Digital Unit Plan for the Three Branches of Government

Unit Title: The Three Branches of the United States Federal Government Content Area: Social Science(U.S. Government) CA Content Standard(s)/Common Core Standard(s): 12.4 Students analyze the unique roles and responsibilities of the three branches of government as established by the U.S. Constitution. Big Ideas: Students will be able to understand the structure of the U.S. federal government and be able to understand the functions of the executive, legislative, and judicial branch. Students will be able to comprehend the three branches of government and identify each branchs role in modern politics. Students will learn that the legislature creates laws and that are passed in both houses. The instructor will emphasize the structure of Congress and how a bill becomes a law (introduced in one house, going to committee, then either passing in one and going to the other, or failing to pass altogether). Students learn about the ways Congress can override a veto and impeach the president. When discussing the executive branch, students will learn that the president has many roles such as being the Commander in Chief, Chief Diplomat, Chief Economist, etc. The executive branchs enumerated powers and the role the presidents cabinet will also be discussed and analyzed. In the discussion of the Supreme Court, the enumerated powers of the Court will be emphasized, but this section will mostly focus on the jurisdiction of the court. The process for justice selection will be discussed as well as famous justices throughout history. Name: Allen Doty Grade Level: 12th

Unit Goals and Objectives: 1) Article I, II, and III of the U.S. Constitution will be discussed and students will be able to identify the importance of each article as it relates to the United States system of checks and balances. 2) Students will learn the terms of representatives and senators at the federal level, and they will learn about important players in each house of Congress (including the Speaker of the House, President Pro Tempore, and Majority and Minority Whips). 3) Students will have an understanding of how a law is created and how it needs to be passed in both houses and signed by the President (or a two-thirds majority vote in both houses to override his veto).

4) When discussing the presidency and presidential power, students will be asked to assess their prior knowledge of presidents they learned about in their U.S. history course in 11th grade. 5) Students will learn the names of their Congressional Representative and Senators. 6) Students will learn about the job of the President of the United States, his enumerated powers, his term limit, and the impeachment process. 7) Students will have an understanding of how a Supreme Court Justice is nominated to the Court. The lesson on the Court will also focus on the process of selection of Justices and the jurisdiction of the Court.

8) Students will learn how a case is called from the lower Courts to the Supreme Court. 9) The lesson on judicial power will briefly touch upon influential justices such as Sandra Day OConnor and Thurgood Marshal l.

These learning outcomes will be measured and assessed through the assignments in Lesson One, Lesson Two, Lesson Three, and the Assessment portion of this website. As the instructor, I may have to modify this lesson plan in some areas if students have trouble with the comprehension of terms or have trouble linking certain duties to the correct branch of government.

Unit Summary: In this unit, students will be able to critically understand and analyze the powers of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the United States Federal Government. Students will understand the role of the three branches of government in modern politics and identify how each branch has a "check" on the other branches.

Students will begin the unit with an introductory lecture on the executive branch of the U.S. Federal Government and discuss the presidency and the fifteen executive cabinets. Students will then complete a webercise that focuses on the legislative branch. In this webercise, students will discover and analyze the structure of the legislative branch (as it relates to its Constitutional duties). This webercise also allows students to discover their Congressional representatives (their local Congressman and their two state senators) and gives insight into how laws are passed. This unit will conclude with a section on the judicial branch that highlights the federal judiciary process and examines the selection of Supreme Court Justices and the types of cases they hear.

Students will begin and end the unit with a variety of activities. In the first activity, students are to create a digital graphic organizer to display their knowledge of the three branches of government. This allows students to categorize the duties of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government.

The unit will begin and end with the assessment section of this website. There are three types of assessments in this section: entry level, formative, and summative. In the entry level assessment, students will assess their prior knowledge of the three branches of government based on what they learned in other social studies and history courses. The formative section consists of three parts to promote an analytical understanding of the three branches. At this time, students will meet in groups to simulate legislative committees, discuss selected readings through journal assignments, and review the three branches in groups through a review activity and through Quizlet (an interactive Quiz).

Finally, the unit will conclude with a summative assessment highlighting the students' understanding of the United States' three branches of government. After the graphic organizer assignment is completed, students will make a presentation on a randomly assigned president. During this five minute presentation, the students will be asked to demonstrate the president's impact on the nation and his relationship to Congress and the Court. The last assignment for this unit will be an essay that asks the student to analyze whether or not they believe the executive branch is the most powerful branch of government. The main goal of this lesson is to have students comprehend the structure and functions of the federal government and realize the Framers of the Constitution wanted a system where no form of government has absolute power.

