Lesson Plan 5 - City University of New York

The Constitution and the Structure

2 of the U.S. Government

Lesson Plan 5

OBJECTIVES

Students will review FANBOYs and be introduced to dependent clauses. Students will review the world map and locate certain countries. Students will review forms of government and apply terms to descriptions of actual governments of selected countries. Students will review the powers of each branch of the federal government. Students will read short news articles that depict checks and balances in action, write summaries, and identify the check. Students will review and apply the scoring criteria for the TASC essay. Students will write a persuasive essay on the tenure of Supreme Court judges. Students will look at a graph showing government/civil service jobs. Students will learn about various civil service positions and the procedure for applying and testing for civil service jobs.

MATE R IALS FOR LESSON 5

Activity 1: Introduction of Dependent Clauses

? Stem sentences

Activity 2: Countries and Forms of Government--Review

? Write-on/wipe-off maps ? Handout: Forms of Government

Activity 3: Branches, Checks and Balances--Review

? A checks and balances chart from the Internet

? Articles on checks and balances

Activity 4: Test Practice ? Pages 9 and 10 from Common Core Basics (not included)

Activity 5: Examining Scoring for TASC Essay ? TASC essay anchor papers

Activity 6: Writing a Practice TASC Essay ? NY Times Upfront article "Should Supreme Court Justices Continue to Have Life Tenure?"

Activity 7: A Government Job ? Graph: Civil Service Employees ? Reading: Why Work for NYC?

Activity 8: Viewing Occupational Videos ? Internet access and computers for every two students ? Occupational Videos worksheet

Activity 9: How Do You Get a Civil Service Job? ? Fact Sheet on Civil Service

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ACTIVITY 1

Introduction of Dependent Clauses

MATERIALS: Stem sentences, attached

STEPS:

1 Briefly review the use of FANBOYS to combine sentences by writing sentences about students on the board, for instance:

Carlo had worked all night and was exhausted. He came to class anyway.

Ask students which FANBOY, "and," "so" or "but," would fit there. With students, combine the sentences, drawing attention to the placement of the comma and writing the rule about commas and coordinating conjunctions on the board.

2 Do a few more examples, with "and," and "so,"

For instance, Eileen studied hard. She passed the test.

3 When you feel students have the hang of it, ask each student to write a sentence about their partner using "and" "so" or "but" and go around the room reading them (this can be fun as students can make fun of each other).

4 Introduce dependent clauses. Say that FANBOYS are one way to combine sentences but there are other ways, too. One way is dependent clauses.

5 Write "Although Carlo had worked all night and was exhausted" on the board. Ask students, Is this a sentence? Students will likely answer that it is not. Ask students what it needs to be a sentence.

6 Explain that this is a dependent clause. It cannot stand alone. How do you know if you have a dependent clause? It begins with a dependent clause word. (You may want to stick with just "although" and "because" for this introduction). Write "He came to class anyway." Ask students "Is this a sentence?"

7 Show that the dependent clause can come at the beginning or the end. Write the sentence both ways. Tell students that if the dependent clause comes at the beginning, there has to be a comma at the end of it.

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8 Repeat the procedure with "because." Write "Because Eileen studied hard." Is it a sentence? Ask students to help you finish the sentence. Then show how the "because" phrase can come at the beginning or the end.

9 When you feel students understand the concept, hand out the sheet of stem sentences. Have students work in pairs to combine a set of sentences and put it up on the board. Review as a whole class.

ACTIVITY 2

Countries and Forms of Government Review

MATERIALS: Write-on/wipe-off world maps ? Countries-and-forms-ofgovernment handout, attached

STEPS:

1 Have students work in pairs. Write the names of the countries that are featured in the handout on the board. Ask students to (1) find and label the countries (2) Read the descriptions of forms of government and (3) decide which form of government each country has.

2 Make each group/pair of students responsible for reporting back to the whole class on 1-2 countries, depending upon how many students you have in the class. Review as a whole class.

ACTIVITY 3

Branches, Checks and Balances Review

MATERIALS: Reading on three branches given for homework ? Handout on checks and balances with short articles

STEPS:

1 Divide the class into three groups--one for each branch of the federal government. Give each group one section of the board. Ask students, in their groups, to summarize the important points about each branch, using these guiding questions:

? What does this branch consist of (who is in it)? ? What is this branch responsible for? ? How can this branch check other branches? ? What are some important things to know about this branch?

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Have students write a summary of their branch on the board. You will have to pay particular attention to the executive branch. Students often don't realize that the entire cabinet as well as many agencies like the FDA, FDIC, etc. are all part of the executive branch.

2 Have each group present their branch to the rest of the class. The other class members can ask questions. At the end of their presentation, each group should say how their branch can "check" the other branches.

3 Tell students that now they are going to see the checking and balancing in action, with contemporary events. Give out the article packet. Assign each group an article to read. The group must write a short summary (you may want to write a guide on the board using the 5W questions), then say which branch is checking which other branch, and how.

ACTIVITY 4 Test Practice

MATERIALS: Pages 9 and 10 from the Common Core Achieve TASC Exercise Book, Social Studies

STEPS: 1 Give out the questions. Have students work on them in pairs. Walk

around as students are working to get a sense of what they might be struggling with. 2 Review as a whole class.

ACTIVITY 5

Examining the Scoring Criteria for the TASC essay

MATERIALS: TASC anchor papers

STEPS:

1 Tell students that they have now written a few persuasive essays and it is time to take a good look at what will be asked of them on the TASC. Brainstorm with students the characteristics of an effective persuasive essay. What does a persuasive essay have to include to be considered persuasive? As students make suggestions,

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probe their thinking and keep notes on the board so that you have a running list of characteristics to look for in an essay.

