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Reflection on “We The People” Program
Greg Birner: U.S. History and Government and 12th Grade
Government Teacher
Westfield Central School
For two years
it has been a privilege to participate in the “We The People” (WTP)
program. This program allows students not only to learn about the
Constitution but to understand what their role is as a citizen in
the United States. Furthermore, they learn and discuss current
constitutional issues. In each of the aforementioned realms, my
students were able to grasp the fundamental principles. They will
be better citizens for it. In an exit interview, they discussed
their understanding of the Constitution and its application today.
I can’t thank Paul Benson and Rick Walters enough for bringing John
Ames in to present this program. We have turned this program into
our curriculum for 12th grade government.
As an added
bonus, I take several volunteers to a competitive mock
“Congressional Hearing” on the Constitution. Here, my students are
broken into six groups. Each group is asked to prepare a response
to a question (which may range from the foundations of our
Constitution, to Constitutional issues today, to what is responsible
citizenship). The response must be 4 minutes long and then is
followed by 6 minutes of follow up questions. Some times I lost
focus and prepared too much for the competition. John Ames reminded
me that it is nice, but it’s just a cute competition. The real
accomplishment is what the students gain in knowledge of their
government. We are thrown right into the State Competition because
there is no other school West of Syracuse in New York State to
compete against. We are put up against impressive schools from the
Albany and New York City region. Last year we came in dead last.
However, the change this competition made in my student’s lives does
not compare with a last place finish. I have had students change
their college majors after gaining an interest in government. One
student who was in trouble with the law before this program gave a
very impressive presentation on free speech. This student explained
to me that his ability to talk with the judges (mostly comprised of
college professors, lawyers, and government officials) about the
constitution increased his self-confidence and changed his views on
government. These are the most important results to me.
This year, at
the competition, we actually passed one of the big teams from
Eastern New York State. We achieved 8th place in the
State Championships. Once again though, it is what the students
gained from the program and the public speaking where the results
truly shine. Recently at Westfield one of my more timid students
became actively involved in school politics at a board meeting. She
expressed her concerns over the proposed budget. Several of my
students asked me what their rights were when it came to speaking up
at a public meeting. I responded for them to explain to me. They
understood their rights perfectly well and put them to their own
use. Whether I agreed or disagree with their point of view was
moot, but their ability to put their first Amendment rights into
action was a beautiful thing for this government teacher to see.
These are the brilliant results of our 12th grade
government class using the WTP program.
Finally, there
are two things I want to work on next year to enhance the program.
First, I would like to invite more government officials and
Constitutional experts to come into the classroom. Secondly, I
would like to see more schools this side of Syracuse, especially
locally, to become involved in this program. We could then have a
regional competition before a local team is flung into the State
championships. Once again, it has been a pleasure to be a pioneer
for Western New York in this program and I look forward to
implementing this program in future years at Westfield.
Birner Project
Reflection 08 in Word
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