TCI eNews
March 2008  

In this issue:

  1. Introducing Government Alive!
  2. Developer Spotlight: Amy George, a Teacher Behind Government Alive! Power, Politics, and You
  3. Strategy Drill-in: Experiential Exercise
  4. Bert's Blog: What is it about high school seniors?
    5.  

Introducing Government Alive!

Whether you get your news from CNN, Fox, or The Daily Show, now is an exciting time for American politics. Dinner tables across the nation are abuzz with conversations on the presidential primary. Many states are seeing record voter turnout. Some high school students are even interested too. But how can you get them even more engaged in American government? That was the question our Development team had to answer as they embarked on our newest program, Government Alive! Power, Politics, and You . After toiling many long hours, we were able to create provocative questions and connect government chapters and lessons to the everyday lives of high school students. Some of our Essential Questions include:


  •    Why should you care about power, politics, and government?
  •    How can you make a difference in democracy?
  •    To what extent do the media shape your political views?

Intrigued? We hope so. We are unveiling Government Alive! Power, Politics, and You in conjunction with our partner, the National Constitution Center. You are all invited to attend a complimentary dinner and immersion lesson conducted by Dr. Bert Bower, TCI Founder, CEO, and President in Philadelphia at the National Constitution Center. This special event will be held on Wednesday, May 7th from 6-9 PM. So pack your bags and join us. Space is limited. To reserve your spot, please call Customer Service at 800-497-6138, ext. 0. Mention event #SP01870.

Developer Spotlight: Amy George, a Teacher Behind Government Alive! Power, Politics, and You
At TCI one of our core teaching philosophies is that the best curriculum is created by educators with real-world classroom experience. That's why every TCI program we publish is created by teachers, for teachers. 

Want to meet one of the teachers behind our newest high school program, Government Alive! Power, Politics, and You? Meet Amy George. Amy began consulting with us part-time in May 2002, before signing on as a full-time Lesson Developer in January 2004. Before joining TCI, Amy taught middle school world history in Weston, MA for eight years.

Amy's role is to create lessons that correspond to the chapters in the Student Edition. She developed five lessons for Government Alive! Power, Politics, and You. Amy's favorite lesson to create was "Chapter 13: Chief Executives and Bureaucracies." In this Problem Solving Groupwork activity, groups create interactive exhibits on a day in the life of a modern president for four presidential libraries and museums. "What I love about this lesson is it gives students a true insight into the varied roles our presidents play in one day - Carter meets with Congress, hosts Shimon Perez of Israel, discusses the economy with industry experts, meets with Hispanic leaders about fair housing, receives diplomatic credentials from a dozen ambassadors, plans a visit for his reelection campaign, and manages to call his wife and daughter - all while awaiting news of the attempt to rescue hostages in Iran."

Students agree that this Problem Solving Groupwork is a powerful lesson - creating a deeper understanding of the content they read in Chapter 13.

We hope that your students enjoy Government Alive! Power, Politics, and You as much as Amy and the rest of our staff enjoyed creating it.

To read more about some other TCI lessons, visit our discussion groups. The Classroom Technology discussion group discusses some favorite enhancements to lessons through new gadgets and gizmos (read the "Get kids excited!" thread.) The Elementary, Middle, and High School discussion groups talk about a few of their favorite lessons. Check out what teachers across the nation are saying and join in the discussion.

Strategy Drill-in: Experiential Exercise
You caught us. We are so excited about our new high school program that this issue has been almost exclusively about high school. Sorry! The good news is this article pertains to all teachers at the elementary school, middle school, and high school levels. Our strategies aren't exclusively for the social studies classroom. Consider applying them to math and science.

Experiential Exercise: Short, memorable activities make abstract ideas or remote events accessible and meaningful by tapping into intrapersonal and body-kinesthetic intelligences.

For five steps to turn your own lessons into Experiential Exercises, visit our Experiential Excercise Overview page. 


Bert's Blog: What is it about high school seniors?
Watch out! Bert Bower, our fearless leader, has been touring high school government classes across the country. He found students' knowledge of American government is (um...trying to put this nicely) a little disconcerting. Read about his observations in the high school classroom. In his blog, Bert states, "[Students have to be] actively involved in doing democracy, not just listening about democracy." He asks, "How else can we expect an informed, active citizenry? It seems so basic, so why do you think it's not happening in most civics classes across the nation?" Join in the conversation. Bert wants to hear from you.

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