Archive for October 2019

October 29th 2019

By | Published Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Lesson 2.4: Roles and Powers of the President

Enduring Understanding:

The presidency has been enhanced beyond its expressed constitutional powers.

Learning Objectives:

Explain how the president can implement a policy agenda.

Essential Knowledge:

Presidents use powers and perform functions of the office to accomplish a policy agenda.

Formal and informal powers of the president include:
  • Vetoes and pocket vetoes – formal powers that enable the president to check Congress
  • Foreign policy – both formal (Commander-in-Chief and treaties) and informal (executive agreements) powers that influence relations with foreign nations 
  • Bargaining and persuasion – informal power that enables the president to secure congressional action 
  • Executive orders – implied from the president’s vested executive power, or from power delegated by Congress, executive orders are used by the president to manage the federal government 
  • Signing statements – informal power that informs Congress and the public of the president’s interpretation of laws passed by Congress and signed by the president

Debrief: CUA #2

Activity #1: Executive Branch Simulation

  1. First, we need to elect a President
  2. Then, the President will assign the following roles (asterisks must be filled)...
    • Simulation One:
      • Agriculture* 
      • Defense* 
      • Homeland Security* 
      • Transportation 
      • Health & Human Services* 
      • Justice* 
      • State* 
      • Director of National Intelligence 
      • EPA Administrator* 
      • White House Chief Of Staff* 
      • National Security Adviser 
      • U.N. Ambassador* 
      • FEMA Administrator* 
      • White House Press Secretary* 
      • White House Senior Advisor
    • Simulation Two:
      • Energy*
      • Homeland Security*
      • Interior
      • Transportation*
      • Health & Human Services*
      • Housing & Urban Development • Justice
      • State
      • EPA Administrator*
      • White House Senior Adviser
      • White House Chief Of Staff*
      • U.N. Ambassador
      • FEMA Administrator*
      • White House Press Secretary*
So where are we going?



But first we have to research our roles: Role Sources

Then, answer the following questions in your notebook...
  1. What is the name of your department?
  2. When was your department founded? 
  3. Who is the current secretary, or leader, of your department? 
  4. What agencies or organizations operate under this department? 
  5. What is the annual budget for your department? 
  6. What is one failure and one success that your department has experienced in its history?

Activity #4: Nifty Fifty Vocab

War Powers Act
Signing Statement
Bully Pulpit
Executive Order

Leave a comment

October 25th 2019

By | Published Friday, October 25, 2019

Lesson 2.4: Roles and Powers of the President

Enduring Understanding:

The presidency has been enhanced beyond its expressed constitutional powers.

Learning Objectives:

Explain how the president can implement a policy agenda.

Essential Knowledge:

Presidents use powers and perform functions of the office to accomplish a policy agenda.

Formal and informal powers of the president include:
  • Vetoes and pocket vetoes – formal powers that enable the president to check Congress
  • Foreign policy – both formal (Commander-in-Chief and treaties) and informal (executive agreements) powers that influence relations with foreign nations 
  • Bargaining and persuasion – informal power that enables the president to secure congressional action 
  • Executive orders – implied from the president’s vested executive power, or from power delegated by Congress, executive orders are used by the president to manage the federal government 
  • Signing statements – informal power that informs Congress and the public of the president’s interpretation of laws passed by Congress and signed by the president

Debrief 2.5: 

What conclusions can you make the qualities a person needs to have in order to be a GREAT PRESIDENT!

Activity #1: Grading the Presidency

Notes over the Presidency

Leave a comment

October 23rd 2019

By | Published Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Lesson 2.4: Roles and Powers of the President

Enduring Understanding:

The presidency has been enhanced beyond its expressed constitutional powers.

Learning Objectives:

Explain how the president can implement a policy agenda.

Essential Knowledge:

Presidents use powers and perform functions of the office to accomplish a policy agenda.

Formal and informal powers of the president include:
  • Vetoes and pocket vetoes – formal powers that enable the president to check Congress
  • Foreign policy – both formal (Commander-in-Chief and treaties) and informal (executive agreements) powers that influence relations with foreign nations 
  • Bargaining and persuasion – informal power that enables the president to secure congressional action 
  • Executive orders – implied from the president’s vested executive power, or from power delegated by Congress, executive orders are used by the president to manage the federal government 
  • Signing statements – informal power that informs Congress and the public of the president’s interpretation of laws passed by Congress and signed by the president

Activity #1: Executive Branch Webquest

In your notebooks, answer the following questions 1-14 from the Executive Branch Webquest.  Please make sure to answer the questions in complete thoughts!  These will be used on your test which is open notes and will also be graded in your third notebook check.  In order for these notes to be helpful, complete thoughts will be necessary. 

