Government & Civics

2009-2010

 
 

Welcome to our class website
Students enrolled in this course will use this site to access assignment downloads, readings and course related links throughout the semester.  See your teacher for downloads page passwords.
 
Current Unit of Study:
Media Literacy
In an effort to be effective consumers of news and information, we will complete several assignments and activities designed to understand bias and how “news” is processed. Go to the assignments/downloads page to access the following assignments: • The Media Primer(reading) • Article Analysis
To learn more visit these sites: The Newseum,  Freedom Forum,

What is your Political Ideology?
Here are several interactive online “quizzes” for you to have fun with.  Remember, this is just for fun and in no way should the results influence your opinions and beliefs!  Here are a few of the “better” ones: You need only to complete the first three for the class assignment.
 Pew Research Center: 2005 Political Typology
 Politopia (this one is unique!)
 World’s Smallest Political Quiz (the Libertarian quiz)
 many more . . .

Elections
Be an educated voter. Use the links on the left to research the issues and candidates on this year’s ballot. A great place to start is Washington Voter, a site created by the state chapter of the League of Women Voters. The County Auditor’s site is essential for local information and Project Vote Smart is exceptional for general voter knowledge and for researching the positions of candidates.

Red States, Blue States
Read the election 2000 USA Today article that coined the terms. 
view voting maps: 2000 by county,  2004 by county,  2004 cartograms

State Government 
Use the links on the menu to the left to access everything you need to know about Washington State Government and the issues and candidates in state and local elections. For the most comprehensive coverage of State issues from across the country go to Stateline.org
   
The Foundations of American Democracy
coming soon

../Downloads/Civicsdownloads.html../Downloads/Civicsdownloads.htmlhttp://www.newseum.org/http://www.freedomforum.org/http://typology.people-press.org/typology/http://www.politopia.com/http://www.theadvocates.org/quiz.htmlhttp://www.fzc.dk/thomas/politica.htmhttp://www.washingtonvoter.org/http://www.washingtonvoter.org/http://www.co.thurston.wa.us/auditor/http://www.vote-smart.org/index.htmhttp://www.vote-smart.org/index.htmhttp://www.usatoday.com/news/vote2000/pres84.htmCivics_files/counties-2000.gifCivics_files/counties-2004.gifhttp://www-personal.umich.edu/~mejn/election/http://www.stateline.org/live/shapeimage_1_link_0shapeimage_1_link_1shapeimage_1_link_2shapeimage_1_link_3shapeimage_1_link_4shapeimage_1_link_5shapeimage_1_link_6shapeimage_1_link_7shapeimage_1_link_8shapeimage_1_link_9shapeimage_1_link_10shapeimage_1_link_11shapeimage_1_link_12shapeimage_1_link_13shapeimage_1_link_14shapeimage_1_link_15shapeimage_1_link_16shapeimage_1_link_17

Instructor: Mike Schaefer

Olympia High School

Olympia, Washington


Contact me:

Room #: 508

Phone: 596-7323

Voice mail: 596-7218

Email: mschaefer@osd.wednet.edu



Assignments (downloads)

Homework:



Culminating Project / CAP

  1. OHS CP Homepage

  2. CP Formal Proposal Requirements

  3. Log Entry Template

  4. Log Entry handwritten form (recommended)

  5. Cover Page Template


Links

Course Tools

Class Guidelines

MLA Citations Guide

easybib.com (auto citations)


Get Involved

Do Something


Voter information sites

Register to vote

Washington Sec. of State

Politics 1

Project Vote Smart

Rock the Vote

P 2008

Factcheck.org


Polling information

pollingreport.com

Real Clear Politics

Rasmussen Reports

Fivethirtyeight


Political Parties

Democrats

Republicans

Libertarians

The Green Party

The Reform Party


Washington State sites

Access Washington (State Gov.)

Washington Voter

Thurston County Auditor

Washington Votes


City of Olympia

City website


Political Cartoons

Horsey - Seattle P. I.

Daryl Cagle’s Today’s Best

politicalcartoons.com

comics.com Editoons


Find Law