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Separation of Powers and Executive Orders using Primary Sources

Lesson Author
Required Time Frame
Two class periods
Grade Level(s)
Lesson Abstract
Instead of teaching the concepts of separation of powers and checks and balances, the students can see how the power of the President to use executive
orders have played out in three different moments in history.
Description

Students will read the pages in the textbook that help them gain background
information needed on the powers granted by the Constitution to the three
branches. The teacher should also help students gain background information
on executive orders and how the President uses them, including the checks on
the power of the President. This could also be done using the flipped classroom
model to save time.


Once the background information has been provided, the students will be broken
up into groups divisible by three and given one executive order from history. The
activity will be outlined below.

Rationale (why are you doing this?)

Instead of teaching the concepts of separation of powers and checks and
balances, the students can see how the power of the President to use executive
orders have played out in three different moments in history.

Lesson Objectives - the student will

Students will be able to learn about checks and balances through actual Presidential executive actions.

Students will be able to predict, based on their understanding of the separation of powers of the three branches, if an executive action was constitutional.

Students will be able to see three different outcomes of Presidential executive actions from history.

District, state, or national performance and knowledge standards/goals/skills met

Missouri Government Standard 9-12.GV.3.GS.C:
Analyze the unique roles and responsibilities of the three branches of
government to determine how they function and interact.

Missouri Government Standard 9-12.GV.3.GS.D:
Describe and give examples of how the constitutional principle of checks and
balances limits the powers of government and leaders

Secondary materials (book, article, video documentary, etc.) needed

Government textbook to gain background information on checks and balances,
separation of powers, and executive orders.

Fully describe the activity or assignment in detail. What will both the teacher and the students do?

Students will be divided into a number of groups that are divisible by three. If
you have a large class, you may want to consider keeping groups fairly small.
Give each group one particular executive order. Each order has a different
historical conclusion. The Emancipation Proclamation leads to the 13th
Amendment, Roosevelt’s executive order is found constitutional by the Supreme
Court, and Truman’s executive order is found unconstitutional.
Once students have read and been taught the background information needed,
they will read the executive order with their groups and then spend time
researching the outcome of the executive order. It is possible students may not
discover every outcome of the executive order, but they should focus on two
major things:

1) Did checks and balances come into play? (Examples: Supreme Court
decisions, legislation, Amendments, etc.) Students need to fully explain
the outcomes of this using the background information they have on the
separation of powers and checks and balances.


2) Does your group agree with the outcome of this? Why or Why Not?


On Day Two of the lesson, students will have a few minutes to regroup and
prepare to present their information to the class. In large classes the teacher may
want to consider having all students meet who worked with a particular
document. They can compare results. Each student will then return to their
desks and based off their previous group work write a 1-2 paragraph essay
answering the two guiding questions for their particular document.

The last 20 minutes of class students will group up again. This time the groups
should have three members, one from each document. The students will then
share their essays to the other two students before turning them in to the teacher.
With the remaining time, or the next day if need be, the teacher will expand on the
outcomes by teaching the significance of the 13th Amendment, internment camps
being allowed in World War II, and finally how executive orders, such as
President Truman’s, can be found unconstitutional.

Assessment: fully explain the assessment method in detail or create and attach a scoring guide

Students will be graded on the essay that should show how the checks and balances
system worked, or didn’t work, on their particular document. They should also be
evaluated somewhat on their ability to work in groups. The scoring guide is below.

SCORING GUIDE FOR ESSAY


_____/15 Quality of Written and Visual Elements
● Key ideas are accurately represented in the essay
● All requirements are met

____/15 Accuracy of Information
● Historical information is correct
● Government terms were used correctly. (Separation of
Powers, Checks and Balances, Court Cases, etc.)

____/10 Use of Class time and Group Interaction
● Class time used to the full extent
● Student performed in the groups they were assigned

____/40 Total Points Possible

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