American Government Syllabus

Instructor: Kristin D. Hughes, M.A.T Ed.S

School: Idaho Arts Charter

Office: Room 40

Phone: 208-463-4324

Course Description:The purpose of this course is to prepare students to be active and engaged citizens in American democracy. The course will introduce the fundamentals of American government and politics, particularly the major institutions and processes. Further, it aims to develop skills and abilities in analyzing and evaluating issues and public policies in American politics. The course will also stimulate interest in American politics and impart tools that can be of use to all life-long students of politics by; giving students an analytical perspective on government and politics in the United States with diverse positions to controversies in American politics and student opportunities to develop their own ideas.

Course Goals: Upon completion of this class, students will;

1.Identify and Comprehend the foundations of the U.S. Constitution.

2. Recognize and Evaluate U.S. political beliefs and behaviors.

3. Understand U.S. political parties, interest groups, and mass media.

4. Know the important institutions of the national government.

5.Examine and Understand U.S. civil rights and civil liberties.

Expectations: Students are expected to Act for themselves;

  • Learning does not come without effort and sacrifice (common elements: reading and studying and writing or solving problems, complete assignments).
  • Give diligent effort and preparation for class (common elements: organizing required readings or assignments; thinking about questions the material raises, develop and answer questions, be thorough).
  • Maintain a proper attitude toward learning (common elements: e.g. never giving up, being positive, doing one’s best)
  • Participate in classwork, homework, and group work. (common elements: discuss assignments, trying out ideas, and test understanding, apply what you are learning, )
  • Teach one another (common elements: be on time, cooperative effort, be actively engaged—listening, speaking, thinking, discussing, presenting = deeper insight, teach other students what you’ve learned.)
  • Ponder/Review (common elements: reflect after each learning experience, review classwork/assignments and write down impressions and insights you’ve received, participate in assessment activities, pursue unanswered questions and discuss them with your peers/groups and ask questions).

The instructor will:

  • Design and prepare learning experiences for students.
  • Create assignments that will help students prepare effectively for the future.
  • Meet with students one on one to strengthen learning and understanding.
  • Help students actively engage with the material and each other by using a variety of methods and approaches.
  • Assess student performance in as objective and accurate manner as possible.
  • Review the learning experience and record insights on how to better student learning.

Attendance, Homework, and Make-up Work Policies: Attendance is mandatory and will be taken on a daily basis through power school. Regular attendance is essential to your success in this class. I will be strictly following the schools guide lines and practices in regards to attendance. (*See IACS handbook for any clarifications regarding attendance).

Homework is an integral part of your educational career. Homework assignments will help to reinforce skills and content taught in the classroom and help you to develop responsibility and gain mastery of course subject matter. Homework will be a regular and active part of your learning and is essential to this course, so you should incorporate helpful strategies into your daily study routine, like using your planner, to help you be successful with homework.

All assignments will be posted in two spots, on my personal website for the class: and on the whiteboard in the classroom. Posting the work on the whiteboard and on my website is to help give you an edge and a tool in completing your homework and course work for this class. I will be following the IACS handbook in regards to make-up work; as such make-up work is allowed only to those students who have excused absences. A student has the amount of days that they were absent to complete daily assignments and still receive credit after they return to school. I will be following the IACS late work policy found in the student handbook.

Exams: Quizzes and exams are an integral part of your learning; they essentially gauge what you know in terms of course content, concepts, and skills. It is critical that students use good study techniques and strategies when preparing for quizzes/exams so that they can appropriately and effectively demonstrate to the teacher what they know or understand. Therefore any student(s) that does not pass a quiz with a D or above will receive one extra week of study time and remediation, with or without, the teacher. During the one week of remediation the student will then be required to do the following to improve their score, at least to the D range. Using your quiz as your guide you will do the following; A] identify the correct answer to any question you got wrong – through rereading and/or studying the previous chapter that you were quizzed on; B] Tell me why you incorrectly identified the answer; C] Tell me why the new answer you found is indeed the correct answer. Steps [A-C] are done with a simple sentence for each step; thus you will have a minimum of three sentences per answer that you incorrectly identified.

Remediation will help students in several ways: (1) it will give students an opportunity to revisit course information. (2) It will help students to take quizzes seriously and to devote ample time to study and analysis to course concepts, themes, content, and skills. (3) It will help to promote confidence in students; they will learn a valuable life lesson that “if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again!” You can expect Chapter quizzes every week in this class.

Grading: Grades will reflect the measurable achievement of you as a student. There are several categories for grades given in this class. The scale and grading break down are as follows:

ScaleGrading Breakdown

A (4.0)C+ (2.3)D- (.7)Most of your points will come from

94-100%77-79%60-63%the following sources;

-In-class packets

A- (3.7)C (2.0)F (0)- Quizzes

90 – 93%74-76%0-59%- Exams

-C.H.I.T.S.

