Download Lesson Plan Format – MSSE 570/470/571/471

Teacher’s name: Steve Greco____________ Date: _____
Subject: Civics__ Grade Level: 12_Topic: Organization of the National Government___
Essential Questions:
1. Why is the structure of our government the way it is?
2. How does the structure of the government protect us from “absolute power corrupting
absolutely?”
General Objective[s]:
GOVT.4 - The student will demonstrate knowledge of the Constitution of the United States of
America by
d)
illustrating the structure of the national government as outlined in Article I, Article II, and
Article III.
GOVT.7 - The student will demonstrate knowledge of the organization and powers of the
national government by
a)
examining the legislative, executive, and judicial branches.
NCSS Strand X – Civic Ideals and Practices
Learning Outcomes:
1. SWBAT list the important powers given to each Branch of the government
2. SWBAT explain why certain powers were given to each branch (Checks and Balances)
Assessment: Methods of Evaluating Student Progress/Performance:
The student performance on the worksheets will be my main method of assessment in this lesson.
Discussion following the worksheet as well as their accuracy on the worksheet will give me a
clue on the student comprehension of the material.
Content Outline:
Organization of the National Government
1. The Organization of the National Government comes mainly from the Constitution
a. It consists of three main branches
i. Legislative
ii. Executive
iii. Judicial
b. This is called Separation of Powers
c. The power is equally separated into the three distinct and independent
government branches
d. The Constitution distributed these powers among the Congress (Legislative), the
President (Executive), and the courts (Judicial)
e. Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely
2. Legislative Branch
a. Article I, Section 1 of the Constitution states: “All legislative Powers herein
granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States…”
i. Basically, Congress is the lawmaking body of the country
b. The Constitution of the United States of America grants both expressed and
implied powers to the legislative branch.
c. The legislative branch is a bicameral body with committees playing a major role
in the legislative process
d. The bicameral (two house) body, otherwise known as Congress consists of the
Senate and The House of Representatives
i. The Senate: 100 members, with each state having two senators and serve 6
year terms
ii. The House of Representatives: 435 members, with representation based on
the population of the state(s) and serve 2 year terms
e. Congressional committees
i. Committees are organized by subject matter.
ii. Because of the large volume of work, committees are essential to the
legislative process.
f. Powers of Congress
i. Make Laws
ii. Override Presidential Vetoes
iii. Approves Presidential Appointments
iv. Approves Treaties
v. Taxes to Provide Services
vi. Provide for Defense, Declares War
vii. Regulates Money and Trade
viii. Impeaches Officials
g. Implied powers allow Congress to do all things “necessary and proper” to carry
out its expressed powers.
3. Executive Branch
a. Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution: “The executive Power shall be vested in a
President of the United States of America.”
i. The President is given the law-executing, law-enforcing, lawadministering powers of the National Government
b. The executive branch is headed by the President and Vice President, who are
supported by the Executive Office, the cabinet, and the federal bureaucracy.
c. Responsibilities and Powers of the President and Vice President
i. Overseeing the various parts of the executive branch
ii. Enforcing laws
iii. Reports the State of the Union to Congress
iv. Appointing and removing officials
v. Making treaties and executive agreements
vi. Commander-in-Chief of the military
4. Judicial Branch
a. Article III, Section 1 of the Constitution: “The judicial Power of the United States
shall be vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress
may from time to time ordain and establish.”
b. Thus, the federal courts and most importantly the Supreme Court, interpret and
apply the laws of the United States in cases brought before them
c. Powers of the Judicial Branch
i. Explain and interpret laws
ii. Settle legal disputes between states
iii. Settles State and federal disputes
iv. Settles disputes between States and foreign countries
v. Hears cases with ambassadors of foreign governments
vi. Settles disputes between individuals and the Federal Government
d. United States Court System
i. Supreme Court
 Nine justices, no jury
 Hears appeals from lower federal courts and highest state court
 Has limited original jurisdiction
ii. United States Court of Appeals
 Judges, no jury
 Hears appeals from United States district courts and certain other
federal courts and commissions
iii. United States District Court
 Judge and jury
 Tries cases involving federal crimes and federal civil proceedings
5. Checks and Balances
a. The three branches are not completely independent of each other
b. Each branch is subject to a number of constitutional checks (restraints)
c. Each branch has certain powers with which it can check the operations of the
other two
i. See chart on Checks and Balances
d. Judicial Review
i. One of the most important checks
ii. The ability of the Supreme Court to determine whether or not something
the government does is within the limits of the Constitution
Student and Teacher Activities with Estimated Time Blocks:
Start of class: (minutes 0-10) Students will come into class and will get settled. The teacher will
tell them to get their notebooks out. Then the teacher will put this activity on the board. It will
be a three corners activity. Students will be asked to pick which part of the government is the
most powerful, the executive, the legislative or the judicial and they will be instructed to go to
the corner of the room that is labeled that branch. Students will then be asked to come up with
five reasons they think this branch is more powerful than the other two. If the groups in one
corner are too big, teacher will break them up. This activity is to get them thinking about the
structure of the government
Lecture: (mins 10-20) The teacher will pass out the guided notes and begin to lecture. .
Worksheet #1: (mins 20-30) The teacher will then hand out the first worksheet which we will do
in the think-pair-share format. Each student will individually do the best he/she can do on the
worksheet, then pair up with their neighbor and go over the answer, and then we will review it as
a class.
After the worksheet: (mins 30-40) The teacher will continue to lecture on the checks and
balances set up in our government, using real-life situation to compare. We will also go over the
chart passed out on all the checks.
Closure: (mins 40-45) The class will do the final worksheet on checks and balances and hand it
in when they are done. If time permits, we will go over the answers after all papers are turned in
Materials Needed for the Lesson: Two worksheets, ditto on checks and balances, guided notes
Differentiation:
The use of the worksheets allows me to differentiate as I walk around the room with the amount
of assistance I can give on the sheets.
Subject Matter Integration/Extension:
Knowing the structure of the government is critical in understanding a lot of things about the rest
of the government course. Knowing how and why the government is set up the way it is allows
the student to understand why things are done the way they are within the government. This
lesson is an important hook to hang later information on.
Reflections on Lesson Plan:
I hope students are able to make connections following the activity at the beginning of the
lecture. I think activating their prior knowledge about the government will allow them to hang
more of the information on , developing their understanding of the concepts of government. The
worksheets will allow the students to check their understanding of these crucial concepts as well.