Governments of the World Unit Plan

Unit Author
First and Last Name:	Downing H. Hudson
School District:	Georgetown
School Name:	Georgetown Middle School
School City, State:	Georgetown, South Carolina

Unit Overview
Unit Plan Title:		Governments of the world
Curriculum-Framing Questions
	Essential Question	What are the different types of world governments?
	Unit Questions	How do governments of the world’s countries function and interact with each other? Why are governments important?
	Content Questions	How do other governments in the world affect the United States and how does our government affect those of other countries? What are the characteristics of different world governments and who is in control?
Unit Summary:
Students will research different governments of the world, defining the characteristics of each one. Governments to be researched: Federal republic Parliamentary Democracy Communist state/dictatorship Monarchy Socialist state Students will be assigned to one of five small groups that will each concentrate of one of the five types of governments. Each group of students will find a country that has their assigned government. They will prepare a news magazine, a power point presentation, or a newspaper storyboard about their country, illustrating their government, leaders, and people.

Subject Area(s): Click box(es) of the subject(s) that your Unit targets
Business Education Engineering Home Economics Language Arts Music School to Career Social Studies	Drama Foreign Language Industrial Technology Math Physical Education Science Technology	Other: Other: Other:
Grade Level: Click box(es) of the grade level(s) that your Unit targets
K-2 6-8 ESL Gifted and Talented	3-5 9-12 Resource Other:

Targeted State Frameworks/Content Standards/Benchmarks:

South Carolina state standards:

7.2 The learner will demonstate an understanding of government, its origins and functions, including civic life and politics in world cultures. The student should be able to

7.2.2 describe the major ideas concerning the necessity and purposes of government;

7.2.3 explain how nation-states interact with each other;

7.2.4 describe how the United States influences other nations and how other nations influence American society and politics;

7.2.5 describe the influence of American political ideas on other nations and regions;

Student Objectives/Learning Outcomes:

The student will be able to recognize characteristics of different world governments.

The student will be able to realize the role of American politics and policies in other parts of the world.

The student will be able to recognize world leaders from other countries and how they interact with American leaders.

Procedures:

Students will be have been introduced to various world governments in their world studies, including a federal republic, a parliamentary democracy, a monarchy, a communist state/dictatorship, and socialist state. Students will review and discuss the different types of government studied. This can be done using a variety of methods—brainstorming, reference books, and notes from class can all be implemented. Students will also be asked to draw on their previous knowledge of ancient civilizations and the beginnings of democracy, tyranny, oligarchies, and republics.

Students will be divided into five small groups. Each group will be assigned one of the five type of governments we are researching. Each group will present the basics of their specific type of government to the class. The group will need to define the following:

Who is in charge in each government?

How did they get to be a leader?

How long does a leader remain in power?

Who gets to vote and when?

How are laws passed?

Each group will present a short outline of the characteristics of their government to the class.

Each group will then find a current nation that is ruled by their type of government. Each group is to create a news magazine, a power point presentation, or a newspaper storyboard that details how their type of government works in that country. They will need to draw on historical, political, and economic information. They will need to integrate photos from their nation. Each student within the group will have assigned duties. There will need to be at least one of each of the following: historian, editor, photojournalist, and news reporter. Other tasks may be assigned to reflect individual students’ interests and talents, such as political cartoonist, poet, artist, etc.

As a culminating assignment students will be assigned an essay to write describing their understanding of the unit. They will need to address the following questions:

What function does a government perform and why is it important to have a government?

How has American government and politics influences other governments in the world?

What influences do you see in our country from other nations?

What,in your opinion, is the most functional form of government and why?

Approximate Time Needed:

7 to 8 70 minute time periods—approximately one and a half weeks. Allow 2 days for brainstorming, review, and group presentations. Allow 4 to 5 time periods for groups to work on presentation. Allow one time period for essay writing.