B+ (3.3)C- (1.7)- Participation

87 – 89%70-73%- Bell Ringers

-DBQ/Primary Source Reads

B (3.0)D+ (1.3)- Articles

84 – 86%67-69%- Current Event Sheets

B- (2.7)D (1.0)

80 – 83%64-66%

Assignments: Tests will be a combination of multiple choice, image analysis, short answer, and essay, and are structured college exams.They will be challenging and will cover considerable amounts of material. We will test about every four weeks and each test will cover several chapters. This will make personal organization and disciplined study all the more important. There will be assigned a variety of written assignments throughout the year. The purpose of these is always to make you dig deeper and prepare you for exams.

Besides written assignments, students will be assigned a considerable amount of reading. Studying American Government requires that one read. We cannot begin to cover in class what students are required to know by the State Standards with out reading. If you do not read the material, then you will find it hard to learn the necessary content and concepts and you will find it hard to pass the class. The bottom line is that you must take responsibility for reading the material for this class if you are to experience success.

Plagiarism: To plagiarize is to present someone else’s work as your own. To present someone else’s work as your own means to use someone else’s information, ideas, and/or writing without explicitly acknowledging with quotation marks and/or citations that the ideas and writing are not your own. You may be plagiarizing even if you are not directly quoting. Plagiarism is a serious offense and I will give a 0 to any assignment in which a student plagiarizes. Of course it is important to be using others’ ideas and information, but you must provide credit where credit is due. If you have ANY questions or confusions about plagiarism, please let me know before you turn in your work.

Class Schedule

Date__Topic____Reading

Week 1Introductions, Life Skills,

Practical Strategies

Week 2Principles of GovernmentChp. 1

Themes:

  • Government & State
  • Forms of Government
  • Basic Concepts of Democracy

Week 3 – 4Origins of American DemocracyChp. 2

Themes:

  • Political beginnings
  • Coming of Independence
  • Creation of Constitution

Week 5The ConstitutionChp. 3

Themes:

  • Six basic principles
  • Formal Amendments

Week 6FederalismChp. 4

Themes:

  • Division of Power
  • Interstate Relations

Week 7 - 8Political PartiesChp. 5

Themes:

  • Two Party System
  • Minor Parties
  • Party Organization

Week 9 Voters and Voter BehaviorChp. 6

Themes:

  • Rights of Voters
  • Voter Qualifications
  • Suffrage & Civil Rights

Week 10Electoral ProcessChp. 7

Themes:

  • Nomination Process
  • Elections
  • Electoral Finance

Week 11Mass Media & Public OpinionChp. 8

Themes:

  • Formation of Public Opinion
  • Measurement of Public Opinion
  • Mass Media in Politics

Week 12Interest GroupsChp. 9

Themes:

  • Nature of Interest Groups

Week 13 - 14CongressChp. 10

Themes:

  • National Legislature
  • House of Reps.
  • Senate

Week 15 – 16Powers of CongressChp. 11

Themes:

  • Expressed Powers
  • Implied Powers
  • Non-legislative Powers
  • Money & Commerce

Week 16 -17Congress in ActionChp. 12

Themes:

  • Congress Organization
  • Congressional Committees
  • Turning Bills into Law

Week 18Finals

Week 19 – 20 The PresidencyChp. 13

Themes:

  • Duties & Responsibilities
  • Succession
  • Framer’s Plan
  • Nomination & Election

Week 21 – 22Presidency in ActionChp. 14

Themes:

  • Growth of Presidential Power
  • Executive Powers
  • Diplomatic & Military Powers
  • Legislative & Judicial Powers

Week 23 – 24The BureaucracyChp. 15

Themes:

  • Executive Departments
  • Independent Agencies
  • Civil Services

Week 25 Financing GovernmentChp. 16

Themes:

  • Taxes
  • Revenue & Barrowing
  • Spending & Budget

Week 26Foreign Policy & National DefenseChp. 17

Themes:

  • Foreign Affairs
  • Defense Agencies
  • Foreign Aide & Alliances

Week 27Federal CourtsChp. 18

Themes:

  • National Judiciary
  • Inferior Courts
  • Supreme Courts

Week 28Civil LibertiesChp. 19

Themes:

  • Unalienable Rights

Week 29 – 30Protecting Individual RightsChp. 20

Themes:

  • Due Process
  • Punishments

Week 31 Equal Justice under LawChp. 21

Themes:

  • Equality before the Law
  • Federal Civil Rights
  • American Citizenship

Week 32 - 33Comparative Political SystemsChp. 22

Themes:

  • Differing Governmental Systems
  • America’s political system in the world
  • Separation of Powers
  • Types of Governments

Week 34 Comparative Economic SystemsChp. 23

Themes:

  • Capitalism
  • Socialism
  • Communism

Week 35Governing by the StatesChp. 24 & 25

Themes:

  • State Constitutions
  • State Legislatures
  • Governor & State Administration

Week 36 Finals

Conclusion: Finally, if you have a question or concern regarding the class, projects, readings, assignments, or absences, it is up to you to ask. You are ultimately responsible for your own learning!

*The Timeline, activities, assignments, and syllabus are subject to revision by the Instructor*