Law Wise • February 2016

PUBLISHED BY

LAW WISE FEBRUARY 2016 • ISSUE 4

Editor: Ron Keefover Coordinators: Hon. G. Joseph Pierron Jr.; Anne Woods & Ryan Purcell, KBA staff

Greetings from the Kansas Bar Association (KBA).

Welcome to this edition of Law Wise and the fourth edition of the 2015-2016 school year.

IN THIS ISSUE Kansas Joins New National Civic Ed Initiative Called the James Madison Legacy Project..... 1 KSU’s Center for Social Studies Education Ramping Up Efforts With New Funding, Law-Related Education Leadership Appointments.............................................. 2 Indiana Study finds We the People Programs Increase Civic Knowledge............................ 3 Lesson Plan: Oral History................................ 4 Terrific Technology for Teachers....................... 5 February Buzz: President’s Month.................... 5 Dear Readers: NEW Law Wise Group.............. 6

Calendar of Events February 15

Presidents’ Day

April 15

ansas State University K Symposium

May 1

Law Day

Kansas Joins New National Civic Ed Initiative Called the James Madison Legacy Project

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ansas State University’s Center for Social Studies Education has launched a Civics and Government Professional Development program for middle and high school teachers in civics and government focusing on the Declaration of Independence, U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the rights and responsibilities of citizens.

In announcing the program, Dr. Thomas S. Vontz, professor and director of KSU’s Center for Social Studies Education, said “it is critical that teachers have a sound background in civics and government and develop the skills required to bring the subject to life for their students.” He said the new initiative is designed for teachers to help students become effective and engaged members of society and “further the goal of a nation that is supposed to be of, by, and for the people.”

The Kansas program is part of a nationwide professional development initiative directed by the Center for Civic Education, a nonprofit educational organization that recently was awarded a federal grant under the U.S. Department of Education’s Supporting Effective Educator Development (SEED) program. Called the James Madison Legacy Project, KSU’s Center for Social Studies Education is one of the organizations participating in the 46-state partnership. The funding will be used to increase the number of highly effective teachers of high-need and other students through professional development and the implementation of an exemplary curricular program for students. The teacher institutes and workshops will focus on the research-validated We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution program, a nationally acclaimed curriculum that teaches upper elementary, middle and high school students about the history and principles of the U.S. Constitution.

Dr. Vontz said 40 teachers have been accepted for this year’s program, which includes free educational resources, a $500 professional stipend, free sets of We the People textbooks and a teacher’s guide, 40 Professional Development Points certified by KSU, as well as subsistence and travel reimbursement in Manhattan and Topeka. The teachers are participating in online professional development during this month and March, and will attend Kansas State University’s Social Studies Symposium April 15th in Manhattan.

The 40 teachers observed We the People state competitions February 1st in Topeka, under the direction of Dr. Vontz and Dr. Brad Burenheide, Assoc. Professor in the College of Education, at KSU. They were appointwww.ksbar.org/lawwise

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ed state coordinators for Kansas by the Center for Civic Education to succeed longtime state coordinator Rep. Sue Boldra, Hays, who stepped down after the 2015 national competition to devote more time to her teaching and legislative career.

We the People competition is administered nationally by the Center for Civic Education in Calabasas, California. The program contains three different levels of textbooks; one aimed at upper elementary stuRep. Sue Boldra dents (most frequently fifth grade), one aimed at middle school students (most frequently eighth grade), and one aimed at the high school students (most frequently in government or civics classes but also commonly employed in United States history classes).

The different levels of the textbooks follow the same general format and focus on similar issues. The content of the curriculum emphasizes political philosophy, constitutional history, ju-

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risprudence, and political behavior.

The culminating activity of the program is a simulated congressional hearing where students role-play expert witnesses on the Constitution, and community members, often members of the legal community, role-play members of Congress seeking more information on the Constitution.

Dr. Vontz said “The most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in civics revealed Dr. Brad Burenheide that only about 25 percent of students performed at or above the “proficient” level. All the other students scored at “basic” or “below basic” levels that leave them ill-equipped to participate effectively in civic life.

“This clearly indicates the need for the James Madison Legacy Project to improve civic education,” he said. n

KSU’s Center for Social Studies Education Ramping Up Efforts With New Funding, Law-Related Education Leadership Appointments

ngaging Kansas State University’s Dr. Thomas S. Vontz in a discussion of the Center for Social Studies Education he directs leaves one with a sense of excitement over his infectious enthusiasm for working with teachers to change today’s abysmal lack of understanding of basic civics. Which according to the most recent National Assessment of Education Progress in civics reveals only about 25 percent of students performed at or above the “proficient” level. All other students scored at “basic” or “below basic” levels, clear indicators of why our citizens are so ill-equipped to participate in civic life as adults.