Assessment Plan: Entry-Level: 1) Brainstorming- Students will assess their prior knowledge of the three branches of government and highlight each branches power.

Formative: 1) Jigsaw- Groups of four will simulate Congressional committees and the process of bill revision between Houses. 2) In-class Journal assignment- Students will look at the Federalist #69 and discuss why Alexander Hamilton called for a strong executive branch. 3) Review/ Synthesis Activity- Students will look at all three branches of government and evaluate how they relate to each other. 4) Quizlet- Students will answer questions off of interactive flash cards that focus on all three branches of government. This

Summative: 1) Presentation- For two class periods, students will create a presentation dedicated to a randomly assigned president. 2) Summative Essay- Students will end the unit with a research paper focusing on the executive branch. The rubric and instructions are on the unit plan page.

will serve as a quiz, but students will only be graded through class participation. Students who answer the flash cards correctly (when reviewed in class) will receive extra credit.

Lesson 1 Student Learning Objective: Students will identify the requirements to be president and the duties associated with the presidency and other entities (i.e. the cabinet and other executive agencies) of the executive branch. Acceptable Evidence: Students will be able to identify the roles and limitations of the presidency and the executive branch. Although its considered to be the most powerful branch of government, students will be able to identify and discuss that Congress and the Court can check executive power. Instructional Strategies: Communication Collection Collaboration Presentation Organization Interaction Lesson Activities: 1) Executive Branch PowerPoint with the Guided Notes assignment. 2) Journal Activity of Hamiltons Federalist #69. 3) Graphic Organizer. 4) Presidency Presentation. 5) Final Summative essay.

Lesson 2 Student Learning Objective: Students will be able to identify their federal representatives in Congress (their local Congressman and the two Senators who represent their state).

Acceptable Evidence: Students can accurately complete the Webquest activity using information from Bens Guide. On this activity, if the students cant accurately state why the legislature

Instructional Strategies: Communication Collection Collaboration Presentation Organization Interaction

Lesson Activities: 1) Bens Guide Webquest on the legislative branch. 2) Jigsaw activity where students dramatize how a bill becomes a law. 3) Graphic Organizer. 4) Final Summative Essay (students will be using knowledge and resources of the legislative branch from previous activities and

The students will also be able to identify why the U.S. has a bicameral legislature, the number of legislators in each House of Congress, the powers of Congress, the checks Congress has over the executive branch, and how a bill becomes a law. Lesson 3 Student Learning Objective: Before this lesson, the students will have done inclass reading on the judicial branch and the Supreme Court. Now, with knowledge of all three branches of the U.S. government, students will categorize the three branches of government on a graphic organizer. Unit Resources:

can limit executive power, then the instructor will actively review the legislative branch through an in-class review. Students will also display their knowledge of both Houses of Congress in the Graphic Organizer.

readings to complete this assignment).

Acceptable Evidence: The students are able to correctly categorize the three branches of government; they can properly divide each branch into subcategories (such as president, cabinet for the executive branch, etc.) and correctly state the roles of each subcategory.

Instructional Strategies: Communication Collection Collaboration Presentation Organization Interaction

Lesson Activities: 1) Textbook and other assigned readings. 2) Graphic Organizer. 3) Final Summative Essay (this assignment will help with that essay, and it will allow

http://www.house.gov/ (The top part of this page will help students find their local congressmen.) http://www.senate.gov/ (The top part of this page will help students identify their two senators.) http://bensguide.gpo.gov/9-12/government/branches.html (This site discusses the three branches of governments and has historical documents that students can examine.) http://www.whitehouse.gov/our-government (This site gives a description of the U.S. government and categorizes each branch. It also gives information on federal agencies, voting, and state and local government.)

http://www.brainpop.com/socialstudies/usgovernmentandlaw/branchesofgovernment/ (This interactive site shows an interactive video of the three branches of government.)

Useful Websites: http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_transcript.html (the U.S. Constitution) http://www.history.com/topics/the-us-presidents (This website allows the students to have information the presidency through text and videos.) http://thomas.loc.gov/home/histdox/fedpapers.html (This link contains the Federalist Papers. These documents were written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay. These essays justify the methodology of why the framers wanted a president as the head executive official of the country (#69-73) and discuss other issues dealing with federalism. http://www.uscourts.gov/Home.aspx (In the United States, the judicial branch is often forgotten. This links affirms the importance of the federal courts in the United States and discusses how the judicial branch checks the laws passed by the legislature and the executive orders and procedures of the executive branch.)