Blog Feed

Create a Post

Q2 Benchmark Reflection

Posted by Andre Serrano in American Government - Laufenberg on
To choose which laws, Supreme Court cases and functions of the government I would focus on for my benchmark, I thought about what my current situation, and also which laws will have an effect on me later in life. For example, I wrote about the healthcare law. One aspect of the healthcare law that is important to me is the fact that I am eligible to stay on my mom's healthcare until I am 26. Rather than focusing on working to afford my healthcare in college, I can focus on my school work.
Selecting my topics was a fairly difficult process. It was difficult to find relative laws and cases that are applicable to my life. The older I get, the way the government is involved in my life changes - it's hard to say whether or not they are more involved because it is involved in different ways. Up until the age of 18, the government can force you to go to school, and they have passed laws recently regulating what I can eat in schools. Before 18 they are trying to protect you. After 18 their primary interest is the rest of the country. They take more taxes to help provide for people who are less fortunate, and they require to do things such as register for selective service in the need of a draft. 

Benchmark Reflection

Posted by Christopher Cassise in American Government - Laufenberg on
Chris Cassise

I was able to choose through a variety of laws and cases because of my age at seventeen/eighteen, alot of laws pertain to me in various ways. I am able to also look at taxes since I work and legal rights with school and in our state that effects me. This process was a bit difficult finding positive laws, usually its harder to find positive impacts through the laws that are made. It wasnt hard finding all the cases/laws for all the branches because I can identify with many groups that are effected by laws.

I believe my life will become more affected by the government. Buying houses, holding an actual job, and raising a family brings alot of taxes and other benifits like 401k that you dont have when you are younger. After turning 18, I pertain and follow to every law in the country at that point since I would be an adult. Its obvious that my life will be greatly affected by government. I thought the process of the project was a decent amount of workload over a period of time and I understood the three branches alot clearer and better after doing the project.




Q2 Benchmark Reflection

Posted by Lenea Harris in American Government - Laufenberg on
​ To decide which laws, cases and offices I would include in my project, I sat down and constantly thought about what effected me as a student, a teenager, a child in a household of 10, a U.S citizen, and as a resident of Pennsylvania/ Philadelphia. I also searched general topics on court case decisions/ laws/ bureaucratic offices that affect teens. I searched cases by topic on websites like oyez.com and uscourts.gov.  Deciding which laws, cases, and offices affected me was the most difficult part of the process. Because I had to choose laws and etc that currently affect me, I was trying to find very specific laws, and that proved useless. My mind constantly visited the laws and departments that have recently affected me, and how they’d be great things to write about, but because the instructions were to identify laws and etc that currently effect me, I felt stuck with “boring” or more simpler laws to choose from.

 

There is no doubt in my mind that my life will be more affected by the government as I get older. In only a few months, I’ll be legally responsible for myself, and that will apply a new set of laws to me. In years, I will be buying a house, or paying bills, or getting married and all of those actions involve the government.

This project has helped me realize that the government does not only affect those that vote for the officials. I’ve always known that the government interacts with each citizen in many ways, but this project has helped me pinpoint specific laws, offices, and court cases that affect me personally.  

American Gov: Q2BM

Posted by Kimberly Yarnall in American Government - Laufenberg on


    For this project we needed to find 2 positive and 2 negatives for each the executive, legislative, and judicial branch. When it came to finding and choosing the 12 different laws, cases, or offices I tried thinking of things that affected my life the most. Since I am under 18, finding laws that had age limits on them were easy for me to use.
    This project was both easy and difficult. The easiest part was finding which laws, cases, or offices I wanted to use. The difficult part was turning what I found into paragraphs. Sometimes it's hard to explain what you want to say and that's what I was having trouble with. Another difficult part was finding items that affect me now instead of in the future. As I get older I believe that the government will have more of an affect on me because there will be more laws, court cases, and offices out there. Since I'm still in my teen years, I don't believe the government affects me as much as it would later on in life.

Practical Government Benchmark - Taylor Tomasco

Posted by Taylor Tomasco in American Government - Laufenberg on
Ms. Laufenberg always says, "If you remember one thing from this class, PLEASE remember the difference in the three branches of the government!" This benchmark has enabled me to do so. I am now able to identify which laws/cases/offices are represented by each of the three branches and understand WHY they are represented by those as well.