2 Write these criteria on the board. The TASC essay should:

? Introduce a claim. ? Support the claim with logical reasoning and relevant

evidence from the passages. ? Acknowledge and address alternate or opposing claims. ? Organize the reasons and evidence logically. ? Use words, phrases, and clauses to connect ideas and

to clarify the relationships among claims, counterclaims, reasons, and evidence. ? Establish and maintain a formal style. ? Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the argument presented.

3 Give out the handout with the three anchor papers and directions. Have students work in pairs or threes to decide which essay should receive a 2, 3 or 4. It is not enough to decide on a score, though; they must be able to give reasons for their answer, based on the scoring criteria above. Walk around as students discuss the essays. In particular, see if students can identify the claim and the reasons/examples that support the claim. You may also want to draw attention to whether the writer has referred to the two source articles. Are they organized? How? Which essay is the strongest and why? Which is the weakest and why?

4 Bring the class together. Ask which essay students thought was the best and why. You may run into some misconceptions about (1) what a good essay should be and (2) what the TASC essay is asking for. This is a good time to get a sense of what ideas students have about this and correct misconceptions. Unfortunately, the highest scoring essay, C, employs overly formal language, like "most parents failing to ever discuss with their children sound economic foundations." It's good to point out to students that using fancy language isn't the key here.

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ACTIVITY 6 Writing a Practice TASC Essay

MATERIALS: New York Times Upfront article: Should Supreme Court judges have life tenure?

STEPS:

1 Ask students, Would you ever want to have a job for your entire life? Supreme Court judges are appointed for their entire lives. There has been some debate about whether that is a bad thing or a good thing. What do you think? What could be some problems with it? What would be some benefits?

2 Have students brainstorm ideas. As they cite reasons, place them in a chart you write on the board with "Pro" on one column and "Con" in the other. When you have enough ideas, have students work in groups to discuss a little further. Walk around as students are talking to see if other ideas pop up. If they do, put them on the chart on the board.

3 Give out the reading SHOULD SUPREME COURT JUSTICES CONTINUE TO HAVE LIFE TENURE? Have students read the "yes" piece first. Ask them to find at least 3 different reasons why the writer, Neil Richards, thinks that supreme court justices should have life tenure.

4 In pairs, ask the students to discuss: of these reasons, which do you think is the best reason?

5 Ask how many students are leaning toward "yes." Tell them to look at the board and at what they have just read. What TWO reasons will they use in their argument?

6 Repeat the procedure with "No." Make sure that all students have made a final decision now about "yes" or "no."

7 Ask students to look at the third paragraph of the "yes" piece. What is the main idea of that paragraph? What are the supporting details?

8 Have them look at the third paragraph of the "no" piece and repeat the process. Make the point that each paragraph is about one main idea. When they write their essays, they too, should make sure that each paragraph is about one main idea.

9 Write a simple template on the board:

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Paragraph 1: Introduction Introduce the topic ? why does it matter State your opinion

Paragraph 2: One reason I believe... is... Further explanation Specific example(s)

Paragraph 3: Another reason I believe .... is.... Further explanation Specific example(s)

Conclusion

10 Have students write their essay while you circulate and provide guidance and support.

ACTIVITY 7 A Government Job

MATERIALS: Graph, Civil Service Employees ? Text from nyc.job/gov Why Work for NYC?

STEPS:

1 Tell students that from time to time they will be exploring jobs and postsecondary pathways in this class. In Lesson Three, they wrote about their aspirations. Now they are going to start the process of exploring various career options as a way to get started on creating a career pathway for themselves. They've been studying government for the past two lessons, so now they are going to do some exploring on government jobs, also called civil service jobs.

2 Give out the graph entitled "Civil Service Employees." Ask them to take a look at the graph and tell you what it shows. Does it show change over time? Percentages of a whole? Once it is established that it is a line graph and shows change over time, ask students "what process does this graph show?" Continue to ask probing questions until you get to the idea that jobs for civil service workers have been increasing. Ask students to look at the color-coded lines to tell you which sectors would be most promising for a job seeker. What does "local" (the pink line) probably mean?

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3 "So, government jobs are increasing." Ask students whether they've ever considered a government job or know anyone who has a government job. Then ask students to brainstorm with you what types of jobs could be considered civil service jobs. Lead students to think about all kinds of public services--transportation; services for different groups (the mentally ill; the aging; preschoolers; lowincome families); corrections; courts; government offices. You might also give them a list of agencies in a particular town or city. For NYC, for instance, you might want to write some of the following agencies on the board: Parks Department, HRA, Department of Education, Board of Elections, Libraries. For New York State, you might want to include some of these agencies: DMV; Department of Transportation; Corrections; New York State Department of Education; Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse. Brainstorm with students what kinds of jobs might exist in some of these departments.

4 Ask students to speak with a partner about: Do you or does anyone you know have a government job? What is the job? What is it like? What are some of the pros and cons of a government job?

5 Bring the class together and ask for a report back. Hand out WHY WORK FOR NYC? and ask students to skim the text. What would be some of the benefits? Have students call them out and write some on the board.

ACTIVITY 8 Viewing Occupational Videos

MATERIALS: Graphic organizer for watching videos ? Access to the Internet, one computer for each pair of students, and this link: Jobs4jersey. com (click on "Toolkit" and then "Video Library" for access to the videos)

STEPS:

1 Ask students to choose a partner and two occupations from the list. Give out the graphic organizer. You may want to watch one video as a whole class to model the process for students. Once they know what they are listening for, show students that (1) there are captions and (2) they can pause the video at any time to stop and record information.

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