I am struggling with time and material. As a student of history and a self-proclaimed scholar of the Constitution it is incredibly difficult for me to be able to pare down the information that I cover with my students. There are so many wonderful things to explore in American history, and as gatekeeper of students’ areas of study it is my responsibility to pick the best parts.

My current issue is with the Constitution. How can such a short document be so complex as to want to take up all of my time? Granted, I could cover the Constitution in bits here and there as I trudge through the 1800s; however this short document also deserves the respect and dignity of singular study, and my students deserve to know that I think it is paramount for them to know their rights as citizens of the United States.

The way I see it, the Constitution can be broken down into several units: The Convention, History behind the Document, Preamble, Each Article (with subsections, of course), and Bill of Rights. There is much more that can be done with the Constitution, but what I’ve written I consider to be the short version, which is enough to be the entire course!

What I’ve been grappling with is how to make sure my little citizens and future voters know that they ARE the people about which our Preamble speaks and that they have a right to all of the promises of the Preamble given that they perform the responsibilities necessary to have those rights. I believe that the first of these responsibilities is knowledge of the rule of law by which their country runs. To begin, we simulate the Constitutional Convention, then we move on to study and analyze each part of the preamble, and then we pick apart Articles 1-3 of the Constitution. My colleague Ken has a brilliant Constitution Outline and Scavenger Hunt that the students work on at home so that they are encouraged to read the document. Rather than annotating, they have a goal and they have to find information that requires them to scrutinize the text.

Next, I’ve chosen to have students study Articles I and II: the Congress & the Executive. I know that each of these could also be specific courses, so I’ve hand picked the “stuff” of each branch. This is a brief overview of the similarities differences between the Senate and House and a short blurb of the law making process. When I move on to the Executive students will explore the role of the President. Right now they think all he does is sign bills into laws! They will debate the Executive’s powers and look at a few Presidents who stretched them to the limit (Jackson, Lincoln, Nixon).

I am most eager to look at the Judicial Branch. My students will start by exploring what the Judiciary does, particularly the Supreme Court. Then, we’ll have a look at the Bill of Rights. To combine the two, students will “try” a prior Supreme Court case. They’ll have to make their arguments in front of myself and a few other “judges” who will give their opinions. I’ve done something like this simulation in the past, but I feel that it is more structured this time. As the time to do this approaches, I will provide my readers with the instructions and cases that I give the students.

It is extremely hard to be the gatekeeper of students’ learning. When something is left out, I feel like I’m depriving them of knowledge that they need. What is important to remember is that even though we’re all (mostly) passionate about our work and subject, we need to work diligently to make the best choices for our students.