This process was not difficult but it was a little confusing at first. I kept forgetting that some things could be represented by more than one branch. For example, when you get your licsence you are interacting with the executive branch, but there is a law (legislative branch) that states what age you are allowed to get your licsence. The law was most likely made after a course case (judicial branch) was held. The most time consuming part was the judicial branch. I am very familiar with different laws and different parts of the executive branch, but I did not know names of specific court cases that allowed these laws or functions to happen. 

As I get older I imagine to become even more familiar with the branches. I will have to do more paper work, and have to understand some elaborate processes. With my current understanding of the branches I will definitely be able to distinguish which branch of the government I am interacting with. I am leaving this class with Ms. Laufenberg more than happy. I don't only remember the branches of the government, but I understand them as well. 

Mi cuento

Posted by Rumman Haq in Spanish 4 - Manuel on
Una vez había perro. Vestía un suéter de color marrón. Caminaba en medio de la calle. El perro estaba sonriendo. El perro iba a una fiesta con sus otros amigos. En la fiesta ellos iban a cantar y ladrido. Él estaba muy nervioso por lo que el perro estaba practicando sus ladridos.

Benchmark

Posted by Rumman Haq in American Government - Laufenberg on

For this project, finding the legislative laws was easy because I was more informed about the branch and their laws. However, once I reached the executive branch, I was a bit confused on what exactly would fully apply. Once I understood, I sped through the offices because it was something I felt strongly about.

 In my opinion, finding Judicial Court cases that I was negatively impacted by was hard because when I was doing my research, I kept finding court cases that have positively shaped American History. This project started off extremely difficult because I was slightly confused but once I understood and got into rhythm, it was very easy.

 I think that this project helped me learn how I am affected by the governments decisions because after I was finished, I was thinking about so many things about the executive branch that my family has been affected by and I think I will take note of that from now on. I learned a lot about the government from this project and  I think that this project is going to make me do continuous amount of research.

Blog #3

Posted by Robert Nurse in American Government - Laufenberg on
​PART 3
1. What is the status of your issue at the legislature? Is this a "good" year?
My bill is the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act. On November 30, 2010, my bill passed the senate with a vote of 73 yes, 25 no. Before the Food Safety Modernization Act the legislation were trying to set in motion major improvements to the security and safety of our nation’s food supply. 

2. Who is essential to the outcome?

The sponsor of the bill Sen. Richard Durbin [D-IL] currently is the stakeholder to whether or not this bill will get pressed on. Each year, illness from unhealthy food strikes 48 million Americans, hospitalizing and killing thousands. Because of this most of congress have supported this bill. If this bill were to pass foods that are consumed everyday in the United States would be check thoroughly before being distributed to the stores. 

3. Who else is working on this? Can you coordinate?

There are many organizations working on this bill they include: Consumers Union, Citizens for Health, and the US Chamber of Commerce. These organizations plan on helping the bill pass by supporting it however they can. I could call a few of them and set up phone interviews. 

4. Who can you influence?
Since the Secretary of Health and Human Services are going to be required to create a food tracing system that would streamline the process of finding the source of contamination, should an outbreak occur. Influencing many corporations is going to be easier. If there were another outbreak of  contaminated food it will be easier for those corporations to get their products back, which in the end means less people will get sick and sue. 

5. What is the time frame?

Since this is a fairly new bill there are no deadlines at the present moment. The latest actions that have taken place were in March.

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s111-510&tab=summary
http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-s510/money
http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2011/01/fda-food-safety-modernization-act-out-of-the-box
http://eatocracy.cnn.com/2010/11/30/s-510-the-fda-food-safety-modernization-act-the-basics/

Quarter 2 Benchmark + Reflection

Posted by Robert Nurse in American Government - Laufenberg on

Click this for my benchmark.


           During the 2nd quarter we were told to find 12 identified laws, cases, or offices involving the 3 branches of the US government. Finding 12 identified laws, cases, or offices was rather easy, but took a considerable amount of time. Since we focused on the 3 branches of the government during the 2nd quarter I decided to use some laws, cases, and offices we talked about. To find information on some of the other branches of government I went to their main sites to find more resources.
           When I was young I always thought getting older would be easy. But, as I got older I came to the realization of the true world.  Upon researching the three branches of the government my eye have opened even wider. I know more about out government and how they will affect me when I become a legal adult.

