RTC Faculty Focus

 


 

Renton Technical College                                                                          August  2005      

Instructional Improvement                                                                                                                          Volume 4, No. 1

 

The second word in our title is faculty and the focus is on items of interest in the technical college classroom.  This

includes what faculty are doing well in their programs, timesaving tips, and proven resources.  We encourage

articles from faculty and will help you present an idea if writing isn’t your cup of tea.  So don’t hide your light

under the proverbial bushel, let it shine.  Contact us to share news we can all use.


Special Constitution Day Issue                    

 

This special issue of Faculty Focus contains some resources and learning activities to help you plan what

you will do in your classroom to teach about the U.S. Constitution sometime during the first week of

school this fall quarter. The U.S. Constitution was signed on September 17, 1787 and that day is now

“Constitution Day and Citizenship Day.” Congress has passed legislation that requires all educational

institutions receiving federal funding to hold an educational program pertaining to the United States

Constitution on September 17th each year, or the week before or after if the 17th falls on a weekend.

For more information on this regulation see

http://www.ed.gov/legislation/FedRegister/other/2005-2/052405b.html

 

Make a Class Constitution

Here’s a model lesson plan to develop a class constitution based on the U. S. Constitution.  This is an interesting

way to establish your classroom management expectations.

http://www.teachervision.fen.com/page/2177.html?wtlAC=GS_2005-07-05,email-h&for_printing=1&detoured=1

 

Is it Constitutional?

This lesson plan contains a 10 item quiz that will make for on interesting discussion on what is or is not constitutional.

http://www.teachervision.fen.com/page/2480.html

 

Go right to the Source
You can see a copy of the U.S. Constitution and other historically important documents on this Library of Congress 
repository for Constitutional documents and information. 
http://www.memory.loc.gov/ammem/bdsds/bdsdhome.html. Another copy of the U.S. Constitution has been 
scanned and made available through the National Archives.  
www.archives.gov/national_archives_experience/charters/constitution.html:

 

Webquests

If you want to get your students used to looking for items on the web, you could use this webquest on the constitution.http://projects.edtech.sandi.net/marston/constitution/    Another webquest would lead them to

propose a new amendment to the constitutionhttp://ccollege.hccs.cc.tx.us/instru/govecon/amend.htm This

webquest on the Bill of Rights leads students to debate issues related to those first 10 Constitutional Amendments.

Constitution Web Quest:   http://www.lesd.k12.az.us/PV/specials/media/conindex.html

 

Additional web resources for activities:

The U.S. Constitution Resource Center bills itself as a one-stop shop for activities related to the constitution.

 http://tcnbp.tripod.com/   The National Constitution Center http://www.constitutioncenter.org/ is another

storehouse of activities, information and translations of the US Constitution in other languages. You can check an interactive timeline of American History, featuring the constitution on the site: http://www.constitutioncenter.org/timeline/

The National Archives also has some lesson ideas http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/constitution-day/

 

 

Just for Fun

Fun quiz:  You Decide - http://www.proteacher.com/cgi-bin/outsidesite.cgi?id=11-008&external=http://esd.iu5.org/LessonPlans/ConstitutionEL/youdecide.htm&-original=http://www.proteacher.com/090037.shtml&title=You%20Decide

 

Use the template on this website to print bookmarks for your students. http://www.teach-nology.com/worksheets/soc_studies/constit/book/

 

Use a discussion of the “missing amendment” as a basis for talking about information literacy and how

misinformation spreads.  http://www.thirdamendment.com/missing.html

 

Write an acrostic poem about the Constitution using each of the letters of Constitution as the first letter of

one of the lines of the poem. http://www.teach-nology.com/worksheets/soc_studies/constit/poem/

 

Play Power Grab.  Divide the class into teams, each of which has a copy of the constitution.  This fast

moving game will help students learn how to skim documents for important facts. http://www.eduref.org/cgi-bin/printlessons.cgi/Virtual/Lessons/Social_Studies/US_Gover-nment/GOV0045.html

 

Other Activities

  • Sign the Constitution  Get a large poster-sized copy of the United States constitution and have all the students sign it.
  • Create a Bulletin Board Have the students practice using search engines by finding graphics and articles for a bulletin board on the Constitution
  • Create a Website Have the students create a website with images and facts about the constitution.
  • Compare Constitutions Noreen Light, suggests you can have students compare the U.S. Constitution with the constitutions of other countries represented in your classroom as a celebration of diversity.

 

Please let us know if you use any of these suggestions or have developed or discovered others, so we can develop a resource to use to commemorate future Constitution Days.

mailto: instructionalimprovement@RTC.edu

 

 

 Quotable: “The constitution only gives people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it

                     yourself.”  --Ben Franklin

 

For more information regarding the articles in the Faculty Focus or to give input or suggestions of things you would

like to see incorporated into this newsletter please contact the Office of Instructional Improvement

 

 

 The mission of the Office of Instructional Improvement is to advance educational strategies, seek to improve the

quality of learning environments, and support RTC staff as they prepare a diverse student population for work.