Some helpful sites for your studying

Released FRQ questions from the past ten years (and the answers to them!) on the College Board website:

http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/ap/usgov/samp.html?usgovpol

Still have questions about specific topics? Try this website (it's a while AP Gov course created by the University of California):

http://www.ucopenaccess.org/course/view.php?id=81

If you'd prefer to learn/review by watching videos, try Hippocampus:

http://government.hippocampus.org/

Here's a site with close to 300 digital flashcards you can use to review for the exam:


http://quizlet.com/2227445/ap-government-exam-flash-cards/

If you find other good sites, send me an e-mail with a link and I'll post it here.

-Micah

AP Gov. Grade Breakdown for Quarter 4

There will be very few grades included in students' AP Gov. grades for quarter 4. The following is a complete list of the assignments that will be included in the 4th quarter grade as well as each assignment's overall contribution to the grade:

Scottsboro video viewing guide: 3% (already in the grade book)
Practice AP exam #1: 6%
Supreme Court debate assignment: 19%
Supreme Court test: 19% (already in the grade book)
Practice AP exam #2: 7%
Practice AP exam #3: 6%
Final Exam (on Saturday, May 7th): 30%
Sitting for the AP exam and putting forth good effort: 10%

It's AP Bootcamp Time!

Between now and May 10th, we will spend all of our class time preparing for the AP exam.

Here's our schedule:

Thursday, 4/21: practice FRQ #1
Friday, 4/22: practice M/C #1
Monday, 4/25: grade M/C #1
Tuesday, 4/26: practice FRQ #2
Thursday (afternoon), 4/28: table grading activity with FRQ #1
Friday, 4/29: full practice exam (#3)
Tuesday, 5/3: table grading activity with FRQ #2 (M/C #2 for HW)
Thursday, 5/5: grading of M/C #2 and M/C #3
Friday, 5/6: table grading activity with FRQ #3
Saturday, 5/7: FINAL EXAM (9:30am-12:30pm)

Lesson 98-100: Thursday, April 14th - Monday, April 18th

During these three days, students will participate in rounds 1 and 2 of the Supreme Court Tournament, a March Madness-style, single-elimination debate tournament. Congratulations to the following students who won their first round debates and are moving on to round 2:

Period 3: 
Cipi
Marques B.
Alex C.
Chrissy
George S. (x2!)
Thomas M.
Madilyn S.
Julie Gr.
Jasmine H.
There are also two first round debates that still need to happen in Period 3 -- these debates will start class on Monday.

Period 4:
Roxana
Mike D.
Tera A. (x2!)
Jordan L.
Alyssa L.
Jackselyn M.
Marsal H.
Nick R.
Britney D.
John M.
Michelle B.

Period 5:
Martin V. (x2!)
Vero S.
Alexis V.
Zsanae G.
Blaine R.
Reanna B.
Vittorio N.
Julie Gal.
Karen P.
Elizabeth M.

Lesson 96 and 97: Monday, April 11th and Tuesday, April 12th

Today's objectives:
By the end of class on Monday, students will know how the Supreme Court Tournament debates are being assessed, how the debates will work, and what they need to do to be prepared for their debate. By the end of class on Tuesday, students should be ready for their debate or know exactly what they need to do for homework in order to be prepared.

Agenda:
1) Go over debate rubric as a class.
2) Go over debate agenda as a class.
3) Begin preparing for debates:

• Write opening statement (~ 1 page): explain your case to the audience; lay out an overview of the arguments you're going to make (basically, your thesis)
• Write argument statement: a detailed, logical, and persuasive explanation of why your case has had a greater impact than your opponent's case AND logical and persuasive reasons why your opponent's case is weak or unimportant.
• Begin thinking about your closing statement: You can try to plan for this in advance, but you will mostly have to do it during the debate itself. The purpose of the closing statement is to address the arguments that your opponent made in his/her argument statement and to reinforce your thesis.

 HW: Get ready for your debate!

Lesson 94 and 95: Thursday, April 7th and Friday, April 8th

Today's objectives:
By the end of class today, students should know what case they will be arguing for in the debates next week and who they will be arguing against. They should also be able to identify, interpret, and evaluate the basic data, historical context, Constitutional question, precedence, and significance of their assigned case.

Agenda:
1) Introduction to project
2) Research time

Some helpful links:


streetlaw.org
Oyez.org
SCOTUSblog.com
important case summaries
Cornell law school case site organized by topic
USCourts.gov 

HW: You should be DONE researching your own case and ready to move on to researching your opponent's case by the time you walk into class tomorrow.

Lesson 92 and 93: Monday, April 4th and Tuesday, April 5th

Today's objectives:
By the end of today's lesson, students will demonstrate their knowledge of the Constitutional questions answered by various Supreme Court cases. In addition, students will begin learning about the events in the Scottsboro trials and the two associated Supreme Court cases.

Agenda:
1) Supreme Court case quiz #1
2) Preview of Scottsboro issues: Langston Hughes on Scottsboro
3) Watch Scottsboro: An American Tragedy with video viewing guide
4) Class discussion on Powell v. Alabama and Norris v. Alabama and role of the Supreme Court in protecting civil rights and civil liberties.

HW: video viewing guide due on Thursday, April 7th