Teaching AP Government in a Shortened Semester- Week Six The Bureaucracy

Posting a bit early this week, but we have block day and a three day weekend coming! 

Week 6, Days 24-28

I always think of the scene from Zootopia when I teach the bureaucracy.

What was covered this week:

Day 24- Lecture on the bureaucracy (Very simple. I was more focused on having them work with the application of the content) To be honest, I didn’t have the time or space to make this what I wanted, so I needed to spend the time the rest of the week on helping them with application.

Days 25- We started with “What is Milk?” to work on our iron triangles (students struggle with those) as well as defining the role of the bureaucratic agency. It was helpful to work through it with students so they understood how each part of the triangle worked with the others. We worked with a very specific law, again to just simplify it so they understood the interactions.

Once I felt like they got it, we moved on to a C-Span lesson (Congressional Oversight Questions and Notes Handout)

Day 26/27- (Block Day)- Continued the C-Span lesson and allowed students time to work on their speed dating.

Outside the classroom work: Students had an Albert.io due this week and had to make sure they were ready for Friday. Honestly, they are burnt out and I need them fresh and ready for next week.

Overall reflection: Here is the thing. Of the 42 days left, 5 are late start days, I will be missing a few as well and I am really starting to question myself on this. What I’m currently trying to figure out is what to do on the late start days where attendance will be low, but I don’t want to burn the day either. The other issue is that we have a 2-week spring break. I refuse to assign anything over break because I feel like my students need a break as a lot of them are finalizing college plans and a lot of families are taking trips before their senior leaves.

I decided to teach the bureaucracy before the judicial branch because to me it made way more sense after the president.

Also, I am not a fan of teaching the bureaucracy. Maybe I just need some better ways to do it. I’m also burnt out with all the current events to keep up with (because we do keep up with them in class) and all the other “teacher workload” that exists.

Days Left Until the AP Test: 41 class days, 5 of them are late starts and next week we have a Blood Drive which means I’ll be missing a lot of students.

Current Mood: Why. This class needs to be a year long.

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