Leave a comment

October 21st 2019

By | Published Sunday, October 20, 2019

Unit Two Part Two: The Executive Branch

The expressed powers of the president are set forth in Article II of the Constitution. The president has a significant degree of informal power, which has grown over time. Under the Constitution, Congress checks the power of the president, and this leads to tension between the two branches over both foreign and domestic affairs. The president and Congress have several interrelated powers. For example, while Congress passes legislation, the president must sign it into law. The president appoints judges and members of the cabinet, who must be confirmed by the Senate. The president also oversees most of the bureaucracy. Technology has impacted the president’s use of the “bully pulpit” to influence public opinion. In addition to reaching out to the public through televised press conferences and the State of the Union message, the president is increasingly making use of social media to communicate views to a vast audience.

Lesson 2.4: Roles and Powers of the President

Enduring Understanding:

The presidency has been enhanced beyond its expressed constitutional powers.

Learning Objectives:

Explain how the president can implement a policy agenda.

Essential Knowledge:

Presidents use powers and perform functions of the office to accomplish a policy agenda.

Formal and informal powers of the president include:
  • Vetoes and pocket vetoes – formal powers that enable the president to check Congress
  • Foreign policy – both formal (Commander-in-Chief and treaties) and informal (executive agreements) powers that influence relations with foreign nations 
  • Bargaining and persuasion – informal power that enables the president to secure congressional action 
  • Executive orders – implied from the president’s vested executive power, or from power delegated by Congress, executive orders are used by the president to manage the federal government 
  • Signing statements – informal power that informs Congress and the public of the president’s interpretation of laws passed by Congress and signed by the president

Debrief 2.4: Going back in time...

Let's go back and review a bit from Unit One, the Articles of Confederation, Federalism, and The Magna Carta.  Then, please take the Second District CUA.

Activity #1: Executive Branch One Pager:

In order to create a divider in your notebooks between the Legislative Branch (Congress) and the Executive Branch (The Presidency) we are going to create a one pager.  The one pager should include the following...
  • A title and subtitle across the middle
  • A border that includes the powers of the president
  • A picture in one quadrant
  • Executive checks on the other branches in the next quadrant
  • Qualifications and term limits in the next quadrant
  • 3 questions about the president in the last quadrant

Activity #2: OSAM 

Think about the Objects, Symbolism, Actions, and Meaning... 



Leave a comment

October 17th 2019

By | Published Thursday, October 17, 2019

TEST DAY!!!  

Working with the person sitting next to you and using your notebooks...  Complete the following Test.  Once you are finished with the multiple choice, make sure to complete the short answer.



Leave a comment

October 15th 2019

By | Published Tuesday, October 15, 2019

REVIEW DAY!!!

Activity #1:

Nifty Fifty Vocab, complete the following terms on the provided sheets to be placed in your notebooks...
  • Incumbent
  • Budget Process (United States)
  • Conference Committee
  • Pork Barrel Spending

Activity #2:

Congress Review Sheet.  Complete the following review over Congress.  Remember that this review can be used on your test but it must be on paper or in your notebooks.

Leave a comment

October 9th 2019

By | Published Tuesday, October 8, 2019

Lesson 2.2: The Structures, Powers, and Functions of Congress

Enduring Understanding:

The republican ideal in the U.S. is manifested in the structure and operation of the legislative branch.

Learning Objectives:

Explain how the structure, powers, and functions of both houses of Congress affect the policymaking process.

Essential Knowledge:

By design, the different structures, powers, and functions of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives affect the policy-making process.

Though both chambers rely on committees to conduct hearings and debate bills under consideration, different constitutional responsibilities of the House and Senate affect the policy-making process.
  • Chamber-specific procedures, rules, and roles that impact the policy-making process include:
  • Number of chamber and debate rules that set the bar high for building majority support .
  • Roles of Speaker of the House, President of the Senate, party leadership, and committee leadership in both chambers 
  • Filibuster and cloture 
  • Holds and unanimous consent in the Senate 
  • Role of Rules Committee, Committee of the Whole, and discharge petitions in the House
  • Treaty ratification and confirmation role of the Senate 
Congress must generate a budget that addresses both discretionary and mandatory spending, and as entitlement costs grow, discretionary spending opportunities will decrease unless tax revenues increase or the budget deficit increases.

Pork barrel legislation and logrolling affect lawmaking in both chambers

Debrief 2.3

You are in charge of the Federal Budget ($4,500,000,000,000) of spending (Expenditures) and Taxation (Revenue).  How would you divide it up.  List off the percentages that you would allocate (or assign) to each of the following categories in your notebooks...

