Students will read and respond to primary source documents.
Students will lead discussion about political theory with respect for different opinions and interpretations. 
Students will find similarities and differences in different political beliefs.
Students will refine their beliefs through oral and written communication. 

I have a Master's Degree in Adolescent Social Studies Education, which specifically trained me to teach teenagers to discuss difficult topics based on primary source documents. While in graduate school, I studied political thought from the Enlightenment through the 20th century. This class is structured like a "lite" version of a university seminar, which I have extensive experience with. Many of my classes currently offered are discussion based. In this class, students will be almost entirely responsible for the discussion, with myself acting as a mediator. 

I have experience teaching about political topics to both teenagers on Outschool and in person, and to adults at community centers. 

Homework Offered
Each week, students will read an excerpt of a primary source document (400-800 words) and write a 3-5 sentence reaction to it. 
At the end of class, students will write an outline for an essay. Students will submit a 5 paragraph argumentative essay by the last day of class and give a brief presentation. 
1 - 2 hours per week outside of class
Assessments Offered
Students will receive detailed feedback on their final essays, as well as to their weekly responses. 
Grades Offered

Primary Source Documents: 

A Letter Addressed by Louis XIV to the People of Marseilles, Louis XIV and Jean-Baptiste Colbert, 1664
John Locke, Two Treatises of Government, 1689 
Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations, 1776 
Common Sense, Thomas Paine, 1776 
Immanuel Kant, Perpetual Peace, 1795 
What is Property? Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, 1840
Anti-Dühring, Frederick Engels, 1877 
The Marxist Theory of the State and the Tasks of the Proletariat in the Revolution, V. I. Lenin, 1918
The Social and Political Doctrine of Fascism, Benito Mussolini and Giovanni Gentile, 1932 
Atlas Shrugged; Ayn Rand, 1957 
Speech to Conservative Party Conference; Margaret Thatcher, 1987 

Secondary Sources:
The Political Economy of Mercantilism by Lars Magnusson, 2005, first edition, London. 
Liberalism and Republicanism in the Historical Imagination by Joyce Oldham Appleby, 1992. Harvard University Press. 
Big Leagues: Specters of Milton and Republican International Justice between Shakespeare and Marx by Christopher Warren, 2016. Humanity: An International Journal of Human Rights, Humanitarianism, and Development.
Socialism and Labor Unionism by Anton Pannekoek, 2017. The New Review, vol 1, no. 18, July 1913. 
From Politics Past to Politics Future: An Integrated Analysis of Current and Emergent Paradigms by Alan James Mayne. Greenwood Publishing Group, 1999.