HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENTS: Sept. 29 - Oct. 8

9/29: Chap. 5, Civil Liberties, 93-105 

9/30: Chap 5, Civil Liberties, 106-119 

10/1: Short reading to be announced; guest lecture: Prof. Elizabeth Hillman, Hastings Law School

10/2: Homework assignment due: One-page response paper on guest lecture 

10/5: Chap 6, Civil Rights, 122-136 (skip 127)

10/6: Adam Liptak, Brown v. Board of Education, Second Round, New York Times (2006) (3 pp)

10/7: Chap. 6, Civil Rights, 136-149

10/8: Lawrence v. Texas (Read the majority opinion and Scalia's dissent)

10/9: Review for Exam #1 covering Chapters 1-3, 5-7

Note-taking assignment

Assignment: Take detailed notes on the chapter readings, with clear definitions of major words and terms and a summary of the main ideas.  These notes should be detailed enough to make it unnecessary to return to the chapter when studying for the tests and final exam.  When you read, think about what you (and your classmates) need to understand from the reading and rewrite this in a clear, thoughtful way.  Use bullet points for key terms and a narrative format to explain the main ideas.  Pay close attention to the questions posed by Wilson and DiIulio at the beginning of each chapter as you read – “Who governs?” and “To what ends?” – and the boxed terms and landmark cases found on many pages.  Don’t ignore graphs and tables.

Due in Word format via email by 5pm on day reading is discussed in class.

Senator research

Two great sites to begin researching your senator are govtrack.us (a "civic project to track Congress") and the National Constitution Center's Help Desk (billed as "your one stop guide to civic engagement).  Each senator also has his/her own website, of course.

HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENTS: Sept. 9 to Sept. 25

9/9: Chap 1, The Study of Amer. Gov't, 2-15 (skip page 13)

9/10: Homework assignment due: Senator political biography 

9/11: Chap 7, 152-163, Polling exercise

9/14: Chap 7, 163-171, Talk to parents about politics

9/15: Homework assignment due: Political self-assessment

9/16: Chap. 2, The Constitution, 16-27

9/17: Chap. 2, The Constitution, 17-40

9/18: Chap. 2, The Constitution, 40-47

9/21: Homework assignment due: iDeal scenario

9/22: Chap 3, Federalism, 48-61

9/23: Chap 3, Federalism, 61-74

9/24: Independent Research on Federalism

9/25: Homework assignment due: one-page Debate brief