New HS Class

[Unregistered]

I'm teaching a new class at my school for the Winter Term. It is called Constitutional Studies. I told by the administrators that I can create any curriculum I feel would be best. This is an elective course and is for one term. It is for Juniors and Seniors counts as an "Honors" weighted course. My curriculum plans are:
(1) Study the Articles of Confederation and why they didn't really work.
(2) Study the events leading up to the construction of the Constitution.
(3) Study the Constitution.
(4) Study court cases and the Supreme Court rulings.

I was also thinking, for a group project, to have the students in groups of 3 or 4 to create their own country and write their own constitution, explaining why they chose to do so.

Post back how you think about this.
Thanks for your help.

[Unregistered]

Just wait until you get to the Second Amendment. :D

By the way, the Federalist Papers should factor into the curriculum at some point.

[Unregistered]

I would also add a component on how the Constitution DIRECTLY affects the lives of students, applying to current events.

Contact the We the People folks--they have an awesome curriculum on the Constitution. You might also check with the State Bar of your state; they should have a law-related education department that ought to have some good materials. The Texas State Bar is an absolutely amazing resource!

Your project idea is a good one, as long as you set some parameters. You might also throw in some "wrenches" as they work on it, to be sure that they are really thinking deeply.

Good luck with your new course.

[Unregistered]

Ditto on "WE THE PEOPLE" Superb resource!

[ceflynn]

clubhistorian.com is developing into a great resource for history projects. Anyone can create a project online with easy to use tools. It is free and has a lot of cool features.

It would be a great addition to your curriculum.

For any help contact me at clubhistorian @ gmail.com