Expenditures
  • Social Security
  • Medicare/Medicaid
  • Military
  • Science (Research)
  • Energy
  • Environment
  • Education
  • Internation Aid
  • Transportation
  • Housing and Urban Development
  • Veterans Benefits
  • Food and Agriculture
  • Interest on Debt
Revenue
  • Personal Income Tax
  • Corporate Taxes
  • Payroll Tax
  • Excise Taxes (Gas, Tobacco, Alcohol)
  • Tariffs and Duties on Imports
Take a look at the actual percentage breakdown...


What were some of the areas in which you differed from the actual budget?  How were you the same?

Activity #1: How The Budget Basics...

Go to The Budget Basics Website.  Answer the following questions in your notebooks...
  1. What responsibilities do the President and Congress have when it comes to making the budget?
  2. What is a Fiscal Year?  When is the Government's Fiscal Year?
  3. What happens when the government cannot pass a budget by October 1st?

Activity #2: TIP-C

Use the TIP-C model (Title, Information, Patterns, Conclusion) to analyze the two graphs below.  Record the answers in your notebooks...


In your notebooks, answer this question...  What are the two ways to get rid of a deficit?

Activity #3: Free Response Question:

Take a look at the following pie chart...

In your notebooks, answer the following questions:
  • Identify a change in Federal Spending from 1970 to 2023 as represented in the charts above.
  • Explain a reason why this change has occurred.
  • Explain why making changes to the budget is often difficult for elected officials.

Leave a comment

October 7th 2019

By | Published Monday, October 7, 2019

Lesson 2.2: The Structures, Powers, and Functions of Congress

Enduring Understanding:

The republican ideal in the U.S. is manifested in the structure and operation of the legislative branch.

Learning Objectives:

Explain how the structure, powers, and functions of both houses of Congress affect the policymaking process.

Essential Knowledge:

By design, the different structures, powers, and functions of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives affect the policy-making process.

Though both chambers rely on committees to conduct hearings and debate bills under consideration, different constitutional responsibilities of the House and Senate affect the policy-making process.
  • Chamber-specific procedures, rules, and roles that impact the policy-making process include:
  • Number of chamber and debate rules that set the bar high for building majority support .
  • Roles of Speaker of the House, President of the Senate, party leadership, and committee leadership in both chambers 
  • Filibuster and cloture 
  • Holds and unanimous consent in the Senate 
  • Role of Rules Committee, Committee of the Whole, and discharge petitions in the House
  • Treaty ratification and confirmation role of the Senate 
Congress must generate a budget that addresses both discretionary and mandatory spending, and as entitlement costs grow, discretionary spending opportunities will decrease unless tax revenues increase or the budget deficit increases.

Pork barrel legislation and logrolling affect lawmaking in both chambers

Activity #1 - Congressional Session

Each of you will act as a member of Congress in an upcoming class simulation. In this simulation your goal is to pass at least one bill (created by you or your classmates) into a law. This bill may alter or add any classroom rule, policy, or procedure provided that it does not violate the Constitution. In your case, the Constitution is NKCSD district or OPHS policy. For this exercise, we must assume these policies are "supreme".

Here is the order in which we will proceed:

House and Senate assignments

Selection of leadership for each house (Speaker of the House and Senate Majority Leader)

Committee assignments (Minimum of 3 members per committee)
Committee on Classroom Procedures
Committee on Rules and Consequences
Committee on Assessments and Grading
Committee on Projects and Group Work

Authoring of bills by all member of congress

Session Goals

1.  Elect a Speaker of the House and President of the Senate
2.  Assign Members to Committees
3.  Assign Bills to Committees
4.  Study/Debate/Amend Bills in Committee
5.  Pass only 1 Bill out of Committee
6.  Debate 4 Bills in your whole Chamber
7.  Pass 1 Bill from your house.  
8.  SWITCH TO OTHER CHAMBER
9.  Pass to President
10.Override?

Leave a comment

October 3rd 2019

By | Published Wednesday, October 2, 2019

Hey everyone, I am sorry I am gone today.  We will finish the legislative branch simulation when I get back on Monday.  For today we have one item to work on...

Activity 1: Finish Primer

In your notebooks, we will travel through Parts 3 and 4 to learn the basics about the Legislative Branch.  You will have the whole class so make sure to work efficiently!  Note the answers to each of the "Parts," or stations in your notebooks.  You can find a copy of each of the parts with this PDF.

Leave a comment

Search

Swedish Greys - a WordPress theme from Nordic Themepark. Converted by LiteThemes.com.