Meet KSU’s Professor Thomas “Tom” Vontz, Ph.D, whose involvement in Civic Education spans 23 years, 18 states, and 9 countries. In addition to teaching undergraduate and graduate education courses in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, he directs the university’s Center for Social Studies and this past year agreed to serve as state coordinator for We the People (with Dr. Brad Burenheide), Project Citizen, and iCivics.

Dr. Thomas S. Vontz Dr. Vontz’s involvement in civic education began in 1992 when he was awarded the James Madison Fellowship to pursue a masters degree focusing on the United States Constitution.

After completing his masters degree, Dr. Vontz taught United States History, American Government, and United States Foreign Relations at Lincoln Southeast High School in Lincoln,

Nebraska, from 1993-1996. While teaching at Lincoln Southeast, he participated in the Center for Civic Education’s We the People. . . the Citizen and the Constitution, taking teams to the National Finals three consecutive years.

After teaching at Lincoln Southeast, he attended Indiana University to pursue a Ph.D. in Curriculum Studies with an interdisciplinary minor in Law and History. His studies focused on social studies education and education for democracy. While at Indiana University, he became the Director of the Indiana Program for Law-Related Education, Co-Director of Civitas: An International Civic Education Exchange, and the Indiana State Coordinator for both We the People. . .the Citizen and the Constitution and We the People. . . Project Citizen.

In 2001 Dr. Vontz accepted a faculty position at Rockhurst University in Kansas City, Missouri, where he taught courses in social studies education, teacher education, and geography.

His involvement continued in Kansas City where he served as a district coordinator for both We the People. . .the citizen and the Constitution and We the People. . . Project Citizen in Kansas Congressional District Three.

He also served as the president of the Kansas Council for the Social Studies, Associate Director for Publications for Civics Mosaic, and co-author of Exploring Political Ideas—a reference book for high school students published by Congressional Quarterly in 2010. Dr. Vontz is the author or co-author of a number of journal articles, book chapters, and three books.

Dr. Vontz’s involvement in We the People spans 17 years and 14 states. He has served as a teacher, judge, district coordinator, state coordinator, institute director, workshop facilitator, and evaluator. n

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FEBRUARY 2016 | LAW WISE 3

Indiana Study finds We the People Programs Increase Civic Knowledge A 2015 Indiana research report on the effects of the We the People program concludes that students of teachers who have participated in it scored higher on tests of their knowledge of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, political parties and elections, and race and politics than students in a comparison group. The report, entitled “High School Students’ Acquisition of Civic Knowledge: The Impact of We the People,” was authored by Dr. Diana Owen, Georgetown University.

Dr. Owen notes in her study that decades of research confirm that the public has a relatively low stock of political knowledge. The study compares the acquisition of political knowledge by students whose teachers have gone through the We the People professional development program to students whose teachers have not. It also examined the knowledge gain of students who participated in the We the People instructional program to that of students who took civics classes employing more traditional approaches. Student knowledge assessment data from an original study fielded in schools across the state of Indiana during the fall semester of 2014 was used.

Dr. Owen concluded that students of teachers who have participated in We the People professional development scored higher on tests of their knowledge of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, political parties and elections, and race and politics than students in the comparison group. The influence of We the People professional development on teacher effectiveness in conveying political knowledge is evident for students enrolled in either the We the People program or a traditional civics class. The We the People curriculum is especially successful in imparting knowledge of the U.S. Constitution, the study found.

Key Study Findings include: 99 Students’ political knowledge increased over the course of the semester for the entire sample.

99 The increase in political knowledge levels as a result of civics instruction was significantly higher for students of teachers with We the People professional development than for the comparison group.

99 Students who took civics with a teacher with We the People professional development had significantly higher scores on knowledge of the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights, political parties and elections, and race and politics than students in the comparison group at the end of the semester.

99 Students in the We the People program had significantly higher scores on knowledge of the U.S. Constitution than other students in the study.

99 We the People students’ scores are similar to those of students taking a traditional civics class with a teacher who has We the People professional development for knowledge of the Bill of Rights and race and politics.

99 Teacher professional development and type of class had no influence on knowledge of government institutions.

To see the full study, go to http://civiced.org/pdfs/research/ ImpactofWethePeople_DianaOwen.pdf n

2016 We the People Winners

J. Eugene Balloun is surrounded by students from Blue Valley Northwest as he presents them with a check from the Johnson County First Amendment Foundation to help defray the costs of attending nationals in Washington, DC in April.

BVNW students answer questions during part of the We the People competition.