Prerequisite Skills:

Familiarity with MS publisher, MS powerpoint, MS word, internet explorer, and Encarta

Materials and Resources Required For Unit

Technology – Hardware: (Click boxes of all equipment needed)

Camera Computer(s) Digital Camera DVD Player Internet Connection	Laser Disk Printer Projection System Scanner Television	VCR Video Camera Video Conferencing Equip. Other:
Technology – Software: (Click boxes of all software needed.)
Database/Spreadsheet Desktop Publishing E-mail Software Encyclopedia on CD-ROM	Image Processing Internet Web Browser Multimedia	Web Page Development Word Processing Other:

Printed Materials:		Textbook—National Geographic “The World” SC Pact Coach series Time, Newsweek, local and national newspapers
Supplies:		Reference books on governments, Encarta encyclopedia
Internet Resources:		http://politics.com/ http://www.britannica.com/ http://encyclopedia.com/ http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html http://headlinespot.com/ http://www.loc.gov/today/ http://www.loc.gov/today/ http://www.infoplease.com
Others:		Local politicians if available
Accommodations for Differentiated Instruction
	Resource Student:	Pair resource students with other students when working on the project. Provide the comparison chart on governments with some of the items already completed.
	Non-Native English Speaker:	Students who speak and understand minimal English can be paired with a student who speaks both English and the native language, if possible. Provide printed materials to ESL teacher for outside of classroom assistance. Allow for simplified explanations – oral and written. Provide list of all vocabulary words before beginning the unit. Provide the template for the comparison chart on governments with some of the items previously completed.
	Gifted Student:	§ Have them help you find and bookmark appropriate government and political web sites. § Have them act as technology assistants throughout the projects, as well as completing their own projects. § Gifted students can also make more in depth PowerPoint newspaper or news magazine presentations. Pair up your gifted students with your resource room students.
Student Assessment:		Assessment is implemented in several ways. Informal assessment occurs daily in teacher observation and discussion of material. Formal assessment for the project and essay are done using the enclosed rubrics. Self assessment and peer assessment is also done.

Georgetown Middle School

World Government Essay

Name: ________________________

Teacher: D. Hudson

Date Submitted: ____________

Title of Work: ___________________

Criteria

Points

	1	2	3	4
Organization	Sequence of information is difficult to follow.	Reader has difficulty following work because student jumps around.	Student presents information in logical sequence which reader can follow.	Information in logical, interesting sequence which reader can follow.	____
Content Knowledge	Student does not have grasp of information; student cannot answer questions about subject.	Student is uncomfortable with content and is able to demonstrate basic concepts.	Student is at ease with content, but fails to elaborate.	Student demonstrates full knowledge (more than required).	____
Grammar and Spelling	Work has four or more spelling errors and/or grammatical errors.	Presentation has three misspellings and/or grammatical errors.	Presentation has no more than two misspellings and/or grammatical errors.	Presentation has no misspellings or grammatical errors.	____
Neatness	Work is Illegible.	Work has three or four areas that are sloppy.	Work has one or two areas that are sloppy.	Work is neatly done.	____
References	Work displays no references.	Work does not have the appropriate number of required references.	Reference section was completed incorrectly	Work displays the correct number of references, written correctly.	____
				Total---->	____

Teacher Comments:

World Government Project

Name ___________________________

Date ____________

Creativity

Above Average - Average

Fair - Needs Improvement

Demonstration of research skills

6

5

4

3

2

1

Originality in approach

6

5

4

3

2

1

Originality in design of project or use of equipment

6

5

4

3

2

1

Effectiveness

Above Average - Average

Fair - Needs Improvement

Accompanying literature is easy to understand

6

5

4

3

2

1

Explanation of project was clear and concise

6

5

4

3

2

1

Project display attractive

6

5

4

3

2

1

Sequencing of display was logical

6

5

4

3

2

1

Was prepared to be presented

6

5

4

3

2

1

Specific Content

Above Average - Average

Fair - Needs Improvement

Adequate country/government used

6

5

4

3

2

1

Conclusions about US influence accurately based on data

6

5

4

3

2

1

Demonstrates comprehension of content material

6

5

4

3

2

1

Current national leader is documented

6

5

4

3

2

1

Limitations of government discussed

6

5

4

3

2

1

Research is thorough

6

5

4

3

2

1

Sources correctly cited

6

5

4

3

2

1

Overall Grade for Government Project---->

6

5

4

3

2

1

Comments: