To review and to make sure our learners who were unable to attend this last session here are the bullet points: 

1. Next week we will be meeting in the library (2nd floor main area) to learn more about how to find reliable sources for our amendments research.

2. Our final assignment is now a self-directed research project about one of the 27 amendments to the US constitution.

3. We will decide next week how to best distribute the amendments to ensure that not everyone picks the same one, making the project very boring.

4. You may do any of the work listed on the website as extra credit.  The online assignments in particular will help you build skills necessary for academic research and for life skills.

5. We will apply the learning outcomes attached in the picture here as our guide for grading. I will work on a table so we can put together a rubric in later classes.

6. You agree to help me and future students by providing a reflection and suggesting whether we should continue this project with future classes.

Blackboard announcement

Isn’t democratic teaching and learning fun!  What a voluminous start to our very short 6 week class session.  For those of you have not had a class with me before please consider reviewing this piece about how I think about teaching and learning to make sure this is the right class for you.  You can read that here: https://jasonleggett.commons.gc.cuny.edu/jason/teaching-philosophy/

After reading all below with college level reading skills and comprehension, if you agree, you could get started on the pedagogy response online assignment (web link below) and the very first part of the final assessment:

“You will need to choose a topic that you personally believe is an important “right” in our constitutional democratic republic.

Provide a short overview of:

the problem framed as a story;”

I want to Repeat My Proposal for us to consider and decide as a class whether we wish to pursue, amend, or discard this particular learning path among an infinite number of possibilities.  But first I want to make sure every one of our learners understands the context and spirit of the class.  If you are familiar with the Magna Carta you can skip this video (https://youtu.be/9zT4hkAxzLg)  but if not you should review to get a complete understanding of what it means to create a constitution to reign in unlimited power.  You might remember that the philosophy behind these rule of law documents is to create a common expectation of what you must do and what I must do as well as what rights we respect toward each other and which are personal preferences among many competing ideas not to be granted the same respect.  This is a good example of “constitution”  a voluntary agreement to limit arbitrary power.  My arbitrary power as professor is the grading process.  By developing our learning outcomes and assessment tools together we will both know what your “grade” is because you will be a partner in the grading process.   

Next Class, class two we can go over learning goals for constitutional law, criminal justice, and more and come to an agreement on our learning path of which I thought one student put very well to facilitate our learning. 

Class 3 I have asked that we have a library research session so that we can conduct your individual social science research.  I will let you know if and when that is confirmed.  We would essentially go over the outline of the final project and I would be able to provide direct, individualized assistance.

Class 4: We would look through structured learning opportunities and course materials from the previous constitutional classes online, as well as look at some other options to help us learn constitutional law.  We would also work on the learning outcome section of the collaborative syllabus and go over our expectations and grading rubric for our “rights” analysis presentations. 

Class 5: We wold spend the session presenting and learning about how to assess our student work and learning. 

Class 6: We would reflect and share how this process has helped civic identity, agency, and advocacy as well as civic engagement. 

For those of you who prefer to see the steps you need to take if you were to accept my offer for the following course work here you are again: 

Class Work:

You must complete all of the following assignments to receive a grade.  Failure to complete each will result in a final grade of INC (incomplete) or WU (unofficial withdrawal) per the KCC website and student handbook.

In-Class Diagnostic  (we did)

Pedagogy Response  (https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1KtPwHdCF-ULg6OaQFEQGtqm1vOr4COP_4Mrtpe6yd90/viewform?usp=send_form

Constitutional Analysis SLO: Education as a Civic Right : https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1Fd44m94bskuesNl95LRl0SfM9qC1lbnZh156qBPGGPg/viewform?usp=send_form

Using Using Google Scholar for constitutional public legal education:  https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1ZOPlhZC_nPg8PkRy2jehFfx97STMn9cBOWurG32fHSE/viewform

Attendance Report: each class you will need to bring a 3×5 index card and either state what you learned today or if you are absent bring a 3×5 card stating how you will contribute your unique and important knowledge to all class members.

Complete group, pair, or individual syllabus containing the following: course description, relevance to degree, career, or personal life, learning outcomes, course materials, and assessment tools.   We will be doing this mostly in class – you are free to do your own research as well.  I will bring in resources for you as well.

Then we have a final assessment tool (like a final exam):

Final Assessment:

You will need to choose a topic that you personally believe is an important “right” in our constitutional democratic republic.

Provide a short overview of:

the problem framed as a story; and

three positions or points of view of the problem; and

your understanding of those three points of view or positions; and

short answers for an analysis of the problem using the following three “generative- thematic” ways of knowing:

text of the constitution with at least one U.S. Supreme Court Justice interpretation as support; and

a U.S. Supreme Court case or a case you think should be considered by the Supreme Court; and 

a social understanding.

Contribute your individual research of a “right” for the public good by presenting individually, in a pair, or in a group by evidencing your engendered competence in four steps:

explain which structured learning opportunity (SLO) you chose and which learning outcome (LO) you chose and why; and

apply your assessment rubric to that SLO and LO; and

receive and document class feedback; and

write a one to three page self reflection in response to: how did these class activities help you re-examine higher education as applied to:

your civic identity; and

your ability to be an agent of change (agency); and

your ability to meaningfully choose whether to advocacy for yourself or others (advocacy); and

your understanding of civic learning and democratic engagement. 

course website links

Blog with easy access to online work: https://kccconlaw.commons.gc.cuny.edu/

Page where we will work on our collaborative syllabus for 6 weeks: https://kccconlaw.commons.gc.cuny.edu/collaborative-syllabi/

If you agree a place to put outstanding work: https://kccconlaw.commons.gc.cuny.edu/student-work/

You can access this online assignment by clicking here.  This assignment will help you search for relevant and on-point cases using the free and open source Google Scholar search engine.  You should treat this assignment kind of like an exam and do your best.

 

You can access this mandatory online assignment by clicking here.  This assignment should take 1-2 hours so please make sure you plan accordingly and be sure to take breaks!  Answer the best you can.