainder of the class.
Thursday November 18, 2010 – Periods 1, 5, 7 Friday November 19, 2010 – Period 2
SSA paper assignment 2 is due Monday Nov. 29th in your Turnitin account. This should be a rough draft of your completed paper. The final draft is due on Friday December 3rd.
Chapter 7 and 8 review worksheet was completed, corrected, and discussed in class. A quiz on chapters 7 and 8 will take place next Wednesday November 24th. The chapter 9 notebook guide was distributed and assigned for homework.
We began chapter 9 with class notes on public opinion. Public opinion consists of those views held by ordinary citizens that government takes into account in making its decisions. Public officials have many means of gauging public opinion but increasingly have relied on public opinion polls to make this determination. Modern polls are based upon representative, randomly selected samples that in turn mirror the opinion contained in a much larger population. Polls can also indicate to leaders the direction, intensity, or stability of opinions.
We watch the short video clip below from CBS on polling and public opinion.
Tuesday November 16, 2010 (Late Start) – Periods 1, 5, 7 Wednesday Nove,ber 17, 2010 – Period 2
The first SSA paper assignment (minimum: the introduction paragraph with a thesis statement followed by paragraphs framing the issue) is due tomorrow Wednesday Nov. 17th in your Turnitin account.
Today we concluded our candidate and interest groups activity with a meet and greet. The meet and greet is intended to serve as a dialogue between the interest groups and candidates about which issues to focus on during the campaign. The ideal outcome of the meet and greet is for candidates to secure endorsements and financial support from interest groups and for interest groups to find candidates who support their causes.
Wednesday November 10, 2010 – Periods 1, 5, 7 Monday November 15, 2010 – Period 2
The first SSA paper assignment (minimum: the introduction paragraph with a thesis statement followed by paragraphs framing the issue) is due next Wednesday Nov. 17th in your Turnitin account.
Students worked either as an interest group representative or in a group representing a candidate from a political party. Each group will be creating a poster version of an informational Web site with a position statement or talking points covering the major issues in a fictitious presidential campaign. In our next class, candidate groups will meet with interest group representatives to form alliances that will help their candidates get elected and help the interest groups call attention to their issues.
Monday November 8, 2010 – Periods 1, 5, 7 Tuesday November 9, 2010 – Period 2
We finished watching the Frontline video Sick Around the World with Washington Post correspondent T.R. Reid, as he found out how Switzerland and the United States delivered health care.
The Social Science Analysis paper guidelines were handed out and discussed in class. The focus of our SSA will be health care in the United States. You can watch the Sick Around America preview video below to help you decide your thesis for your paper.
Thursday November 4, 2010 – Periods 1, 5, 7 Friday November 5, 2010 – Period 2
Today we did our Chapter 7 notebook check. While notebooks were being checked, the class did a worksheet on representative interest groups.
After checking student’s notebooks, we watched a Frontline video that featured Washington Post correspondent T.R. Reid, as he found out how five other capitalist democracies — the United Kingdom, Japan, Germany, Taiwan and Switzerland — deliver health care, and what the United States might learn from their successes and their failures. Below is a short video preview of the video Sick Around the World.
Tuesday November 2, 2010 – Periods 1, 5, 7 Wednesday November 3, 2010 – Period 2
Today we looked at political parties and the individuals who represent nearly every significant interest in our society that make up each party. The Republican and Democratic coalitions are very broad. Each includes a substantial proportion of nearly every economic, ethnic, religious, and regional grouping in the country.
The class then completed a survey and tallied their scores to see where they fall along a political spectrum (liberal – moderate – conservative).
Finally, we ended class with an introduction to the four health care models found throughout the world. This was to prepare for our social science analysis paper by giving everyone some basic information on health care systems.
Government / Economics Class 