Teaching AP Government in a Shortened Semester: Week Four, Impeachment, and an absence

Week 4, Days 14-18 What was covered this week: Day 14- Quantitative Analysis FRQ review as a class as a warm-up (My students struggled and we will be looking at this more) As an activity, students made flow charts or cartoons about how the legislative process using the Library of Congress as their resource. Days […]

Federalist 78, the Judiciary, and an argumentative essay

I have stated how much I love teaching the Supreme Court. It simply cannot be overstated. I could teach an entire semester on the subject, but alas I have a semester to get through the entire AP Government content. For example, this morning I listened to “Justice Neil Gorsuch, Live at America’s Town Hall” and […]

Congress and the President

After giving notes on the presidency, I wanted to really show students how it works in action today and historically. Here are a few ways I did so. I also discuss the American Presidency in another post. I used a block day and a day for these in total. If you are curious about my […]

The State of the Union Twitter Party

Article II, Section 3 “He shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient…” Well, this State of the Union address has been mired by the government shutdown and a disinvite to the chambers […]

Pacificus and Helvidius– or Why Hamilton and Madison broke up.

This year, I’ve had the pleasure of being on the Bill of Rights Teacher Council. It’s a fun gig and I highly recommend working with this organization. With that being said, I was able to attend a colloquium on Liberty and Executive Power. The group of teachers was amazing and I had such a great […]

Wrapping Up with Lessons in the Judiciary

It’s been 9 weeks since we started school and I am half way through the semester and the redesign. I’m tired and unsure, but after giving the FRQ and the unit test, I’m feeling a bit better about how I’ve taught this quarter. If you are struggling or doubting yourself, chances are you are doing […]