Name of Teacher: Zack Williams

Subject area: Government

Grade level: High school
Unit title: Judicial Branch
Lesson title: The Federal Court System

Objectives: Students will be able to analyze and comprehend the meaning behind the Preamble
of the Constitution and understand its implications for the Judicial branch of government.
Materials needed:
-

Projector
Power point of To Establish Justice
Preamble Worksheet
Construction paper (5 sheets total for each class= 15 total)
Markers for construction paper
YouTube video Judicial Powers and Limitations
Worksheet notes for video Judicial Powers and Limitations

State Standards: 2: Individuals have rights and responsibilities

Benchmarks- 2.1 The student will recognize and evaluate the rights and
responsibilities of people living in societies.
2.2 The student will analyze the context under which significant rights and
responsibilities are defined and demonstrated, their various interpretations,
and draw conclusions about those interpretations.
Indicators- Supreme Court Justices, Judicial, and Judicial review
Anticipatory set: Student led re-writing of the Preamble and short presentation
Input: Students must have a general or working knowledge of the overall Constitution, Framers,
and life under British rule in Colonial America.
Check for understanding: The instructor will lead guided discussions to check for
understanding following the presentation and video

Guided practice:
-

Students will begin the period with bell work. Students will answer a summary question
from Chapter 11 Section 1 and vocabulary words which are all located on the board (1015 minutes)
The instructor will open up a brief discussion on what students think of (what comes to
mind) when they hear the term, Judicial branch. The instructor will then show slides 14 to students as an attention grabber for students (5 minutes)
The instructor will then discuss different examples of laws (i.e. Ten Commandments,
Hammurabis Code, school rules) and explain that the U.S. has a framework for our law
system (5 minutes)
The instructor will then tell students that they are going to review and rewrite the
Preamble to the Constitution. The instructor will divide the students into five groups, pass
out the Preamble worksheet, one sheet of construction paper, and markers to each group
The instructor will then have the students read over the entire Preamble individually and
underline the words they are not familiar with. The instructor will then assign two
sections of the Preamble to each group.
The students will then be informed that they are to take their two sections, look up the
definitions of the words they are not familiar with, and then rewrite their sections in their
own words (as group) on the construction paper provided. The two sections should take
up the entire piece of paper. The instructor will give students 5 minutes to execute this
task (7-8 minutes with instructor directions)
Once the groups has finished their task, then the instructor will ask a representative from
each group to come up and present their section until every group has come up (2-3
minutes)
The instructor will then lead a guided discussion over power point slides 6-11 (20-25
minutes)
The instructor will then pass out the Judicial Powers and Limitations guided worksheet
and show the Judicial Powers and Limitations video and have a guided discussion
(10:17 minutes for video and 5 minutes for discussion for a total of 15:17) which will
then end the block up until the bell

Closure: The instructor discuss the upcoming class and review the principles learned in class
that day
Independent practice: Students will study worksheet notes from video to prepare for quiz next
class.
Sources: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hq0qMt1jO4w