Monday, September 14, 2009


Intro PowerPoint to Government
Okay, this is a bit of a personal risk because not everyone (not even close to everyone) is going to agree with what I have up here for my Constitutional Foundations PowerPoint. But I should say that my students always do quite well on the AP exam despite demographics that would indicate otherwise. So, now that I am learning Google Docs, I will occasionally post some PowerPoints and assignments which is exactly what we do for new teachers in my department so that they can do well their very first year. If you wanted to download this one, just click on "menu" and then where it has the title "Intro Terms" you can right click and then "save as" to your desktop and then do what you want with it - or not! Below is a tutorial on how to make a Google Docs PowerPoint (or you can do to the US History Blog and see it right now). By the way, I only slightly change this for regular government since it is just an outline. Also since Google Docs allows changes to be made, this will be updated as I make my changes this year (and I always do that). (Pictures from Sabato/O'Connor and Magelby)

3 comments:

BN said...

I always struggle with how to teach the "Intro" because I have never felt as if I am reaching the students in a meaningful way. Is that your entire intro unit on those slides? After looking it those, it gets to the point and covers the material without having to spend days on end teaching three-four chapters in a book. Let me know how you "teach" the intro unit with those slides if you could. Thanks again!

History Blog said...

I actually spend a lot more than 3 days on these intro units (the slides cover the first three chapters in a standard book). I have several readings (such as one from a comparative textbook that looks at a five part definition of democracy). We also do a group project on federalism that looks at different issues and the state and federal levels. I am planning on putting up some of my assignments this year as a lot of people ask about them.

History Blog said...

I also have the kids read and compare the Dec of Indep w. the VA Constitution (approved on 6/29/1776) and the likewise the BIll of Rights. The kids get a kick out of seeing the identical wording in all three places. I also ask the kids to tell me which philosophers are coming up with the principals behind the first parts of the Dec of Indep.