Social+Studies+9

Social Studies 9

Here's a newsletter devoted to the teaching of Social Studies. It is the work of Social Studies teacher par excellence, Leo West. Take a look!

Here is a start of very basic outline and some enduring understandings with some essential questions Unit 1 Citizenship
 * American Political and Economic Systems**
 * What does it mean to be an American Citizen?
 * What are the roles and responsibilities of citizenship
 * What are the rights and duties of citizenship
 * Diversity and the American Mosaic
 * What are the demographics of the United States?
 * What is the history of diversity as expressed in both the history and the process that has given the U.S. this diversity

Unit 2 Creation of the United States Government

Unit 3 The Federal Government Identify the responsibilities of each branch of government
 * What were the causes and the philosophy that drove the formation of an Independent U.S.?
 * Social Contract theory of government
 * What were the reasons for the creation of the U.S. Constitution?
 * Preamble
 * Compromises
 * Adoption / Federalist papers
 * What is the structure of the U.S. Constitution?
 * Philosophy /Separation of Powers/ Checks and Balances / Federalism
 * Amendment process
 * What were the reasons for the creation of the Bill of Rights?
 * The rights contained
 * Interpretation
 * What is the role of the courts?
 * Judicial Review
 * Legislative
 * What is the primary responsibility of this branch?
 * What is the structure and roles in the legislative branch?
 * How does the branch function to achieve its role?
 * Executive
 * What is the primary responsibility of this branch?
 * What is the structure and roles in the executive branch?
 * How does the branch especially the president achieve the goals of the role?
 * Judicial Branch
 * What is theprimary responsibility of this branch?
 * What is the structure and the roles in the judicial branch?
 * How does the branch function to achieve its role?

Unit 4 State/Local government / Voting and Elections Unit 5 The American Economic System

Given my previous experience and work and the recommendations in the paper I wrote I would suggest the following courses. I will supply more detail on each: American Poilitical and Economics Systems semester 1 World History with emphassis on Western Culture from 1300-1945 semester 2
 * Posted by Steve Bullick: **

Here are some resources for civics lifted from SAS Civics that I was a part of for PDE.

**__ Civic Mission of Schools Resources __** **__ Classroom Instruction Resources __** //**CNN**// ([|www.cnn.com]) A relative newcomer to the news business (but over a quarter century old) and often criticized for venturing away from "news" and creating a new form of entertainment. Note that the CNN site does not credit //TIME// for anything. //**ABC News**// ([|www.abcnews.go.com]) Do "more Americans get their news from ABC than from any other source?" Contrast this site to those of its historic competitors, //**NBC**// ([]) and **//CBS//** ([]). How are they different? Similar? Now contrast to relative upstart **//Fox//** ([]). Are there different perspectives of the same news event? How is that? //**Al Jazeera** ([]// ) How is "news" impacted by culture? Contrast media outlets with Al Jazeera, an Arabic news source with a worldwide following, and see for yourself. //**The BBC**// ([|www.news.bbc.co.uk]) Once again, a widely respected international source of news. How is it different from what you have gained from domestic sources? //**National Public Radio**// (U.S.) ([|www.npr.org]) How does National Public Radio, an American source of news, differ from its counterparts?
 * 1) [|PennCORD]
 * 2) [|Campaign for the Civic Mission of Schools]
 * 3) The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE)
 * 4) Contact info for Jason Raia, State Coordinator for We The People and Project Citizen: jraia@ffvf.org or (610) 933-8825 x233. You can also contact James Sostack (james_sostack@etownschools.org. )
 * __ Document Resources __**
 * 1) [|National Archives]l
 * 2) [|Our Documents]
 * 3) [|Doc Heritage (PHMC)]
 * 4) **Pennsylvania Constitution** (most recent version) ([|www.sites.state.pa.us/PA_Constitution.html])
 * 5) **Pennsylvania Constitution** (multiple resources and analysis from Duquesne School of Law)
 * 6) **The Federalist Papers** - []
 * 7) //**[|The Pennsylvania Manual]**// is published biannually by Bureau of Publications and offers a wealth of information and statistics about the governmental entities of the Commonwealth. It is available at cost from the State Bookstore, or it can be viewed or downloaded.
 * 8) Landmark Cases (a joint effort of the U.S. Supreme Court Historical Society and Street Law)
 * 1) [|National Constitution Center]
 * 2) PennCORD Keystone Programs ([])
 * 3) [|Our Courts]
 * 4) iCivics
 * 5) [|Pennsylvania Bar Association]
 * 6) Pennsylvania Land Choices Superior resource from Pennsylvania's Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. You can download the PDF or contact the Coordinator.
 * 7) Pennsylvania YMCA's Youth and Government Program
 * 8) The White House
 * 9) Pennsylvania House of Representatives
 * 10) Pennsylvania Senate
 * 11) Pennsylvania Supreme Court and Unified Judicial System
 * 12) United States Executive Branch Official Websites
 * 13) United States House of Representatives
 * 14) United States Supreme Court
 * 15) Uniited States Senate
 * 16) **The Legislative Process** - []
 * 17) **Dirksen Congressional Center** - []
 * 18) [|The News Literacy Project]--Sorting and processing information in the Information Age is a major 21st Century skill.
 * 19) **Annenberg Classroom** ([|www.annenbergclassroom.org])
 * 20) **The Annenberg Trust at Sunnylands** ([])
 * 21) **Center for Civic Education** ([|www.civiced.org]) the Center for Civic Education, including information about //Project Citizen// and //We The People.//
 * 22) The **Bill of Rights Institute** ( [|www.billofrightsinstitute.org] )
 * 23) **Pennsylvania Student Voices** ([|www.student-voices.org/pennsylvania])
 * 24) The ** Constitutional Rights Foundation ** ([|www.crf-usa.org])
 * 25) **Street Law** ([|www.streetlaw.com])
 * __ News Perspectives __** The //Economist// ([|www.economist.com]). Based in the UK and considered one of the most respected and analytical sources of international news.
 * //TIME//** ([|www.time.com/time]) An older and perhaps even more respected American source of online news. Note the cooperation with CNN (see below).
 * The World Press Review** ([]) provides an interesting anthology of press headlines and stories from around the world.
 * Xinhua** ([]) the official news agency of the Chinese government.