fandomhigh | US Government (Friday, January 27, 4th period)

Josh took his feet off of his desk when the students began arriving.

"So. The Constitution. We're going to spend two classes on this, and then next Friday you'll have a quiz on everything we've covered so far." He glanced out the window. "And given how crappy the weather is going to be this weekend, I'm sure you'll all be spending this time studying and in no way having snowball wars."

He reached into his desk drawer and pulled out a Super Soaker. "Don't think I didn't notice just how enthralled you all were by the lecture on the Articles of Confederation. This is your first, last, and only warning. You doze off, I squirt water at you." He smiled. "Everyone clear on that? Great. Because I'm about to turn the lights out for a brief instructional video."

He turned the television on and flipped off the lights. Schoolhouse Rock's "The Preamble" came on in all of its cheesy 1970s glory.

When the cartoon characters had finished singing about the Constitution, Josh flipped the lights back on. "It might be a good idea to have the preamble memorized for your quiz next week. Just putting that out there."

He reached for his notes. "Okay. The Articles of Confederation were pretty much a complete bust. But the Founders had learned a couple of important lessons. Namely that a federal government that only has the power to say 'pretty please' and hope the money comes in is going to be broke. So they needed some centralized powers, if not exactly going to the extreme of 'mine, mine, it shall all be mine!' that King George had been veering towards."

Josh drew a triangle on the board. "What they came up with was three branches of government, which would insure separation of powers through checks and balances. They were, and you should definitely write this down, the executive, legislative, and judicial branches. The three branches would in essence police each other to prevent power from being concentrated into too few hands." Josh rolled his eyes. "Assuming of course that the Presidency, both houses of Congress and the judiciary weren't run by the same party, but what were the chances of that happening?" He held up a hand. "Yes, I know. And no, I don't want to talk about it."

He sat down. "Today, since you've all read the Constitution like the smart students you are, talk about the balance of powers. Someone give an example of a power that the President has, for instance, or Congress, or the Supreme Court, and someone else show how a different branch can check that power." He smirked. "Think of it as a really, really nerdy game of rock-paper-scissors."

Isabel signed in. She was well rested and awake today.

Marty sings in looking grumpy.

He signs his own name instead of Clarence's name.

"We the people, in order to form a more perfect union..." Everyone!

Isabel did not quietly sing along. Really! Because between Caritas and Speech class, she's done entirely too much singing this week.

Sam, caught in a wave of nostalgia, sang along under her breath.

John prefers 'conjunction, junction, what's your function?' song.

Alphonse couldn't think of an appropriate response to the movie. Instead he opted for just staring at the television.

Peter thought the math songs were usually better. But he watched, amused.

Name a power that the one of the branches of the federal govenment has.

Go on. It'll be fun.

Really.

Sign in (Government, January 27)

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Watch the movie...

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Discussion question

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After class...

OOC