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Lesson Plan

Oral History Source: http://history.house.gov/Education/Lesson-Plans/Lesson-Plans-Oral-History/

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he lesson plan and teaching tips offer suggestions on how oral histories conducted with former staff and Members can help students learn about the history of the House of Representatives through the perspectives of the people who lived it.

Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students have the opportunity to learn more about the House of Representatives through the firsthand recollections of longtime employees, pages, eyewitnesses to historic events, and family of former Members intimately connected to the institution.

Teaching Tips

Design an online scavenger hunt where students review transcripts, audio clips, video clips, photographs, and artifacts to locate a series of objects and/or places connected to the Capitol (Speaker’s Lobby; cloakroom; electronic voting machine; Little Congress membership card; and the Speaker’s Rostrum, for example).

• Take a series of photographs of your students during the course of a normal day. Then take some photographs of a special event involving the students. Design an activity in which students imagine how historians 30 years from now would describe the pictures and how these photographs could one day be part of an oral history project.

Grades: 7–12

• Have students listen to the audio clips for one of the interviewees on the website. Ask students to draw or create a visual depiction of what was described in each of the clips.

• Ask students to select three oral histories from the website. Based on the job descriptions and recollections provided by each of the interviewees, draft three “Help Wanted” postings. Make sure that each of the postings fit the job requirements for the period in which the person was employed by the House.

• Have students choose one oral history and write a newspaper article (500 words in length) which focuses on the career highlights of the person featured in the interview.

• Ask students to select a historical event like the Great Depression, World War II, or the Watergate scandal and have students locate segments of the oral histories that relate to the given topic. Organize a class discussion about how these people were personally affected by the events. n

• Have students create a historical timeline with at least eight events based on the oral histories featured on the Web site.

• Have students conduct an oral history with a retired employee that worked in local or state government.

Ask students to compare and contrast the experiences of their interviewee with the former House employees featured on the Web site.

• Choose one oral history from the Web site and have students compose five questions that were not asked by the interviewer. Set up a role-play exercise where students are grouped in pairs and have the chance to ask their questions and devise likely answers.

• Have students list three instances in which technology is discussed in the oral histories from the Web site and then ask students to brainstorm and draft a list of three new inventions that would potentially affect all of society (including Congress) during the next 20 years.

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Capitol Pages attending biology class, 1948.

Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

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Te r r i f i c Te c h n o l o g y Research Study Affirms Value of We the People Program For an informative look at the success of traditional social studies teaching strategies compared to teachers who have undergone professional development courses using the We the People program, take a look at this Indiana study by Dr. Diana Owen: http://bit.ly/1QaABQW Everything You Want to Know About the National We the People Program may be found at the Center for Civic Education website, including this year’s 29th annual National Finals, which are scheduled April 22-25, 2016, in Washington DC. Classes qualify for the National Finals by placing first in their state competition or through wildcard availability. Participants will also welcome a special Warren E. Burger class in tribute to

for

Te a c h e r s

Chief Justice Warren E. Burger. The competition will be conducted on the campus of the University of Maryland and in hearing rooms on Capitol Hill. For more information, go to: http://www.civiced.org/programs/wtp. iCivics for Teachers There are numerous free resources for teachers on icivics.org. Lesson plans, games, web quests (guided research activities), drafting board (designed for argumentative writing), and mini-lessons that can be done independently or combined into larger lessons are all available at no charge.

For example, The Road to the Constitution and The Constitution units can be used separately or together. Visit http://www. icivics.com and click on Teach to learn more. n

February Buzz: Presidents’ Month

@ The Law-Related Collection, Emporia State University, Teachers College Resource Center

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he evening news shouts out about the latest debates, and there are so many candidates that it may be confusing for the learners in our schools. So what can we do? We can teach about voting and the election process. “ The Election Process in America”, a 50 minute DVD from the Just the Facts Learning Series, is packed with information about voting rights. It considers the vocabulary, and travels learners through some recent campaigns to explain. We also have books about several presidents, and other resources that will tempt learners to find out more about: political parties, the electoral college, lobbyists, and more.

If any of these topics fit your interests or needs, you may search online at emporiastate.worldcat.org and choose “Resource Center” from the drop box to see the full array of materials and resources available here at the Center. If you plan

to be in our area, we are located on the second floor of Visser Hall, on the campus of Emporia State University, and we would be proud to give you the guided tour. You may also call 620341-5292 to check out resources during our hours, 9-6, Monday through Thursday, and 9-5 on Friday. We are able to mail out and receive items with no charge to the patron, thanks to the generosity of the Kansas Bar Association. Please help us to continue our “Buzz” here at the Law Related Education Collection at Emporia State University! n Janice Romeise (620) 341-5292 emporiastate.worldcat.org jromeise@emporia.eduv Corky the Hornet

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