Grade Level:  8 
Subjects:  Social Studies, Mathematics, English/Language Arts, and Vocational/Technology 

Learner Outcomes:

• Students will research online to learn about the West Virginia Judicial Branch, Article VIII of the West Virginia Constitution, the West Virginia Judicial System, and current justices of the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals.
• Students will demonstrate an understanding of how our courts are organized by outlining our judicial branch.
• Students will gather information from documents they created in earlier lessons in this unit to examine the congressional district, state senatorial district, delegate district, and judicial court district in which their home county is located.
• Students will use online information to create a map to identify their home county's location is each of those districts.
• Students will demonstrate an understanding of their home county's place as a part of many larger political divisions by creating a color legend on their map, designing transparency overlays of the districts, or planning an original design.

Duration of Lesson:  3 days

Materials:  Copy of map of W. Va. for each student, transparencies (for students who choose to make overlays for map), access to Xerox machine (to make transparencies), colored pencils, paper and pencil for each student, and stapler
 
 
 

Technology Tools/Courseware: 

• Computers with Internet access
• printer
• Lesson 4 Microsoft table of hyperlinks

• Schedule use of computer lab, following school procedure
• Plan how you will make transparencies for students who select that method or provide access to Xerox machine for their use.
• Some students may choose to use Microsoft Power point presentation to show maps of their county as a part of many, larger political divisions.

Procedures: 

• Instruct students to take notes for an outline of the judicial branch of West Virginia government, current justices of the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals, and our other courts as they research sites included in lesson four Microsoft table of hyperlinks.
• Instruct students to organize outline and publish the outline in a Microsoft Word document.  Save to disk and turn it in to teacher.
• Instruct students to locate the judicial circuit district in which their home county is located on that site.
• Instruct students to review their documents created during this unit in previous lessons, and return to sites in earlier lessons if necessary, to locate information concerning the larger political units in which their county is located:  congressional district, state senatorial district, delegate district, and judicial circuit district.
• Instruct students to design and create a visual displaying those districts that includes a map.  (Encourage divergent thinking and imaginative design).

Modifications: 

• Refer to IEP and 504 plans for students with special needs to ensure that modifications are followed
• Peer partnering could benefit students with auditory learning style
• Blue transparency over reading materials for students with visual difficulties

• Encourage students to read "The West Virginia Judiciary:  A Comparative Portrait" by Richard A. Brisbin, Jr. and John C. Kilwein included in student table of sites.
• Encourage students to read other pages and complete other activities not already completed in this unit is earlier lessons  at the West Virginia Legislature Kids' Page included in table of sites for lesson two.
• Students could share clippings of newspaper articles that tell about recent legal decisions made by the courts and discuss points of view.

Evaluation/Assessment: 

Outline of Judicial Branch of  West Virginia Government	Visual Display of  Larger Political Units for  Home County	Oral Presentation  to share  visual displays
40 points	40 points	20 points

National Standards:
 

Technology	2,3,6
Language Arts	1,3,4,5,6,7,8,9
Mathematics	4,5,9
Civics	1,3,4,7,8,9,13,14,17,18,25,26,27,28,29
Historical Understanding	1
Geography	1,2,3,5,10,15
Life Work	1,2
Thinking and Reasoning	2,3
Self Regulation	2,4
Working with Others	4

West Virginia Department of Education Job/Career Clusters:
                Human Services
             Engineering Technical
             Fine Arts/Humanities

West Virginia Process/Workplace Objectives:
 

Problem Solving	1,2,3,5,6,7,8
Communication	9,10,13
Technology	27,28,30,31,33
Self Management	34,35,36,39

West Virginia Instructional Goals and Objectives:

Social Studies
 
 

Civics	Economics	Geography	History	Computer/ Technology
8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.6 8.7 8.8 8.9 8.15	8.18	8.30 8.35	8.54 8.55	8.59 8.60 8.61 8.63 8.65 8.67 8.70

English/Language Arts:
 

Listening/ Speaking	Reading Comprehension	Reading Vocabulary	Writing	Spelling	Language	Study Skills	Computer/ Technology
8.1 8.2 8.3	8.19 8.22	8.39 8.40	8.50 8.51 8.58 8.59 8.63 8.64	8.68 8.81 8.82	8.83 8.86 8.25 8.127	8.133 8.135 8.137 8.143 8.144	8.147 8.14 8.153 8.154 8.155

Mathematics:
 

Geometry with Measurement	Computer/Technology
8.35	8.46     8.58    8.59     8.60

References:
     State of West Virginia Main Page
     West Virginia Secretary of State - Elections Division
     West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals
       National Standards
       WV Department of Education - IGOs
 

Authors:
 

 

Janet Benincosa

Mickey Dean

Becky Morris

 

Home	Lesson One	Lesson Two	Lesson Three	Lesson Four	Lesson Five