Government
Lesson One: Canadian Identity
Lesson Two: Introduction to Government
Lesson Three: Structure of Government
Lesson Four: Bills to Laws
Lesson Five: Elections
Lesson Six: Political Ideologies
Lesson Seven: Canadian Political Parties
Lesson Eight: Citizens Effecting Change
Lesson Nine: Charter
Lesson Ten: Indigenous Governments
Lesson Eleven: Test Day
- This course is about Canada and Canadian identity. Each student will come up and on the board, write something about Canada.
- Show I am Canadian Anthem and I am Canadian.
- What is a Canadian? List on board. What is Canadian Identity? Discuss Negative construction vs. positive construction (What we are vs. What we are not) Discuss how we create our identity – we are NOT Americans etc… Beer company (no other country in the world has a beer company that creates their identity). How many of you can tell me the first three PMs or sing the national anthem, how may of you can tell me the head of state? , beer commercial not government, helps form our culture. How does he end his speech? With a thank you – very Canadian.
- Students will sculpt something in play-dough with a partners that means Canada to them and present. Be Creative.
- Wab Kinew: 500 years in 2 minutes.
- This is how Canada Talks.
- Play a game of Swat.
Lesson Two: Introduction to Government
- Discussion: how are cereal, an ipad and a piece of clothing influenced by government?
-go outside, use cell phone to take a picture of something they think is influenced by government (in pairs). Present to the class. - Define Key Terms:
- Government: formal decision making system
- Democracy: gov't where the people make the decisions
- Direct Democracy: (referendums) every citizens votes on every decision
- Representative Democracy: elect a representative to make decisions on their behalf
- Constitutional Monarchy: monarch is head of state, but must work within parameters of a constitution
- Rick mercer Clip: Canada Explained
- What is government? What does gov't look like in Canada? Chapter overview for students and the Guide.
Lesson Three: Structure of Government
- Govt and Democracy video.
- Govt Structure GSlides and student sheet.
- On the Right Level: student complete individually, then in pairs the discuss as a class.
- Field trip: In random pairs with 1 cell phone between them, students will go out into the real world and find examples of the different levels of govt. Photos of 3 Municipals, 3 Provincials and 1 Federal examples are needed. Be ready to explain/justify which level this is. Ex. Mr. Van Bergeyk is an administrator --> Provincial.
- When students are back they will share the photos with me and explain which level each of the photos represent.
Lesson Four: Bills to Laws
- Review the levels of Govt
- Follow the lesson in the Gslides.
- How a Bill becomes a law, show School House Rock Video
- Go over textbook diagram. Why does it take so long? ( so there are not mistakes and all viewpoints have been considered.)
- -Review free-vote and party whip
- Give Students name tags (steps) and an explanation of what they do. Have one student “bill” walk through all the steps until he becomes a law. Each step reads their card.
- Re-write School House Rock lyrics for Canada on big paper. Present one stanza (sing or say)
- Reading p 308 from the textbook, why it takes so long; what process is. Highlight debate after second reading.
- Why are there so many steps?
- Do you agree with the amount of steps?
- Do we need the senate?
- Why are so many politicians former lawyers and teachers? (education)
- What stage is the most important?
- Review steps by playing a game of Kahoot!
- Hold a mock parliament where students create a bill.
Lesson Five: Elections
- Review the steps from last day.
- Review the Election Process in your text on page 315. Know these steps for your test. Click here to see the Election timeline in Canada in more detail.
- Explain the difference between a minority government, coalition and majority government
3 types of government outcomes:
Minority --- less than 51%
Majority – More than 51%
Coalition – 2 or more parties band together to create a majority - What are the potential problems to this system? Are all voters being heard and represented?
- Watch these videos to show FPTP and the other options out there. Canadian Voting Explained. Canada's Voting System, Our Electoral System and The Problems with FTPT Explained.
- BC recently had a referendum (what is that?) on this matter in late 2018. Here is the package that was sent to registered voters.
- Single Transferable Vote video and example to explain
Lesson Six: Political Ideologies
- Political Ideologies GSlides.
- Have students create a straight line in the room and line up according to how far left or right they think they are. Take a picture to refer back to.
- Students will complete the first column of My Political Views. We will come back to finish it.
- Students will go to votecompass.ca to take the online test and have them screenshot their result.
- Draw the spectrum diamond on the board and have students mark off their results (use initials) Compare this to where they thought they were on the line. Any one close? Drastically different?
- Students will complete fill in the blank notes from the GSlides (above).
- Put students in groups of 4. Have them sort out where each of the slips should go. Check for accuracy.
- If time, have students try out a different survey and screenshot the results.
- When done this, students will be given the Government ASR in prep for their Govt test. Here is the Unit Vocab as well. The test and the Political Memes will form the assessment for this unit.
Lesson Seven: Canadian Political Parties
- Watch Canada 101 Parties.
- Review the Canadian political parties.
- Students will create a "Player Card" of one of the Cabinet Ministers.
- Optional: Students will create Political Meme(s) to demonstrate their understanding of the political parties and ideology.
Lesson Eight: Citizens Effecting Change
- How to influence govt GSlides
- Read p291-296 in your textbook and complete the worksheet.
- Work on Govt ASR.
Lesson Nine: Charter
- While following along the Gslides on the Charter students will complete the following worksheet.
- Work on Govt ASR. Last class time for this.
- Here is a website to help us review for the test.
Lesson Ten: Indigenous Governments
- The Indian Act: What do you know? (this may look familiar to some of you, thats okay) Watch the videos and answer the questions with pair discussions.
- Complete Lesson 4A (Graphic Organizer) which is step 5 from the sheets above. Here is the graphic organizer and here is the link to the website with the information for you to summarize.
- Next look at the infographics The Indian Act Said What? and Indian Status in Canada.
- Beyond the 94 shows the breakdown by category of the CTA and their completion status.
Lesson Eleven: Test Day
- Good luck! Students will hand in a completed Govt ASR for bonus marks and complete the test.
- Prior to the test, students can use this website to help review.