**WHAT WILL BE TAUGHT?

Civics is the study of the rights and responsibilities of U.S. citizens, and of the government's function and role in our lives. In this course, we'll marry classic civics with contemporary concepts to more accurately explore the modern state of our government.    

In addition, civics is best understood when students understand HOW we got here. Immersed in this civics curriculum are countless bits of forgotten US history so they see the full story!    

**HOW WILL CLASS BE STRUCTED?

This is a semester-long course that's broken up into four individual units. Each unit is 4-weeks long, and each week we'll meet twice. Each unit is independent of the others, which means that students can take just one, a few, or all of them. However, I do recommend taking all of the units, and in chronological order, in order to get the most out of the material. 

Each week, we'll cover a different topic. Day one will include instruction using videos, PowerPoint presentations, Nearpod activities, polls, games, and more. Day two will vary week-by-week, but the aim will be to complete the instruction, discuss the concepts, complete class activities, and review homework assignments (if applicable). Some weeks will include a short homework assignment or quiz, but not all. Homework assignments are short, but practical, and designed so that students have an opportunity to apply new concepts to real life situations and practice critical thinking skills. Every lesson is interactive, and specifically designed with teens and tweens in mind. 

**UNIT 1 - TOPICS BY WEEK

Week 1 - The U.S. Constitution
Purpose and Structure / Bill of Rights

Week 2 - Three Branches of Government
Legislative, Executive, and Judicial 

Week 3 - Fourth Branch of Government?
Administrative Agencies

Week 4 - The U.S. Constitution, Part II
Key Amendments 

A basic knowledge of the U.S. government will be helpful for this course, but is not required. All instruction will be thorough and fact-based. My goal is to make civics as interactive and exciting as possible, so I ask lots of questions and do my best to keep students engaged! 

**For those seeking to take more than one unit, the remaining units include the following topics:

Unit 2: Law & Criminal Justice, Parts I -IV
Unit 3: Economics, Part I - IV
Unit 4: Politics & Current Events