Law in Society and SHS

This morning I called SHS again to ask about the positions I applied for. The secretary didn't know so she transferred me to Mrs. O, Assistant Principal (yay!), who informed me that they have openings in Early U.S. History and an elective class, "Law and Society," which will require someone with a Social Science degree. Woo hoo!!!!! As soon as I mentioned that I'm waiting on UAH to release my final transcript, she got excited and asked for my name and number: she told me that SHS has never had a bad experience with a teacher from UAH. I assured her that I would certainly uphold those high standards. She then said that she will make sure the right people see my resume. Oh, I do hope they call me soon because I have a lot of planning to do. At first I worried about the Law and Society class, wondering how I could make it interesting, relevant, and challenging and how the heck I would assess learning. I've been thinking about it all day and now I can't sleep because of all the ideas popping into my head. I really am a teacher...instead of sleeping I'm now reflecting, emptying my brain out into cyberspace. It would be great if there were an existing syllabus and lesson plans (which there could very well be), but if not I can still come up with a cool class.

Ideas:

• Discussion-based; students come up with discussion points
• Current events
• Students will read articles and discuss pros/cons, arguing their points.
• Mock trial
• Teleconference with my lawyer friend Brian, who is an environmental/corporate lawyer in California but is now serving with JAG in Iraq.
• Focus on different areas of law, including Constitutional, environmental, corporate, civil, international, and criminal.
• Essay- and short answer-based exams in which students identify and explain types of laws and argue cases.
• History of precedent-based law (referring back to Dr. Gerberding's Rise of Medieval Civilization course materials)
• A look at the creation of a law, from local to national level.

Oh man, this could be a great class. I really, really, really want to teach this. I'll be happy to teach 10th grade history AND this class if I can get it. THIS is why I went back to school...I wanted to teach 7th grade because I'm interested in Citizenship and Geography but this is even better...I love the greater maturity and higher-order thinking of high school students, which will enable me to create a curriculum that will prepare them for college. I'm not a lawyer, but I could inspire students to go out into the world and bring the change they want to see. Wow. Maybe UAH's nonsense with stalling my degree/final transcript so that I couldn't get interviews this summer has been Fate's way of guiding me to this job. Only time will tell, but maybe I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be. I want this and I guarantee that I will make SHS proud if they'll just give me the chance.