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  • John Trampush May 23, 2012 at 11:05am

    Hello All,

    My name is John Trampush and I currently serve as an ASD K-12 EdTech Coach, as well as co-direct the ANUAH project.  That means that currently I am not teaching the constitution in any regular classroom setting, though I am beginning to design curriculum projects (for distribution across ASD's learning network) that will incorporate the thoughts we develop in this course...

    That means that I have a particularly keen interest in tying this topic (which is the beginning of ANUAH's year 5 theme) to our newly adopted Common Core State Standards for History & Social Studies Literacy.  I've attached these CCSS-Hist/SS Literacy standards for others interested in this enterprise and would love to work with other teachers on this project over the next year ...

    CommonCore_SS_LIT(blank).pdf

  • Sara Koester May 22, 2012 at 11:39am

    Hello,

     my name is Sara Koester and I teach 8th grade at Wendler Middle School. Teaching the Constitution is one of my favorite units of the year and with this being a presidential election year, I wanted to find new ways of looking at and teaching the Constitution and Government.

  • Ken Varee May 21, 2012 at 1:31pm

    Hi folks, 

    I'm Ken Varee and I teach US History, US Government, and Economics. I use the Constitution extensively in Government, but less so in US History. Time is always an issue, as is the motivation level of my history students. Juniors and Seniors seem to have a better grasp of the issues raised by the study of the Constitution, so I spend almost a quarter on it. I have used the "We the People" materials with the government classes and have used some clips from the HBO John Adams series as a way of spurring discussion about the opposing viewpoints of Adams and Jefferson with regard to governing and the Constitution itself. I have also used readings from Locke and Hobbes in seminar format to further explore the Enlightenment views of the relationship between government and the governed. The seminars seem to be very effective in engaging students because they raise the very issues that the Constitution was supposed to address. 

  • Debbie Whitehouse May 18, 2012 at 6:02pm

    My name is Debbie Whitehouse and I  teach 8th grade American History at Begich MS.  Every year my students participate in the We the People program (with or without funding), which is centered on the Constitution.  Students prepare for a Mock Congressional Hearing where they display their constitutional knowledge. This year I introduced the iCivics lessons and my students loved it. The Electoral College has never been so easy to teach.  Even my most reluctant students went home and continued to play.  It wasn't even an assignment.  Check it out. Free. 

  • Keith Kuipers May 17, 2012 at 12:01pm

    Hello,

    I am Keith Kuipers and I teach US History and Economics at Dimond High School.  I usually start the year out talking about the constitution and celebrate constitution day having them work with a number of the amendments.  The text book does a decent job of bringing amendments out through each chapter.  These are always discussed and tested on the chapter and final exams.  I try to get them to see as much of it as I can, but would like to learn even more creative ways to pass the information on to students.  

  • Christy Wilson May 15, 2012 at 4:42pm

    Hello,

    I am Christy Wilson. At this time I am currently not teaching. I have spent one year away from teaching to spend time with my young family. I taught at Fire Lake Elementary for four years, two years teaching kindergarden two years teaching First grade. In those years I did not used our founding documents in the classroom. In a simple way we use the ideals of our founding fathers to implement our “class rules” by creating them as a class, signing our names in affirmation of upholding them thruought the school year. As I look forward to teaching again in the future, and the possibility of teaching Intermediate grades, I want to be cognizant about infusing the Constitution in my classroom.

  • Lisa Healow May 14, 2012 at 12:18pm

    Hi all,

    I am Lisa Healow and I currently teach World History, US History, and Alaska Studies at South Anchorage High School.  Even though I teach US History, at the high school level, American History through 1824 is in the curriculum as a quick review, so I really don't do a whole lot with the Constitution.  However, after taking a couple of primary source documents classes, I've really become interested in infusing the Constitution into my entire curriculum, and having it be something I can refer back to regularly.

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