That's right family...the Constitution was signed 221 years ago today! (That means that the year I was born it was the 200 year anniversary. Coincidence? I think not.) Today in my government class we watched clips from
A More Perfect Union. Thank you Pappy for having Mel, Mom, and me sit through all two hours of it what seems like so many years ago in FHE. In honor of Constitution Day, here are a few samples of work from my students. As a bellwork assignment to keep them quiet while I take roll and to give me an idea about what I need to teach them about the Constitution, I gave them the assignment to write down what they know about the Constitution, what they have no clue about, and what they would like to know. Here are some of their responses:
- "its a legal document of some sort that was made a long time ago."
- "I have no clue about what it says."
- "Thomas Jefferson wort it. John hancock signed his name huge It was the precurser to the structure of our government." (Neither Jefferson nor Hancock were at the convention. Many of the students mixed up the Constitution with the Declaration of Independence, even though Carol just taught them the Declaration last week.)
- "nothing"
- What I want to know: "How to explain it with out sounding dumb."
- "July 4, 1776. Many signatures. Gave us independence."
- What I want to know: "If we do anything w/ it now or does it chill & look pretty."
- "Was there a rough draft?"
They also had to rewrite the Preamble in language that they would use. Most of them would change a random word here or there but keep phrases like "ensure domestic tranquility." Right..right...they always talk like that in the hallway. Here was one of my favorites....mostly because of the last word:
"We the citizens of the united states, in order to make & keep a better government, establish Justice, keep the local peace, defense of the nation, enhance overall welfare, protect the bliss of liberty in oder to establish this Constitution for the USA suckas!"
So suckas, keep it real. Love and miss you.
3 comments:
You are the bomb teacher. Will you teach me US history when we get home? I'm afraid I wouldn't do much better than most of your students. Help them to love it like you do. Your enthusiasm will be contagious--at least to some.
"ensure domestic tranquility." They probably don't know what they means so how could they translate it to modern language!
You sound like a much better government teacher than I had in HS. I think I learned all of my government and history knowledge when studying to be a citizen and then the lady totally asked me the easy questions!
Care-bear! HILLARIOUS!! Please keep these coming! I would give anything to see you live in action! I am sure that you are the best teacher in the whole school. I am not even kidding.
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