Patricia Parker, AND THE LAWS.

Posted by Patricia Parker in American Government - Laufenberg on
​My Law Benchmark

My Reflection:


Voice thread link : http://voicethread.com/share/1673275/
I chose my 12 cases by observing the ones I learned in class and was most familiar with however I noticed that alot of my peers were doing the same thing so I decided to pick at least 3 laws that my classmates did not choose. I thought it would get boring reading the same ones over and over when grading. The process however was somewhat easy , except for the struggle I had when trying to find out when and where a case may have specifically happened.
In hindsight , I can envision my life being more impacted by the government the older I get because more responsibilities come up and laws are always attached to responsibilities.
I enjoyed learning about why my family and I have to follow certain rules .


10liptak.600
10liptak.600

Marshall's Q2 Benchmark

Posted by Marshall Johnston in American Government - Laufenberg on
LINK

The hardest part of this benchmark was finding specific laws/bills that were directly related to me. I had to take almost all of my examples from topics dealing with education because that is the largest part of my life which is controlled by the government. If I were eighteen instead of seventeen, this project would have proven a lot easier because it wouldn't take as long to find bill and laws that directly affect me. The older one gets, the more affects the government has on their every day life. A large part of this is because the older we get, the more we contribute to "the machine" as citizens; our largest votes are made with our wallets. I would like to analyze corporations roles in the United States government because they have so much power of everything that gets decided.

Reflection

Posted by Brianna Thompson in American Government - Laufenberg on
https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1KHhIC2DgYTBz1HsKeXs6M_lSsQ81PrwxXh1UaOHNyo8

Coming up with ideas to include in my project was probably the most difficult part of the assignment, a lot of my ideas came from the ones we were tossing around in class however I did manage to think of a few that were more compatible for different aspects of my life that may not be applicable for others. It was also hard to decide whether I wanted to discuss the topic as a negative or positive part in my life since everything has its pros and cons. Besides those two things I found this to be a pretty laid back assignment. I think that after reflecting on a lot of our conversations on current events that the government will definitely have a bigger impact on my life. In fact I believe that as soon as you're born the gov. has a bigger impact on your life than you realize. It's what protects you and your rights even as a small child. This class has given me a lot of insight on how the government functions and I've actually become more interested in staying updated with current events in the world. 



Reflection: Q2 Benchmark

Posted by Taniera Reid in American Government - Laufenberg on
 

Reflection:

 

            Choosing the items in my 12 identified laws, cases and offices was such a strenuous process. When first introduced to this assignment, I didn’t think as much thought and researching would be needed to complete the project. After researching just about all there is to know about the executive, legislative and judicial branches, I eventually came across some items that spoke directly to me. One court case that spoke directly to my life was the West Virginia Board of Education v. Barnette case. Being raised with different religious views as most of my classmates, I was always looked upon awkwardly when refusing to say the pledge of allegiance. My friends never really understood why I didn’t say it, and to tell you the truth, I was never 100 sure why I didn’t say it. I just knew I respected my mother’s wishes. Because of this law, I am not forced to go against my religion by reciting the pledge of allegiance. The overall process of finding which items to include allowed me to learn more about the government, in depth, and really put into perspective which laws, cases and offices pertained to my life.

 

The difficulties with this project came with the research. I would have never guessed finding court cases relating to me would be as strenuous as it was. When I thought I’d found a case, it didn’t directly relate to my life. There were always things I could relate to as oppose to me relating to them currently. The less difficult aspect of this process was finding things that negatively affected my life. I found that when speaking of the negatives, everything I felt came easier to me making it easier for me to write and express myself.

 

As I mature and become older with age,, I would anticipate my life being more affected by the government. Since there are so many restraints set for children under the age of 18, as I pass the ages at which limitations are set, I will be more likely to part take in government activities. With age comes opportunity. The opportunities presented to me, the more likely it is for me to take advantage of those opportunities. This process has taught me so much about the world around me I hadn’t before known. Forced to research all aspects of the three branches of government, I now have a broader understanding of how I, as well as the world around me, is governed.  I understand that laws are set forth for the welfare of this country, and that all three branches do whatever in its power to protect that.