The United States Code Annotated, originally published by Lawyers’ Co-op/Lexis, and the United States Code Service, originally published by West are both unofficial sources of federal statutory codes.

When using the Topic and Key Number System in Westlaw, the topic is assigned a particular abbreviation.

Selected opinions from federal district courts are published in the Federal Supplement.

Two types of minority opinions are concurring and dissenting.

The federal trial court for Tyler is called the Eastern District of Texas.

The West Reporter that contains case law that deals ONLY with procedural law is called Federal Rules Decisions.

Case/Scenario 1 (SAME SCENARIO FOR SCENARIO 1) Unit Goals: • Students will analyze the qualities of a good friend. • Students will read about a variety of friendships, from destructive to healthy, and make connections between literature and real-life experiences. • Students will write a comparative essay about the similarities and differences between healthy and destructive friendships. Project Directions: A primary assignment in Ms. Manning’s friendship unit involves students responding to two texts: Give a Boy a Gun by Todd Strasser and Freak the Mighty by Rodman Philbrick. The friends in Give a Boy a Gun have a destructive relationship that culminates in a school shooting and massacre. The friends in Freak the Mighty are an unlikely pair who share a mutually rewarding friendship, even though they are very different. After reading and discussing each of the texts form a variety of perspectives and levels, the students are given an assignment to reflect on the friendships in the literature and to write a series of five to seven interview questions to ask a peer and a family member about friendships – both destructive and healthy ones.  Project Assessment Criteria: Ms. Manning established the following guidelines for an exemplary comparative essay: 1. Three to four in-text citations about Freak the Mighty and Give a Boy a Gun that use quotation marks and other punctuation properly and include a page number. 2. Your interpretation of or personal connection to each in-text citation and an explanation of why you included these specific quotes. 3. Five to seven interview questions that pursue deeper, higher-level understanding of destructive and healthy friendships. 4. Conducted interviews with a family member and a peer (evidence of interview notes attached). 5. Typewritten, double-spaced, two-paragraph comparative essay. The first paragraph describes the nature of healthy friendships with details/supports from the texts and interviews. The second paragraph describes the nature of destructive friendships with details/supports from the text and interviews.   Question 3: (2 points) – Would this comparative essay be considered a formative or summative assessment? Justify your answer.  

Evaluate the following True/False question to answer the question below:  Put T or F in the blank below – T if the statement is true and F if the statement is false. _____ Ancient Egypt is an interesting time in history.   What would improve the true/false question above?  

Evaluate the following True/False question to answer the question below: Put T or F in the blank below – T if the statement is true and F if the statement is false. _____ Utah is not a state in the Eastern United States. What would improve the true/false question above?    

Case/Scenario 2: NEW SCENARIO Standards   Grade level: 6-8Subject area: world historyStandard: Understands how major religious and large-scale empires arose in the Mediterranean basin, China, and India from 500 B.C. to A.D. 300.Benchmarks: Understands the significant individuals and achievements of Roman society (e.g., the accomplishments of famous Roman citizens and the major legal, artistic, architectural, technological, and literary achievements of the Roman Republic). Objectives     1. TSW accurately compare and contrast the current American system of government at the national level and the system of government in Rome from about 510 to 264 B.C. using a graphic organizer. 2. Using a timeline, TSW identify several forms of government Ancient Rome experienced with 90% accuracy.   Materials   For this lesson, you will need: • History and government textbooks • Encyclopedias   Procedures   1. Because the terms republic and democracy have multiple meanings (some overlapping, some diametrically opposed), this lesson avoids both words and simply suggests that you ask students to write reports in which they compare and contrast the Roman system of government during the period 510-264 B.C. with the system of government currently in practice at the national level in the United States. 2. Provide context for students by explaining that in the years leading up to the period they are studying (that is, in the years leading up to 510 B.C.), the entity known to us as Rome was ruled by kings. Students’ assignment is to find out what system replaced the kings (and why) and how that system is similar to and different from the way the United States is governed today on the federal level. 3. Direct students to do research and take notes to help them define and otherwise explain the following terms related to the form of government in place in Rome during the period under examination: Citizen Plebeian Patrician Praetors (later called consuls) Senate Slave 4. Suggest that as students gain an understanding of each of the preceding terms regarding Rome, they prepare notes (from research if necessary) about whether there is a similar or different element present in the U.S. system today. 5. Once students have their two sets of notes ready, they will be ready to write a compare/contrast piece of writing. The teacher will teach or review the two options the students have for organizing their comparison-contrast piece of writing: The block method, in which the writer gives all the information about one item (one form of government) and then all the information about the other item (the other form of government) The alternating method, in which the writer focuses on one feature—say, the definition of who is a citizen—of each subject before going on to focus on another feature—say, the upper classes 6. Remind students to follow the writing process—prewriting, drafting, revising, and editing. Consider inserting an opportunity for peer editing after the drafting stage.   Discussion Questions for the lesson:   1. Consider Napoleon’s remark that “the story of Rome is the story of the world.” What do you think he meant by this? How is it that the “western world grew up in Rome’s shadow?” 2. Some might maintain that Rome’s ability to grow its empire began with its talent in planning its city. Discuss how features of the early city of Rome (such as the Forum, the Colosseum, and the aqueducts) served as symbols of the values espoused by the empire’s founding fathers. 3. The historian Livy believed that Rome could somehow alter its destiny of decadence and morbidity if its people could remember (and live by) the values that spawned the empire. Do you think such a redirection of a people is possible through this kind of education? 4. Explain how the Etruscans were like parents to the Romans—and, in turn, how the Romans were like revolting children. 5. In order to fully understand the magnitude of the Roman Empire, look at a current map of Europe and the neighboring regions of North Africa and the Middle East. Into how many countries is the former empire now divided? How many different currencies are now used? Discuss the challenges this great empire faced in organizing, growing, and protecting itself. 6. How did early Romans use the information gathered in the census to begin their republic? In what ways has our democracy evolved from these beginnings? In what ways has it deviated?   Assessment   The teacher will evaluate students’ comparison-contrast essays using the following three-point rubric: Three points: clear comparison-contrast organization with more than minimal number of features covered; coherent and unified paragraphs; error-free grammar, usage, and mechanicsTwo points: jumbled comparison-contrast organization with minimal number of features covered; coherent and unified paragraphs; some errors in grammar, usage, and mechanicsOne point: no discernible organization and inadequate coverage of features; paragraphs lacking coherence and unity; many errors in grammar, usage, and mechanics    The students have to define and explain various terms about Rome/Roman government. Other than comparing the terms to modern U.S. government, how could the teacher improve this activity to support the building of a better understanding of the new vocabulary words? (Do not say compare to another country – they have no context for that) (3 points) WHY? Justify your answer. Think about strategies you have examined that help with building vocabulary and understanding such as processing activities.